In the port of Nouadhibou, Mauritania's second largest city, fisherman Atigh Boucavar, 48, leans exhausted against a pile of octopus traps.
Around them, thousands of blue and white boats bob in the water as dock workers load the boats with engines, fuel and supplies.
Dozens of men carry bags full of freshly caught octopuses to the dock and the stench of rotting fish hangs in the air.
Mauritania is home to the largest artisanal octopus fishery in the world: some 50,000 fishermen with a fleet of 7,500 boats catch octopus.
Boucavar and his crew of six often spend up to 20 days at sea and earn just under five euros per kilo, a small profit that they share among themselves.
But nowadays, they often return empty-handed.
The competition is tough.
“It's a dangerous job, but I have no choice, I have to go out to sea to survive,” he explains.
Some of the most abundant fishing grounds in the world are located on the western African coast.
Cold, nutrient-rich waters bubble up from the depths, fertilizing surface waters and creating the perfect conditions for marine life and profitable fishing.
In the exclusive economic zone of Mauritania, 200 species are commercially fished, from the common octopus to crustaceans and sea bream.
Fishing has become the country's second largest industry after iron ore extraction.
Mauritania issues fishing licenses to giant trawlers from China, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and Europe.
They mainly fish for small sardines, transformed into fishmeal for animal feed.
According to the fishing agreement reached in 2022, 86 European Union vessels are licensed to catch 290,000 tonnes of fish per year in Mauritanian waters until 2028.
Spanish, Japanese and Chinese vessels dominated the octopus fishery until 2012, often fishing destructively with bottom trawls.
Since then, the Mauritanian Government has implemented a policy to favor indigenous production, by which only Mauritanian companies are allowed to fish for octopus.
Although local boats do not have very advanced technology, this is not preventing overfishing.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), annual catches of the common octopus in Mauritania exceed the amount considered sustainable by 49%.
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Cost effective and easy to capture
In Nouabidú, a town of 140,000 inhabitants, there are more than 50 octopus processing plants.
Most of the octopus eaten in Europe comes from West Africa and Nouadhibou exports about 30,000 tons annually, mainly to Spain and Japan.
“Due to its market value and because it is very easy to capture, the
octopus vulgaris
is a very economically profitable species,” says Babana Yayha Emhamed, inspector general of the Ministry of Fisheries.
He is sitting at a lonely gas station between Nouadhibou and the capital, Nouakchott, drinking sweet mint tea.
The desert stretches on both sides of the paved road.
“Unfortunately, we have been noticing the population decreasing for several years, even decades.”
Most of the octopus eaten in Europe comes from West Africa.
About 30,000 tons of octopus are exported annually from Nouadhibou, mainly to Spain and Japan.
The inspector is worried because too many people depend on catches: “There is a huge hunger for this resource,” he says.
In 2021, the sector in Mauritania already reached a value of close to 300 million euros, a lot of money in such a poor country.
Competition among fishermen is fierce.
“The fish eat each other, and the fishermen too,” says the inspector: “There is the big importer who buys the product and tries to manipulate the Mauritanian producers.
The producers manipulate the middlemen, who in turn manipulate the artisanal fishermen.
Each one is a slave to the other,” he explains.
The common octopus lives 250 meters deep on the Mauritanian coast.
With its blue blood, three hearts and eight tentacles with 500 million nerve cells, it is one of the most fascinating creatures in the animal kingdom.
It has short and long term memory and is capable of feeling pleasure, joy, pain and sadness.
It is not only a highly intelligent creature, but also a sought-after delicacy: whether grilled, in a
poke
, as a tapa or
sushi
, the octopus is increasingly popular around the world.
Its unique flavor has caused the global catch to multiply by 10, to nearly 380,000 tons between 1950 and 2018. Given this increase in demand, the question is how to manage resources sustainably.
An octopus fisherman in the port of Nouadhibou, Mauritania, in August 2023. Nouadhibou exports about 30,000 tons of octopus annually, mainly to Spain and Japan.Nathalie Bertrams
Atigh Boucavar, 48-year-old fisherman in the port of Nouadhibou last August.
He and his six companions spend up to 20 days at sea and earn a little less than five euros per kilo.
But lately it is not uncommon for them to return empty-handed.
Nathalie Bertrams
A worker cleans sand from an octopus-catching device.
