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WNews of the arrival of Senegalese migrants in the Canary Islands reminded Babou Diouf of the same perilous journey 17 years ago and the arduous journey to his new home in Brera on Spain’s north coast.
Diouf, 46, a fisherman from Bassour in Senegal’s Sine-Saloum Delta region, was one of the many migrants arriving in 2006 from West Africa via Spain’s Canary Islands, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) off Africa’s northwest coast. Joined the.
Boxes filled with blackberry rosefish can be seen before being auctioned at the port of Brera
(Nacho Doce/Reuters)
In 2006, more than 30,000 migrants arrived fleeing poverty exacerbated by the depletion of coastal fish stocks.
(Nacho Doce/Reuters)
According to academics, NGOs and migrants, more than 30,000 migrants arrived that year fleeing poverty exacerbated by a dramatic decline in coastal fish stocks, in part due to industrial fishing by European Union countries.
The 2006 record for migrants arriving through the Canary Islands was broken last year. According to human rights group Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders), nearly 7,000 people died attempting to cross in 2023.
“It’s very difficult to see the rafts arriving in Spain,” Diouf said. “To cross an ocean without knowing what you are facing is to face death.”
Babou Diouf and his wife Sylvia Santos, 41, hold hands at home.
(Nacho Doce/Reuters)
Nets can be seen on the floor of a salidar boat before setting out to fish in the Atlantic Ocean, near Cedira, Galicia.
(Nacho Doce/Reuters)
Deprived of his livelihood in Senegal, Diouf ventured north. Now his fishing experience has secured him a new life in Spain, where the EU’s largest fishing fleet is shunned by ever more Spanish workers and is recruiting foreigners to survive. There is.
According to the mayor’s office, the Brela fishing port has 9,450 residents of 44 nationalities, including 90 Senegalese and 244 Cape Verdeans.
About seven out of 10 crew members on the Brera fishing fleet are foreign workers, said Juan Carlos Otero of the Brera Shipowners Association.
Fishermen prepare to catch line-caught hake aboard a Matalenas boat in southern England and Ireland.
(Nacho Doce/Reuters)
Diouf, who works alongside Indonesians, Senegalese and Spaniards on a salidar ship, stays active during his 14-hour shift, pulling in nets, cleaning hake and boxing.
(Nacho Doce/Reuters)
Otero said Peruvians were the first to arrive in 2000 when locals left to work in the new steel mill. Indonesians’ longline fishing skills are so valued that boat owners pay for them to fly to Spain.
Some, like the Senegalese, find work through word of mouth or, if they have a residence permit, by showing up at the docks.
Immigrants are mainly welcomed by local residents and are transforming the town. Diouf regularly visits the recently built mosque. Cape Verdean women serve coffee and breakfast at Amares, a restaurant in the port.
Immigrants are mainly welcomed by local residents and are transforming the town.Diouf regularly visits recently constructed mosques
(Nacho Doce/Reuters)
Senegalese fisherman Mamadou Sarr uses salt water to wash his catch.
(Nacho Doce/Reuters)
Working together with Indonesians, Senegalese and Spaniards, Saridar There’s a lot of activity aboard the Diouf ship, with 14-hour shifts pulling in nets, cleaning hake and boxing.
Boat captain Francisco Gonzalez said Spain’s fishing industry could not survive without immigrants.
Reuters