One of the economic issues that most affects and worries the Senegalese population is the fisheries agreements signed by the government of the current president, Macky Sall. The EU's first fisheries agreement with Senegal was signed in 1976 and was in force until 2006 through a series of protocols that gave European vessels access to a wide range of fishery resources. In 2014 it was transformed into an agreement focusing on tuna with a demersal component (Patagonian toothfish), for a period of five years.

In November 2019, the protocol implementing the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the EU and the Republic of Senegal was signed, allowing 45 Spanish, French and Portuguese vessels to fish in Senegalese waters, a total of 10,000 tonnes of tuna and 1,750 tonnes of Patagonian toothfish. According to information provided by the European Commission, the EU's annual financial contribution was set at ¤1.7 million, of which ¤800,000 is the payment for giving access to Senegalese waters. The remaining 900,000 euros are to provide sectoral support in the country's fisheries policy, in order to improve fisheries control, develop fisheries research and data collection, and provide health certification for fishery products.

These fishermen are protesting against their government for reaching agreements that allow vessels from other countries to fish, leaving them with no fish to catch. The government "has sold out the whole country," they say. The fishing agreements must be stopped because the fish will not come back here. Fishermen make up 17% of the Senegalese workforce (in 1965, Senegal ranked first in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of fishing). Until the 2000s it was one of the most fish-rich coastlines in the world. Now there is a high risk of rejection of artisanal fishermen because they transport migrants. "We are human beings, not animals, we want a dignified life, to help our family. "It is very hard, but we have no alternative. Going to the ocean is very risky, but we have to do it because at home there is nothing to eat. There is no fish, no work. These are families sleeping ten people in a four-square-metre room. Young people - 31% are between 18 and 26 years old - who are unable to lift themselves out of poverty in a country where families are expected to support them financially in the face of an inadequate social security system. So "it is better for my children to go to the ocean and die". For the journey to the Canary Islands they pay 600, 800 dollars. 

This is more than the cost of applying for a visa, which is an impossible mission for most of them. The embassies of the same countries that take their resources refuse them visas. To embark on the crossing, they sell what little they have, boats if they are fishermen. 200, 400 people board a boat with the same fear and the same yearnings. They are mostly from Senegal, Gambia and Mali. Ninety-nine per cent of them are men who cannot find an alternative to irregular migration on the local labour market. "More die than arrive," they say. "The ocean is a graveyard for young people." More than 3,000 people would have lost their lives in 2021 on the route to the Canaries. It is the deadliest migration route in West and Central Africa.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, for its part, has verified to masqueperiodismo.com that Senegal is a safe country, although criminal organisations are at ease, which is why NGOs are working hard on this issue. The biggest challenge they face is the profile of a vulnerable young person, living in a spiral of fear, uncertainty and economic hardship, who is likely to be recruited by organised gangs. The borders with Mali are permeable and the risk of jihadist penetration is palpable. 

Climate change is beginning to alter migratory movements. Drought and rising temperatures are affecting agricultural production and this means that people from the South are moving north in search of fertile land to provide food for subsistence. Its geographical position is also strategic on the western Mediterranean route, both as a point of departure and transit, but also as a point of return for migrants from Mauritania, Morocco and Europe.

By addressing the economic, geostrategic and socio-cultural headings, the long-term future of these countries can be predicted. Each of the aspects has been analysed exhaustively and from different points of view, in order to gather the opinion of all the agents, field visits to different political institutions, non-governmental organisations, public and private entities and contrasted local sources.

Masqueperiodismo.com aims to promote integral strategic development projects (in their evaluation and monitoring phases for subsequent impact assessment), and cultural identity, with the idea of finding alliances that support and make the dream of so many come true and that the media, as a diplomatic tool, report on everything that happens, promoting interaction between local communities, governments and international organisations.  "What is not told, does not exist".