"Nothing, there’s nothing": Senegal’s plummeting fish stocks drive migrant surge to Europe

Developing prosperity, and preventing illegal immigration, are some of the topics of discussion at the European Union and African Union summit this month.

In this edition of Witness, Euronews' Valerie Gauriat takes us to Senegal, to see how these two issues are intricately connected. She travelled to Saint Louis, a fishing hotspot, where the community is now struggling due to a depletion in fishing stocks. Many there say the fisheries agreement between the EU and Senegal is destroying their livelihoods and encouraging scores of young people to make the perilous and illegal journey to Europe. Our reporter's account from the field.

As I reached the coastal city of Saint Louis following a 4-hour car drive from Dakar, Senegal's capital, I couldn’t help but smile with anticipation. Memories of my previous visit, some 20 years ago, to this tourist and fishing hotspot were still vivid in my mind.

Scores of colourful pirogues (boats) landing on the sunsplashed white sand shores of the Atlantic coast. Crews of proud Lebou fishermen, the most reputed of Senegal, unloading crates filled to the brim with fish. Women followed by trails of cheerful children, scrambling to get their share, for processing or selling locally.

Eaten by erosion and covered in litter, the sand bar of the Barbarie strip has since been deserted by the fishing boats, which now land their catches on the shores of the Senegal river.

The agitation is still there. But the glee I had witnessed so long ago, has been replaced by anger, “The fish is rotten! Foreign boats are polluting our sea, look at this!” cried out a fishmonger, waving sorry looking small fish in front of my camera. “We will leave just as we came, with nothing,”echoed another, showing me the empty