The world’s biggest trawler and fish factory vessel have been operating in Western Sahara’s waters.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists revealed in an article 25 January a shocking story of monster vessels sucking the oceans dry of small pelagic fish species.
The eight country investigation showed how the world’s largest fish factory vessel, The Lafayette, has zigzagged the seas of the Pacific and the Atlantic during the last years. The vessel is the size of two football fields, and holds a storage capacity of 14,000 tonnes of fish. The Lafayette is accompanied of a fleet of trawlers that deliver their catches to the vessel at sea.
Western Sahara Resource Watch has got access to the detailed route that the monster vessel took last year. The map shows how The Lafayette in November 2011 during a period of fishing offshore Mauritania, also most probably entered the Saharawi waters.
Vessel tracking graphics by Trygg Mat Foundation, Norway, www.tryggmat.no. Click on graphic for higer resolution. The exact boundary of the EEZ of Mauritania and Western Sahara is not settled, however, with the application of modern maritime boundary law, the Western Sahara EEZ would most probably extend directly southwards from Cape Blanc for a number of seamiles, before turning to a direct westwards direction. Morocco has never laid claim to the waters of Western Sahara, which it illegally occupies. This is done, however, by the Western Sahara republic.
The Lafayette was last seen on the Canary Islands, and is currently heading towards Montevideo, Uruguay.
A few years back, Western Sahara was the scene for fisheries from the world’s biggest trawler. The Irish owned vessel Annelies Ilena (ex-Atlantic Dawn) then caught fish offshore the occupied territory from September to November 2009. She has not been to Western Sahara since. Annelies Ilena can catch 350 tonnes daily, and with a carry capacity of 7,000 tonnes.
A recent evaluation done for the European Commission showed that the small pelagic species offshore Western Sahara is threatened with depletion. The reason is exactly overfishing from industrial foreign vessels. The Saharawi people have not consented in regards to this industry, which thus is in violation of international law. Read a UN opinion from 2002 on matters of natural resources exploitation in Western Sahara here.
Annelies Ilena, September 2009
Annelies Ilena, October 2009
Anlies Ilena, November 2009
Guterres reminds Morocco: Self-determination still stands
In one of his final statements as UN Secretary-General, António Guterres has made an unequivocal point: the end of MINURSO does not extinguish the inalienable right of the Saharawi people to self-determination. It is a reminder that Morocco cannot declare the Western Sahara question closed simply because the UN mission is leaving.
Morocco allocates vast tracts of occupied Western Sahara
Moroccan budget documents released in late October reveal that the kingdom allocated tens of thousands of hectares of land in occupied Western Sahara to investment projects.
When countries defend self-determination while voting against it
Our analysis of yesterday's UN Security Council vote on Western Sahara reveals a striking gap between what some governments said about the Saharawi people's right to self-determination and the resolution they voted to support.
US and Russia veto competing Western Sahara resolutions, leaving MINURSO’s future uncertain
In an extraordinary confrontation, both permanent members blocked each other’s proposals on Western Sahara. With no resolution adopted, the UN mission faces an imminent expiry of its mandate.