This plant opened in 2011.¹ As of 2025, it was Senegal’s largest exporter of fishmeal.²

Local women began protesting Omega Fishing before the factory opened in 2010, according to a 2023 paper in the Review of African Political Economy, and protests continued long after the factory was completed.³ On July 24, 2024, residents of Joal Fadhiouth marched in front of the Omega plant to demand the fishmeal factory’s closure.⁴ Protestors complained that the factory was located “in the heart of the town’s city center,” exposing anyone nearby to dangerous air pollution caused by the black smoke that the factory churns out, according to a 2024 article in EnQuete Plus. Residents living near the factory reported that particulate matter in the smoke, “cannot rise to the sky, but rather lands back on the population and the environment.” During meals, one resident added, the pollutants were “like ash falling into their meals.”⁵ Imagery published to social media showed a plume of black smoke billowing from the factory’s smokestack.⁶ Historical satellite imagery confirmed that many homes and businesses already existed within 500 meters, or about 550 yards, of the site where the plant would be built, in possible violation of Senegalese zoning laws, according to a review by The Outlaw Ocean Project.⁷

In 2017, the Association for the Promotion and Empowerment of Maritime Artisanal Fishing Actors in Senegal published a report on the impacts of several fishmeal factories, including Omega Fishing. The report detailed various issues with fishmeal production in the region, including overfishing and the overexploitation of sardinella, increased food insecurity, loss of local employment, and environmental pollution. The Omega factory was temporarily shut down at the time the report was written, but citizens interviewed in the Mbour region, where the plant is located, discussed their dread of the plant reopening, saying that Omega would surely resume its practice of “[buying] all the surplus fish to the detriment of the processors,” fishers reported that Omega and other fishmeal plants encouraged them to overfish sardinella, leaving less behind for local fishers to catch and sell, and for the community to eat.⁸ In April 2025, a day laborer working at Omega Proteins captured footage of the delivery, sorting, and processing of whole fish from inside the plant.⁹

Mamadou Faye, a spokesperson for the protesters, told reporters that because of the pollution caused by the factory, “the population is suffering from chronic respiratory problems…we are seeing cases of asthma in children, recurring headaches, vomiting, a foul smell that is constantly spreading into homes.”¹⁰ Social media users have shared evidence of Omega’s pollution and the associated public health risks over the years, posting content depicting the smoke emanating from the factory, and urging audiences to “save the people of Joal.”¹¹ Papis Gueye, a doctor at the Plateau Medical de la Petite Cote clinic in Joal, agreed that among Joal’s residents there is a “particularly high incidence of asthma,” and said that there is “no doubt that people’s lung problems” are the consequence of Omega’s air pollution, according to a 2024 Danwatch article.¹²

Omega was accused of contributing to “rampant pollution” in a 2023 report from Partner Africa, which stated that the factory disposed of its wastewater onto the local beach in Joal Fadiouth.¹³ In 2019, Omega’s wastewater was sampled and found to have “toxic levels of four heavy metals—cadmium, thallium, selenium and vanadium—well above safety guidelines set out by a number of international health organizations,” as reported by the Global Reporting Program. In 2017, Omega was named on a list of plants creating “air pollution by emanations of fetid gases and solid particles,” in a report by the Association for the Promotion and Empowerment of Maritime Artisanal Fishing Actors in Senegal.¹⁴ Mbaye Seck, deputy mayor of Joal, said that Omega “does not respect our environmental laws. The whole town is complaining about the smoke and the stench from the factory,” in a 2024 interview with Danwatch.¹⁵

Omega Fishing “[takes] five kilos of fresh fish and transforms it into one kilo of fishmeal,” Karim Sall, the president of Joal Marine Protected Area and of the Platform of Artisanal fishers of Senegal, said in a May 2024 interview with The Outlaw Ocean Project. Although the factory was only supposed to process fish waste, Omega frequently used fresh whole fish, he added.¹⁶ “On the beach, Omega Fishing has its own fishmongers who buy fresh fish—small pelagic—from fishers, at prices that outprice what the local wholesalers and processors are able to offer,” said Ousmane Sarr, a 47-year-old truck driver in Joal who transports fish, in another interview.¹⁷ Factory officials often offered double what the local buyers could afford, he said. Ibrahima Samb, a 53-year-old fish merchant in Joal and advisor at Omega Fishing, also said in an interview that the plant sourced fresh whole fish because there was not enough waste to sustain production.¹⁸

Omega Fishing did not respond to a request for comment.¹⁹