Most of this cephalopod consumed in Europe comes from West Africa.Nathalie Bertrams
Mauritania's 50,000 octopus fishermen face competition from large international fleets and the impacts of climate change.Nathalie Bertrams
A fisherman shows his catch.
The men sell their catch individually to small middlemen in the port.Nathalie Bertrams
Annual catches of the common octopus in Mauritania exceed the amount considered sustainable by 49%, according to the FAO.Nathalie Bertrams
A middleman checks the quality of the freshly caught octopus.
The one considered to be of the best quality is usually called “Japan.”Nathalie Bertrams
Middleman with freshly caught octopus.
These animals are important for biodiversity: they hunt crabs, mussels, mollusks and fish.(c) Nathalie Bertrams
Mr Lee is a Korean octopus exporter who sells to Japan and Spain.
He himself classifies cephalopods according to their quality.Nathalie Bertrams
Quality control of octopuses in Nouadhibou includes sniffing to see if gasoline from the boat has been spilled on the catch.Nathalie Bertrams
A Japanese aid worker was the one who launched the octopus fishery in this West African nation.
Masaaki Nakamura traveled to Mauritania for the first time in 1976, representing the Japanese International Cooperation Agency.
Nakamura traveled thinking about the possibility of developing octopus fishing, but what he found was that “there was nothing.
Nothing but desert.
He did not know what to do ".
One of his first challenges was to find fishermen.
In 1981, there were only 1,800 artisanal fishermen in the entire country.
Nakamura started with 10 fishermen and set out to build a complete, unionized Mauritanian industry.
He taught them the traditional Japanese method of using clay pots to catch octopuses.
A Japanese company bought the catches.
Nakamura now sees the dark side of the rapid development of fishing in Mauritania.
“China has a huge fleet of hundreds of trawlers off the coast of West Africa, and they are stealing all the resources,” he says, and emphasizes: “We must act now.”
Boucavar looks towards the horizon, where in the middle of the mist the silhouette of gigantic trawlers and fishing boats from foreign companies is drawn.
“The ones who lose out are us, the fishermen.”
Annual catches of common octopus in Mauritania exceed the amount considered sustainable by 49%, according to the FAO
Essential for biodiversity
Beyah Meissa, a marine biologist at the Mauritanian Institute for Oceanographic and Fisheries Research, explains from her air-conditioned office on a cliff overlooking Nouadhibou Bay why octopuses are important for biodiversity.
As predators, they hunt crabs, mussels, mollusks and fish.
These animals prevent overpopulation of the food chain and maintain the balance of the marine ecosystem.
The marine biologist is worried: “The population is effectively overexploited.”
The threats are diverse: there are more new boats, industrial fishing has spread to coastal areas and there is now intensive capture of conch shells, the main food source for octopuses, for the Chinese market.
Added to this are the effects of climate change, such as increased water temperatures.
To limit the damage, the Mauritanian government has taken several protective measures to stop the plundering of octopus populations, such as establishing a catch quota and protection zones.
During the spawning season, their capture is directly prohibited.
Fishermen always manage to get around the law;
This is fishing anywhere in the world.
As with human trafficking, drugs or smuggling, there is a lot of money at stake
Beyah Meissa, biologist at the Mauritanian Institute of Oceanographic and Fisheries Research
The Coast Guard monitors the area of more than 200 nautical miles, using the latest technology in satellites and radars, surveillance ships and patrol vessels.
It also ensures protection zones and the Banque d'Arguin National Park, the largest coastal reserve in Africa, south of Nouadhibou.
The park is an octopus breeding area and a wintering area for more than two million migratory birds from the north.
But illegal fishing is increasing there.
The coast guard does not have enough resources to monitor the entire fishery.
“Fishermen always manage to get around the law;
This is fishing anywhere in the world.
As with human trafficking, drugs or smuggling, there is a lot of money at stake,” says Meissa.
Fishermen in Nouadhibou are putting pressure on the government to keep the fishery open.
At the Tako bar in the port you can understand why.
Expensive beers circulate despite opposing the penal code based on
Sharia,
Islamic law.
Background music plays over speakers as Ghanaian fishmeal producers and European octopus exporters eat grilled fish and drink whiskey.
One of the merchants assures: “Here you can get rich, quickly and easily.”
This report was supported by the Fonds Bijzondere Journalistieke Projecten (Fund for Special Journalism Projects) and the Pulitzer Center.
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