TED Talks Daily - How industrial fishing sinks communities | Lamin Jassey

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

What happens when the fish that sustain a community start disappearing? Environmental activist Lamin Jassey shares how industrial fish meal factories are devastating local waters, livelihoods and health in The Gambia — and how communities are organizing to defend their coasts and reclaim their future, one catch at a time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is sponsored by Edward Jones. You know, as I talk about these big ideas that shape our world, I sometimes think about the decisions that have impact on our daily lives, like financial decisions. That's where Edward Jones comes in. Earning money is great, but true fulfillment in life isn't just about growing your wealth. It's about using your resources to achieve your personal goals. And Edward Jones gets this. Their advisors take time to understand you as an individual. They build trusted relationships

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Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. You're listening to Ted Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hugh. The inhabitants of Goonger, a large fishing village in Gambia in West Africa, thought the arrival of a new fish mill would bring huge improvements to their lives. More jobs, more opportunities, more support for fishermen. Instead, inside of a year, they started to notice

there were fewer fish and more polluted waters. In this talk, environmental activist Lamin Jasi shares the story of his troubling investigation into what happened in this village and what's at stake for the future of Gambia and beyond if the fish don't return. Let me tell you a story about stolen fish. My name is Lamin Jasi. I am a trained teacher, community leader, coastal and marine environment activist. I am a native of Gunju, the biggest fishing village in the Gambia West Africa.

There are an estimated 25,000 inhabitants. Most of the people here are connected to fishing in some way. In 2016, a fish mill factory started operations at Gunjur Fish Landing Site. We thought it will bring improvements to our life. After just one year, we began to realize a dramatic change in our fish supply. There were fewer and fewer fish. As an environmental activist, I started to investigate. It quickly become clear that because of this fish mill factories, we are experiencing an unusual shortage of fish.

I also came to understand that this mill factory was accepted by our village leadership because of the host of viral economic promises they made, such as providing 600 good jobs, constructing main roads that links the village to the fish landing site, and building fish market for the community. All of these promises are not fulfilled up to this very day and this clearly tells us that this fish mill factory is not trusted and most of their information is false. I also came to know that the main raw material for this factory are fresh small pelagic fish. Most people in the Gambia depend on the same small pelagic fish as their main protein intake and source of livelihood. This is the keepers fish that every family can afford daily and is the foundation of our local economy. The factory finances the majority of

fishermen and their catches go straight to the factory. So women have only leftover fish to process and sell. Women started struggling and even losing their livelihood and jobs in fish processing. Young people also started to lose hope because most of the youth depend on tourism. The unbearable smell from the factory killed tourism in the area. Most of the youth got onto the street. Crime rate accelerated. Poverty creeps one striving community and drug and substance abuses increasing. Youth search for new opportunities. Hundreds, if not thousands of youth are rich in the Atlantic Ocean trying to reach Europe.

And there are thousands of youth whose whereabouts are still unknown and their families are still mourning for their loved ones. In 2018 we came to realize that the fish mill factory at Gunjur Fish Landing site is disposing of their industrial waste into the ozone at the very area where boats are landing. This time around, I engaged the management of factories. I gave them an ultimatum of one week to remove their waste pipes, or we will organize people to remove it for them. When they failed to remove their wastepipes. After one week, we went on as promised

to remove the Westpipes with hundreds of people. After one week, five other people and myself were arrested and detained at the police station. We had to go to court for six months, but in the end, we were all acquitted and discharged. After this run trial, I continued to educate additional fishermen, women processors, young people about the impact of fish mill factories. And I also have been engaging government officials

to revisit the decision of the government and protect the presence and future of this country. However, the government recently decided to sign a six-year fishing agreement with the European Union, which allows bigger fishing vessels from the EU and China to fish in our waters. As a result, this becomes more scarce and expensive. People's way of eating has to change direction to an imported chicken from Europe, which has become cheaper than local fish. This has led to health problems, and with Gambia's fragile healthcare system, our source of animal protein intake being compromised by fishmills, by fishing vessels and fishmills factories. The situation became worse and unbearable. In recent years, most of the

fishermen in the region began to catch juvenile fish that were not fit for human consumption. But it all went straight into the factory. I asked the fisheries staff responsible for enforcement of fisheries regulations, which prohibit catching juvenile fish but to no avail. Instead of feeding us locally, all those fish are turned into fish meal. Then that fish meal goes out of the country, mostly to China, Europe and South America, to salmon farms and other aquaculture farms. The good news is that our organization is working with few international organizations to build the capacity of women processors at the seasonal fishermen

to understand what is at stake, and collect data at Gunju, Katoong and Sanyoong fish landing sites to inform decision makers and save the future of this country. It is my hope to bring fish back to these waters, and not just for the Gambia. The fish belongs to the whole region. We need to bring the Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania and all of us together to fight and protect our water and our fish. I can't do it alone.

We can't do it alone. Thank you very much. Do it alone. Thank you very much. That was Laman Jasi recorded for Ted's Countdown Dilemma series on the future of food in 2024. If you're curious about Ted's curation, find out more at ted.com slash curation guidelines. And that's it for today's show. Ted Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green, Lucy Little, Alejandra Salazar, and Tonsika Sarmarnivon. It was mixed by Christopher Faisy-Bogan, additional support from Emma Tobner and Daniela Balarezo.

I'm Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening. This episode is sponsored by Audible Canada. If you loved The Hunger Games or the ballad of songbirds and snakes, get ready, because the games are about to get even bigger. Sunrise on the Reaping takes us back to the 50th Hunger Games, the infamous Quarter Quell where, for the first time ever, double the tributes means double the danger.

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You know, as I talk about these big ideas that shape our world, I sometimes think about the decisions that have impact on our daily lives, like financial decisions. That's where Edward Jones comes in. Earning money is great, but true fulfillment in life isn't just about growing your wealth. It's about using your resources to achieve your personal goals.

And Edward Jones gets this. Their advisors take time to understand you as an individual. They build trusted relationships to help you develop strategies that align with your unique goals. What's special about Edward Jones is their holistic approach. They see financial health as a key part of overall wellness, just as important as physical or mental well-being. It's not about chasing dollars, it's about finding balance and perspective in your financial life. That's something anyone should be able to achieve. Ready to approach your finances with a

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