Over-fishing 'devastating' for Gambia, says Amnesty

In a report, it estimated that illegal and excessive fishing off The Gambia, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone amounted to a total loss of $2.3 billion per year.

The Gambia -- a state along the Gambia River that is almost entirely surrounded by Senegal -- is being especially badly hit, it said.

Large industrial trawlers, many of them foreign owned, are scooping up small fish such as sardinella and bonga to be turned into meal for fish farming.

The practice deprives subsistence fishermen of a fair catch and forces up prices for Gambians, who rank among the poorest people in the world, it said.

The report was based on an investigation that included research in the capital Banjul and testimonies from fishermen, vendors and restaurant owners in the coastal region of Sanyang.

"Local communities are being deprived of their right to a decent standard of living as well as their right to health and food," said Samira Daoud, Amnesty's regional director West and Central Africa.

"The Gambian authorities must take urgent action to both better protect the environment and the fundamental rights of these communities."