Food Wasted, Food Lost

travel further out at sea (Atta-Mills et al. 2004; Fessy 2014). Due to low fish catches the small-scale fishers become easy targets for recruitment into illegal fisheries (Fessy 2014). As a result of rapid population growth it is expected that the demand for fish will increase by 30 per cent by 2030 in sub- Saharan Africa. At the same time, estimates suggest that increases in fish capture in sub-Saharan Africa will be marginal, rising from an average of 5.42 million tonnes in 2007–2009 to 5.47 million tonnes by 2030 (World Bank 2013). In order to ensure that fisheries play an important role in food security in Africa in the future, it is crucial that the local fishing industry is protected, further degradation is prevented and restoration of degraded ecosystems is prioritized. Given the high levels of illegal fisheries, it is critical to support enforcement by tapping into the expertise and experience of international enforcement agencies and monitoring systems.

Illegal fishing is particularly critical in West Africa where the total estimated catch is 40 per cent higher than the reported amount (Agnew et al. 2009), indicating high levels of IUU. Due to already overexploited fish stocks in the region (Schmidt et al. 2013) illegal fisheries place an additional stress factor on food security in West Africa (Atta-Mills et al. 2004). Fisheries, and especially small-scale fisheries, play a direct as well as an indirect role to food security through nutrients from fish as well as income (WorldFish Centre 2011). Africa has the highest proportion of non-engine fishing vessels of about 60 per cent compared to 5–32 per cent in other regions of the world (FAO 2012b). While being more sustainable, small-scale fisheries are vulnerable as they have a lower fishing range, lower capacity in terms of harvest efficiency and lower buffer or alternative operational range if local areas are overexploited. In Ghana and Senegal small-scale fishers are struggling with decreasing fish stocks due to overexploitation forcing them to

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