China's appetite for fish pushes world's supplies to the brink

Joal, Senegal

ONCE upon a time, the seas teemed with mackerel, squid and sardines, and life was good. But now, on opposite sides of the globe, sun-creased fishermen lament as they reel in their nearly empty nets.

"Your net would be so full of fish, you could barely heave it onto the boat," said Mamadou So, 52, a fisherman in Senegal, gesturing to the meagre assortment of tiny fish flapping in his wooden canoe.