The sea is full of stories of fishermen setting sail for more fishy waters. Basques, Bretons, Galicians, Norwegians... and now Senegalese.
For the past five years, we have seen these sailors appear on the coasts of Brittany and Normandy, having passed through the Spanish fishing industry before arriving in Lorient, where they form a close-knit community. But behind their journey and this recourse to a competent and cheap labour force hides ( more ...)

The sea is full of stories of fishermen setting sail for more fishy waters. Basques, Bretons, Galicians, Norwegians... and now Senegalese.
For the past five years, we have seen these sailors appear on the coasts of Brittany and Normandy, having passed through the Spanish fishing industry before arriving in Lorient, where they form a close-knit community. But behind their journey and this recourse to a competent and cheap labour force hides another subject.
Faced with depleted resources and tired of taking more and more risks to bring back fish, more and more Senegalese fishermen migrate to Mauritania or Europe in search of better living conditions. Like Omar Kane:
"In Senegal, I couldn't make a living from fishing. In Joal, where I come from, the fishermen bought us our sardinella at a too low price and the fish was scarce, it was not even worth going fishing any more. So I got on a Spanish boat that was fishing in Senegal, then I landed in Bilbao, and now in Morbihan.
Because the Senegalese artisanal fishing is today in agony. The cause: a largely uncontrolled growth in fishing effort and often conflictual cohabitation with Chinese, Spanish or Russian industrial fishing, which leads to the monopolization of fisheries resources.
We will go up this line from Brittany to Senegal to tell the story of these fishermen and find out why they are now going into exile.