A dish in danger

Senegal struggles with loss of fish central to diet, culture

DAKAR, Senegal — In Senegal, the national dish of thieboudienne is entwined in the country’s history and culture. It’s a rich dish of fish, rice and vegetables that literally brings people together — traditionally eaten in communal fashion around a single dish.

But the preferred species for the dish is white grouper, and the fishery has collapsed in the face of aggressive fishing by locals and foreign poaching. And there are few other fish to turn to, as overfishing has “greatly diminished” other species in Senegal, where one in six people work in the fisheries sector, according to a report from the United States Agency for International Development.

Overfishing like that which has threatened thieboudienne is seen across the planet. In the Bahamas, scientists and government officials are working to save conch, a marine snail central to the island nation’s identity. In the Philippines, overfishing has depleted small fish such as sardines used in the traditional raw dish of kinilaw.

In Senegal, fish and seafood represent more than 40% of the animal protein intake in the diet, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

In Dakar, the capital and largest city, nutritionist Codou Kebe said the loss of grouper means more than just the loss of a national symbol. It has led to the loss of a key protein for the nation’s residents.

The lack of grouper has also made other fish more expensive, Kebe said. Kebe placed the blame squarely on overfishing, which she said has robbed the nation of the generations-old food resource.

“The sea no longer supports the weight that is loaded on it, which has made the fish flee,” Kebe said. “This is the work of the boats with their nets, which are numerous in the sea.”

The collapse of white grouper has attracted the attention of international organizations, which have sought to use improved data collection to help bring back the fish. However, they acknowledge it’s a tough task. The published findings of the International Symposium on Marine Fisheries, held in Dakar in June 2022, state that the fish “can hardly be found off the coast of Senegal where it has become extremely rare.”

“The sea no longer supports the weight that is loaded on it, which has made the fish flee. This is the work of the boats with their nets, which are numerous in the sea.”

— Codou Kebe, nutritionist in Senegal

KYIV, Ukraine — Mothers burying their sons, children burying their fathers. As the war in Ukraine enters its second year, men and women have been dying in droves on the front lines, fighting off Russia’s invasion of their country.

For them, the fight is over. They paid the ultimate price. But it is their parents, their children, their siblings and their spouses who will carry the pain of war, the tears of the nation.

Over a period of 15 days in February, numerous funerals were held in towns and villages near the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, for soldiers killed in fighting in Donbas, in the east of the country where most of the battles are now concentrated. The same scene is repeated day after day, week after week, in villages and cities across Ukraine as those killed on the battlefield return home for the last time.

The vast majority were not career soldiers. A carpenter, an ornithologist, a baker, a pharmacist, a student — they signed up to fight because of the war, leaving behind their civilian lives.

In small villages where they had once led ordinary lives, mourners from the entire village came to their homes to pay their respects to their families after they were killed. They were buried in their military uniforms.

(AP/Grace Ekpu) Bowls of Senegal’s national dish, thieboudienne, are prepared for lunch May 31 in Diamniadio, Senegal.

Fishing boats are lined up May 31 at the Soumbedioune fish market in Dakar.

A fishmonger stands in front of his offerings May 31 near the Soumbedioune fish market in Dakar.

Fishmonger Ethio Fall holds a white grouper, the preferred fish for the dish thieboudienne, on May 31 at the Soumbedioune fish market in Dakar, Senegal.

(AP/Emilio Morenatti) Nina Nikiforova, 80, cries Feb. 11 outside a church after attending the funeral of her son Oleg Kunynets, a Ukrainian military serviceman who was killed in the east of the country, in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Galina, 64, cries Feb. 21 next to the body of her friend Yurii Kulyk during his funeral in Kalynivka.*

Anna, 10, cries Feb. 21 next to the body of her brother Yurii Kulyk, 27, during his funeral in Kalynivka, near Kyiv. Kulyk, a civilian who was a volunteer in the armed forces of Ukraine, was killed during a rocket attack on Feb.15 in Lyman, a city in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.

Olha Petrenko, 84, cries Feb. 13 as the coffin of Oleksandr Maksymenko, 38, passes by during his funeral in his home village Kniazhychi, east of Kyiv. Maksymenko, a civilian who was a volunteer in the armed forces of Ukraine, was killed in the fighting in Bakhmut area.

Olha Kosianchuk, 64, cries Feb. 24 during a memorial service to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine, in Bucha. Olha’s husband was killed during the occupation of Bucha by Russian troops during the first weeks of the war.

A relative holds a candle Feb. 22 during Roman Shevchenko’s funeral in Bila Tserkva, near Kyiv. Shevchenko, 40, was a civilian who joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces to defend his country when the war started. He was killed Feb. 9 in Vuhledar, a city in the Donetsk region.

Tamara cries Feb. 22 next to the body of her husband Roman Shevchenko during his funeral in Bila Tserkva.

Larysa cries Feb. 11 over the coffin of her husband Volodymyr, a Ukrainian military serviceman who was killed in the east of the country, during his funeral in Kyiv.

A woman cries Feb. 24 during a memorial service to mark the oneyear anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine in a cemetery in Bucha, Ukraine.