Case 2-11 History and causes of fishermen’s conflicts in Grande-Côte: cases of Kayar, Grande-Côtel

The foreshore of Kayar is a naturally favourable fishing zone, attracting many fishing boats from the surrounding areas. In Kayar, local fishers have long been involved in voluntary resource management activities with a clear objective: to protect their fishing zones from migrant fishers. The largest group of migrants was fishers from Guet Ndar, based in Saint-Louis. There have been repeated conflicts over the richness of the fisheries resources in Kayar.

Conflict in 1991: 20 fishing boats from Guet Ndar were operating gillnets in the coastal area of Kayar. It was forbidden at the time to use gillnets within a 14 km radius off Kayar. Agents of the Kayar Fisheries Directorate discovered and seized the gillnets from the sea, leading to a major conflict between Kayar fishers and migrant fishers from Saint-Louis.

Conflict in 2003: a bottom-set gillnet installed by fishers from Mboro was seized and destroyed by the military police stationed in Kayar. Angered by this action, the inhabitants of Mboro took away four outboard motors belonging to Kayar fishers. The following day, 156 other gillnets belonging to Mboro fishers were seized by Kayar fishers. The fishers of Kayar claimed that the Mboro gillnets had been set in designated fishing areas for purse seine and line fishing intended for Kayar fishers, and that the setting of the gillnets was a practice contrary to the self-management initiated by the Kayar fishers.

Conflict in 2005: The ‘Guet Ndarians’, who have lived in Kayar for several generations, set up gillnets in the waters where hand line fishing occurs. Local Kayar fishers complained to the Directorate of Fisheries and the office of the departmental Governor. Then a young man from Kayar set fire to a Guet Ndarian gillnet boat, triggering a conflict between Guet Ndarians living in Kayar and Kayar fishers, resulting in one death and 18 injuries. Three Guet Ndar boats were burnt, and two others were destroyed. In addition, eight boats belonging to Kayar fishers were destroyed. The Minister-in-Charge, who went to Kayar to mediate the conflict, stated: ‘According to a 1996 departmental decree, fishing with gillnets is prohibited in this area. However, the people of Kayar do not have the right to resort to violence’.

On the Grande-Côte of Senegal, repeated conflicts between Kayar fishers and migrant Guet Ndarians have often occurred because the Guet Ndarians use gillnets in waters designated by Kayar fishers as hand line fishing areas. Establishing and legalising a specific method of designating fishing zones through discussions between the two parties would be one way to avoid conflict.

Chapter 2 Establishing and strengthening the resource management implementation system

There are two types of migrant fishermen: those who migrate each year in seasonal pursuit of fish, and those who have already settled with their families for several generations in the destination area. The migrant fishers tend to be oriented toward their home village, and feel that the migration site is a temporary place for them. As a result, a ‘resource disposable’ mindset tends to dominate the behaviour patterns of the migrant fishermen, who believe that they can simply move to another location once the resources in the migratory site are depleted.

For local fishermen trying to manage local fishery resources, migrant fishermen who come from the outside and operate in the local waters are a nuisance and have often been the cause of conflicts. To avoid conflicts, it is necessary to identify their causes, and the case of Kayar, which has repeatedly had conflicts with migrant fishermen, is a useful case study.