DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Overfishing by foreign vessels is decimating fish stocks in the West African country of Senegal, which is in turn fueling migration to Spain, according to a report released Tuesday.
The Environmental Justice Foundation, a London-based group specializing in environmental and human rights issues, said illegal overfishing and destructive practices by foreign vessels are responsible for increased irregular migration to Spain. It based its conclusions on interviews with fishermen in Spain and Senegal and its prior research on foreign overfishing.
The group found that 57% of fish stocks in Senegal are in a “state of collapse,” with foreign vessels playing a significant role in declining numbers. Its analysis showed 43.7% of licensed vessels in Senegal are foreign-controlled, predominantly of Spanish and Chinese origin.
As fish populations dwindle, local fishermen are facing income loss, and many have turned to migration as a last resort. Fishing is an important economic sector in Senegal that employs 3% of the workforce.
Irregular migration to the Canary Islands almost doubled in 2024, according to the Spanish Interior Ministry, reaching 46,843. While exact figures aren’t known due to a lack of information on departures from West Africa, Senegal is one of the top three nationalities of arrivals to the Spanish islands.
The Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the deadliest in the world. The Spanish migrant rights group Walking Borders estimates the victims were in the thousands last year.
Migrants and former fishermen in the Canary Islands told the Environmental Justice Foundation that the treacherous journey to Spain was a last resort, a way to provide for families when fishing in Senegal could no longer put food on the table.
“If I was able to gain enough money in fishing, I would never have come to Europe,” said Memedou Racine Seck.
Local activists in Senegal have voiced their frustration with foreign overfishing and its contribution to the migration crisis. Karim Sall, President of AGIRE, a Senegalese organization operating in the Joal-Fadiouth marine protected area, condemned foreign nations for their role in the crisis.
“I get so angry when (foreign nations) complain about immigration because they are the real pirates and what they did is worse than clandestine immigration. It’s theft, plundering our resources to feed their own inhabitants while we suffer,” said Sall.
Industrial foreign fleets, many of which use bottom trawling techniques, are exacerbating the crisis. These vessels drag heavy nets across the seafloor, indiscriminately catching young fish and destroying marine ecosystems like seagrass and coral reefs, which are vital for fish reproduction. As a result, fish stocks are unable to recover, deepening the hardships of local fishing communities and eaters. Fish plays an important role in food security in Senegal, especially for protein consumption. Due to declining fish stocks, consumption per capita in Senegal has fallen from 29 kilograms per year to 17.8 kilograms per person.
The report also pointed to a lack of transparency in fishing licenses and inadequate government management of fisheries as contributing factors. Despite efforts by the Senegalese government to address the crisis, experts warn that without stricter regulations on industrial foreign fleets, the situation will worsen.
Migrant and former fisherman Souleymane Sady, who arrived in the Canary Islands in 2020, summed up the situation fishermen in Senegal face: “Since the government cannot regulate the boats and we cannot work normally, we choose to run away from the country to come for stability,” he said.
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FILE - Various species of fish are displayed at the Soumbedioune fish market in Dakar, Senegal, May 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Grace Ekpu, File)
ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — Syria's Defense Ministry announced a ceasefire on Friday after three days of clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters in the northern city of Aleppo that displaced over 140,000 people.
There was no immediate response from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, while a local Kurdish council rejected calls for the evacuation of fighters.
The Defense Ministry statement said the ceasefire became effective at 3 a.m. in the three city neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid and gave armed groups six hours to leave the area.
It said departing militants would be allowed to carry their “personal light weapons” and would be provided with an escort to the country's northeast, which is controlled by the SDF.
Aleppo 's Governor Azzam al-Gharib toured the contested neighborhoods with an escort of security forces overnight.
However, in the hours after the announcement no fighters departed. Buses lined up to evacuate militants remained empty hours after the deadline.
Associated Press journalists at the scene said a burst of machine-gun fire targeted the location the buses had entered from, and an artillery shell landed on the road, but calm quickly returned.
A local council representing the Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh neighborhoods issued a statement saying, “We will not accept the pressures imposed on us and the calls for surrender.”
“We do not trust the Damascus government to entrust our security to us, and we have decided to remain in our neighborhoods and defend them,” it said.
Tom Barrack, the U.S. envoy to Syria, welcomed the ceasefire announcement and extended “profound gratitude to all parties — the Syrian government, the Syrian Democratic Forces, local authorities, and community leaders — for the restraint and goodwill that made this vital pause possible.”
Barrack's statement on X said the U.S. was working with the parties to extend the ceasefire beyond the six-hour deadline.
An estimated 142,000 people have been displaced by the fighting that broke out Tuesday with exchanges of shelling and drone strikes.
Each side has accused the other of starting the violence and of deliberately targeting civilian neighborhoods and infrastructure, including ambulance crews and hospitals.
Kurdish forces said at least 12 civilians were killed in the Kurdish-majority neighborhoods, while government officials reported at least nine civilians were killed in the surrounding government-controlled areas in the fighting.
Dozens more on both sides have been wounded. It was not clear how many fighters were killed on each side.
Residents of the contested areas were hoping that the ceasefire would take hold Friday.
Ahmed Hajjar, a tailor in Achrafieh, said the ceasefire announcement was “a good step” but called for the removal of army checkpoints around the neighborhood.
“I can’t work now, the workers aren’t able to come, and I can’t send any products outside,” he said. "If I want to bring in textiles I get stuck at the checkpoint for an hour and a half or two or three hours.”
The clashes come amid an impasse in political negotiations between the central state and the SDF.
The leadership in Damascus under interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa had signed a deal in March last year with the SDF, which controls much of the northeast, for it to merge with the Syrian army by the end of 2025. There have been disagreements on how it would happen.
Some of the factions that make up the new Syrian army, formed after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a rebel offensive in December 2024, were previously Turkey-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The SDF has for years been the main U.S. partner in Syria in fighting against the Islamic State group, but Turkey considers the SDF a terrorist organization because of its association with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a long-running insurgency in Turkey. A peace process is now underway.
Despite the long-running U.S. support for the SDF, the Trump administration has also developed close ties with al-Sharaa’s government and has pushed the Kurds to implement the March deal.
Al-Sharaa spoke by phone Friday with Masoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party -- the dominant Kurdish party in neighboring Iraq -- both officials said in statements.
The KDP has friendly relations with Turkey and has historically been at odds with the SDF and other groups aligned with the PKK, but over the past year they have made steps to mend ties.
Members of Syrian government forces deploy on the streets as they take over the Achrafieh neighborhood from Kurdish fighters after three days of clashes in a contested area of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A Syrian girl sweeps debris along a street lined with damaged buildings in the Achrafieh neighborhood after a ceasefire was announced following three days of clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters in a contested area of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Residents flee the Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh neighbourhoods after clashes erupted Tuesday between Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters in a contested area of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Residents displaced from the Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh neighborhoods take shelter inside a mosque in Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, after clashes erupted Tuesday between Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters in a contested area of Aleppo. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Syrian government forces take over the Achrafieh neighborhood from Kurdish fighters during ongoing clashes that erupted Tuesday in a contested area of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, early Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Syrian government forces take over the Achrafieh neighborhood from Kurdish fighters during ongoing clashes that erupted Tuesday in a contested area of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Members of Syrian government forces deploy on the streets as they take over the Achrafieh neighborhood from Kurdish fighters during ongoing clashes that erupted Tuesday in a contested area of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
