Author(s): Waly Bocoum, Mahfoud Talb Sidi, Moustapha Bouzouma, Abdou Daim Dia and Pierre Failler

Abstract: This article characterizes the strategies, logics and games of actors around the exploitation of small pelagics in Mauritania. The dynamics of exploitation and development of small pelagics is supported by a policy of domiciliation of catches. This policy tries to find a balance between market logic and nutritional logic. This work is based on data from the Mauritanian Institute for Oceanographic Research and Fisheries (IMROP) (2010-2020) and the results of surveys carried out in early 2016 and late 2020. It appears that flour and fish oil factories-whose growth is driven in Mauritania by an attractive tax policy (establishment of a free zone in Nouadhibou) and a relatively low cost of labor remuneration-have monopolized artisanal and coastal fishing catches (Senegalese, Chinese and Turkish) through chartering contracts and fishing agreements. Added to this environment is a process of relocation of flour factories from certain countries, notably neighboring Morocco, to Mauritania, in a global context marked by a significant decline in the flour industry. There is, however, a nutritional emergency with a population growing at 2.3% per year. The public authorities are putting in place mechanisms to contain these flour factories-by introducing new taxes on turnover in addition to the 9% levied by the Mauritanian company for the marketing of fish (SMCP)-which represent at their eyes a threat both to the sustainability of resources and their environment and to food security. In a logic of meeting nutritional needs, the National Fish Distribution Company (SNDP) has been set up, which benefits from a compulsory contribution of 2% on the catches of industrial trawlers. The reconciliation of market and nutritional logic is a priority for those who want to ensure the food security of populations.

DOI: 10.22271/fish.2023.v11.i1a.2770

Pages: 41-48  |  930 Views  572 Downloads

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