According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, roughly 4 in 10 people working in small-scale fisheries are women. Half are fishers themselves, and half process the fish, like Cary Badgie, from Gambia, whom the reporting team met as she salted and preserved the local catch.

Female activists and entrepreneurs also underpin these fishing communities, as you’ll hear from Senegalese climate activist Ndeye Yacine Dieng and local official and businesswoman Yayi Bayam Diouf, based in Dakar.

Finally, host Ruxandra Guidi gets a perspective on a possible way forward for fishmeal production in a conversation with Libby Woodhatch, the executive chair of MarinTrust.

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In a region characterized by high unemployment, food insecurity, and depleted fish stocks, many fishers are forced to migrate. The fishmeal plants dotting the coast have only exacerbated these existing problems, economist Rashid Sumaila notes, saying that “overfishing would still be an issue in West Africa without the plants. But the plants make them worse.”

On this episode of The Catch, host Ruxandra Guidi and her reporting partners look into the migration crisis. Senegalese reporter Borso Tall shares her reporting from a village in the region of St. Louis directly impacted by a fishmeal plant. And Sumaila sits down with Guidi to share his take.We want to hear what The Catch means to you! Reach out to us at [email protected].

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On this episode host Ruxandra Guidi and her team cross over into Senegal to see how the fishmeal industry's impact compares. She hears from local fishers as well as environmental NGO Environmental Justice Foundation's Bassirou Diajar.

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Foreign fleets off the Gambia’s shore are straining local fish stocks by “coming in at night and fishing illegally,” Sanyang fisher Alagie Gasama says. And the lack of enforcement, or even political will, by the government leaves these fishing communities to struggle on their own. On this episode of The Catch, host Ruxandra Guidi continues her journey along the Gambian coast by hearing directly from the fishers, processors, and local officials navigating these changes in their fish stocks.

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Gambians eat an estimated 55 pounds of fish a year, the most fish consumed per person in the region. This trend is shifting, though, with the arrival of the fishmeal plants, which directly affect these communities' food security. And as local activist Lamin Jassey points out, the fishmeal plant companies "never asked [the community], they never asked the young people" whether they wanted these plants in the first place.

Join host Ruxandra Guidi as she continues her look at the fishmeal industry in West Africa and hears directly from community leaders on how they're advocating for change.

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Small pelagic fish off the West African coast are being scooped up in large numbers and ground into a product called fishmeal. This fishmeal is then used to support animal production and aquafarms around the world.

How is this industry impacting local fishers? And what does this mean for the global supply chain? Host Ruxandra Guidi partners with Gambian reporter Mustapha Manneh to look at fishmeal production in both the Gambia and Senegal for Season 5 of The Catch. Other voices in this episode include Sally Yozell, Senior Fellow and Director of the Environmental Security program at the Stimson Center and Dr. Ensa Touray, a historian at the University of The Gambia.

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Coming up on Season 5 of The Catch, host Ruxandra Guidi reports from the Gambia and Senegal to hear firsthand how the fishmeal plants are impacting these communities and whether the industry, which underpins much of aquaculture, can be turned sustainable for all. Follow and listen to The Catch wherever you get your podcasts.

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This past week, Foreign Policy magazine hosted a live taping on Marine Protected Areas at the United Nations General Assembly. This discussion was moderated by Matt Rand, Senior Director of Marine Habitat Protection at the Pew Charitable Trusts.  

Joining Matt on the stage was: Monica Medina, the former Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. She’s currently a distinguished fellow at Conservation International.

Joel Johnson is the President and CEO of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

Editrudith Lukanga  is the Founder of EMEDO, an organization that supports small-scale fisheries in Tanzania and she currently leads the Secretariat of the African Women Fish-workers Network.

And Jim Leape is the Co-Director and William and Eva Price Senior Fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. 

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Reporter Caroline Losneck joins The Catch once again to share with host Ruxandra Guidi how Maine's iconic lobster fishing is adapting to new arrivals.

First, Losneck explores how green crabs, an invasive species, are being turned into a delicacy by the local culinary scene. And then, she visits a new training program that's helping to change the face of the fishing industry.

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Maine based reporter Caroline Losneck reports on how the state's iconic lobster industry is changing due to forces like climate change, a changing labor market, and damage to fishing areas. Caroline shares with host Ruxandra Guidi how local fishers are adapting by finding new sources of income and how communities as a whole are banding together to provide more resources to protect the industry.

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