In Senegal and Mauritania, local stakeholders are concerned about the impact of oil exploitation on fisheries

In a recent interview, Bayaty Babou, Deputy Mayor of Mbour (Senegal), shared his concerns about oil production off the coast of Senegal, particularly that of the company Woodside, in Sangomar, located 100 km south of Dakar.

Mr Babou fears that this production will lead to a reduction in fishing activities in Mbour. "The whole economy starts with fishing. When there is a lot of fish, there is activity in the town: Taxi drivers, restaurants, vegetable sellers, clothes sellers at the market, cement, construction, everything is alive."

Asked about the environmental impact of the exploitation of the Sangomar oil field off the coast, Bayati Babou is worried: "We don't know. As a technician, I know that it is a danger for fishing because where the oil wells are, that is where the fish reproduce and that is where the fishermen go to look for fish." He says the wells will cause environmental problems: "The oil will pollute the area and the fish will flee. It will be like Hann Bay where nobody fishes anymore because of the pollution.” This bay, located near the industrial area in Dakar, is considered one of the most polluted beaches in the world.

Mr. Babou explains that the economy of the area depends mainly on fisheries and is worried that if the activity is reduced due to oil exploitation, fishermen might turn to illegal activities, such as drugs. Photo: the artisanal fisheries landing site in Mbour/CAOPA Facebook.

If fishermen can no longer fish, Mr. Babou worries that they will turn to transporting drugs or to illegal immigration to Europe. Indeed, "these days, there is an upsurge of fishermen going illegally to Spain”.

In Mauritania, BP's ‘Grand Tortue Ahmeyim’ (GTA) project has already attracted criticism for, among other things, the lack of stakeholder consultation in its pre-operational impact assessment study. Now Unearthed, a Greenpeace-funded platform, estimates that BP's plans for GTA could consume 1% of the world's carbon budget by 2100, and damage the 200,000-year-old cold-water coral reef ecosystem that supports many species of fish.

Mauritanian artisanal fishermen fear a spill of toxic condensate, a by-product of natural gas that condenses into a liquid after being extracted from the well. Although BP says its contingency plans would be activated in the event of a problem, scientists have warned that a condensate spill from a well blowout could affect marine areas in eight or nine countries in the region.

Banner photo: Illustration image of an offshore oil development/Pxfuel.com.

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