Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the different meanings and values given to the notions of security and mobility, exploring the multiple maritime border experiences of Senegalese migrant-fishermen in the Atlantic in a context of natural resource scarcity.

Paper long abstract:

Maritime borderland management is everyday challenged by the increasing mobility of individuals and small groups in West Africa. As a response to the decrease of natural resources in their ocean, Senegalese fishermen have spread their mobility at the regional level. Since the beginning of the 80s, a number of them have organised fishing trips to neighbouring countries' waters in order to find high-market value fish species. No longer able to provide decent livelihoods to their family, some of them also crossed the ocean and illegally reached Europe via the Canary Islands over the last decade.

Based on field interviews in Senegal, this paper examines the different meanings and values given to the notions of security and mobility, exploring the multiple maritime border experiences of migrant-fishermen in the Atlantic. Whether they escape border controls or illegally fish in protected areas, migrant-fishermen develop particular navigation strategies that constantly reshape West African maritime borderlands.

For each migration scenario, fishermen' mobility has paradoxically become both a security strategy for coastal communities and a potential threat to the national security of destination countries. For fishermen, securing livelihoods either involves looking for resourceful places in neighbouring countries or organising a migration project to Europe. For institutional actors, this illegal mobility legitimates the strengthening of border controls in order to protect their natural resources and/or national security. Migrant-fishermen' mobility carries distinct meanings and generates power struggles that give to this global maritime borderland a blurred shape which outline seems to be endlessly negotiated.