Morocco’s Fish Export Ban Sparks Shortage Crisis in Spanish Enclave Ceuta

In just over two weeks, "the arrival of Moroccan fish in Ceuta has fallen by 80% and we think it will last," explains Mohamed, who has been selling in the Ceuta market since 1995, and whose words are reported by La Vanguardia.

The problem of the lack of fish spares no one in this Spanish enclave, and is hardly a concern for the authorities, continues the Spanish media. Very few boats go to sea due to the scarcity of Moroccan fish, which is much more varied and cheaper, and therefore very popular. "We don’t have a Plan B for these things when Morocco blocks us," explains a Moroccan-born hotel businessman. While many vendors do not seem to be upset by the much-decried shortage of Moroccan fish, the locals, on the other hand, find a hidden plan of Rabat behind this crisis.

In reality, this fish crisis is added to another that started last October in the same city. Morocco had indeed definitively put an end to the passage of smugglers.

In addition, the control has even reached the Moroccans who work every day in Ceuta and who, when they cross the border in the afternoon or evening, are checked with great zeal and forced to get rid of all the products they can carry.

The situation is likely to worsen. "We are afraid that now the situation will get worse with fruits and vegetables," regrets a 36-year-old vendor.