US maritime drills with West African navies aim to stop illegal fishing – The North Africa Post

American and European navies are teaming up with their counterparts from eight West African nations to conduct joint coaching operations off the coast of Senegal this week which are primarily geared toward combating unlawful fishing off the West African coast.

As unreported and unregulated fishing has unfold alongside West Africa’s coasts, scooping up an estimate $9.4bn yearly, one of many drills in Ghana’s Volta river was lately carried out in the course of the first maritime workouts organized by the US navy beneath its long-running Flintlock program.

Native fishermen and fish lovers in Senegal’s capital metropolis, Dakar, like in lots of different locations alongside West Africa’s coast, are struggling as overseas, industrial-size trawlers web giant numbers of fish and ship them primarily to European and Asian markets. Worldwide companies working to cease “unlawful, unreported and unregulated fishing” say that the clandestine nature of the follow makes it unattainable to know what number of fish are being poached.
Environmental watchdog group Greenpeace says some trawlers can scoop up as a lot as 250 tons of fish per day, emptying coastal areas.

The continued sea-based coaching within the Gulf of Guinea culminated with troopers holding their weapons aloft as they braved neck-high waves earlier than storming a seashore resort to defuse a staged hostage disaster. Army bigwigs and diplomats watched from close by.

This system had expanded to assist coastal nations within the area deal with maritime threats reminiscent of piracy and unlawful fishing, mentioned Admiral Milton Sands, commander of the US Particular Operations Command for Africa (SOCAF). Unauthorised fishing “is a big one which we’re actually attempting to work with our companions to get our arms round slowing down,” he mentioned. About 350 troops took half within the drills together with servicemen from Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria on the Gulf of Guinea. The world has grow to be a world piracy hotspot in recent times though instances have fallen there since 2021, in line with the UN Safety Council.