who run labs, teach courses, assist professors and participate in
Irregular migration to the Canary Islands almost doubled in 2024, according to the Spanish Interior Ministry, reaching 46,843. While exact figures aren’t known due to a lack of information on departures from West Africa, Senegal is one of the top three nationalities of arrivals to the Spanish islands.The Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the deadliest in the world. The Spanish migrant rights group Walking Borders estimates the victims were in the thousands last year.
Migrants and former fishermen in the Canary Islands told the Environmental Justice Foundation that the treacherous journey to Spain was a last resort, a way to provide for families when fishing in Senegal could no longer put food on the table.“If I was able to gain enough money in fishing, I would never have come to Europe,” said Memedou Racine Seck.Local activists in Senegal have voiced their frustration with foreign overfishing and its contribution to the migration crisis. Karim Sall, President of AGIRE, a Senegalese organization operating in the Joal-Fadiouth marine protected area, condemned foreign nations for their role in the crisis.
“I get so angry when (foreign nations) complain about immigration because they are the real pirates and what they did is worse than clandestine immigration. It’s theft, plundering our resources to feed their own inhabitants while we suffer,” said Sall.Industrial foreign fleets, many of which use bottom trawling techniques, are exacerbating the crisis. These vessels drag heavy nets across the seafloor, indiscriminately catching young fish and destroying marine ecosystems like seagrass and coral reefs, which are vital for fish reproduction. As a result, fish stocks are unable to recover, deepening the hardships of local fishing communities and eaters. Fish plays an important role in food security in Senegal, especially for protein consumption. Due to declining fish stocks, consumption per capita in Senegal has fallen from 29 kilograms per year to 17.8 kilograms per person.
The report also pointed to a lack of transparency in fishing licenses and inadequate government management of fisheries as contributing factors. Despite efforts by the Senegalese government to address the crisis, experts warn that without stricter regulations on industrial foreign fleets, the situation will worsen.
Migrant and former fisherman Souleymane Sady, who arrived in the Canary Islands in 2020, summed up the situation fishermen in Senegal face: “Since the government cannot regulate the boats and we cannot work normally, we choose to run away from the country to come for stability,” he said.“He will be a good force for unity in the church,” Cordileone told KPIX-TV in San Francisco. “Even with differences of opinion and different ideas of strategy and so forth, we can have unity in the church.”
U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican and outspoken abortion opponent, took heart from a homily delivered early this year by Leo when he was Cardinal Robert Prevost. The passage cited by Smith: “God’s mercy calls us to protect every life, especially those society overlooks — the child yet to be born and the elderly nearing their journey’s end — because each bears Christ’s face.”Smith depicted this remark as “underscoring the protection of the right to life as first among the many humanitarian responsibilities of the Church.”
The interim president of Catholics for Choice, which supports abortion rights, acknowledged that Leo opposes abortion and said the group would send him letters from Catholics who disagree with that stance.“We are praying that he will be a pope guided by a commitment to peace, justice, and inclusion,” said Chris Wimbush. “The future of our church depends on greater inclusion and nuance on reproductive health decisions like abortion, contraception and IVF.”