Migrants, Bound for Spain, Set off a Boom

Many West Africans pool funds to finance their own illegal immigration to the Spanish Canary Islands by boat. Fish was the lead export for Senegal in 2003, but the bountiful oceans of Western Africa have long been decimated by massive foreign fishing trawlers that took advantage of the coast’s once abundant fish supply. So the one-time fishermen of Senegal have found another way to generate income – smuggling people northward. Fishermen organize the dangerous voyages, using their small boats to transport migrants through rough and dangerous waters. Many of the journeys end in failure because of a weather, poor corruption, arrest or lack of fuel. Local papers offer accounts of a better life in Europe, yet some Africans decide that the costly trip with an uncertain destination is too dangerous to risk. – YaleGlobal