A worker seals boxes with frozen octopus in a factory in Nouadhibou.
Greenpeace visits Mauritania to campaign against the Dutch shellfish industry’s plans to exploit the shellfish banks of Venus Rosalina off the World heritage site at the Banc d’Arguin park. The banks are situated between 10 and 30 meters deep underwater and can for commercial ends only be exploited by the highly destructive bottom dredging techniques. The role of the banks in the ecosystem is not well known but there are indications that they function as a nursery for many fish species. Greenpeace mission is to stop the arrival of the shellfish industry because the impacts of their fishing techniques are likely to cause a cascade of unpredictable negative effects on the marine ecosystem and on the local fisheries.