Villagers in Boghé, a community 190 miles south west of the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott, are protesting a proposed $1 billion investment by the Saudi National Prawn Company (NPC) in an aquaculture project in the Senegal river valley that will cover 31,000 hectares..."We want this project to be simply cancelled because of the threats that it poses to the present and future generations of our community," wrote 77 villagers in an open letter to...the president of Mauritania. The company defends its business, noting that it does not use antibiotics or hormones, unlike many of its rivals. But the sabkha development has been criticized locally in Saudi Arabia...“Parts of the local population have complained about excessive land allocation,” ...The complaints by the Boghé villagers are similar to those voiced in Saudi Arabia because Mauritania, which is mostly nomadic, is heavily dependent on access to limited land and water resources...[we attempted to contact Saudi National Prawn Company to respond but were unable to reach them - if the company does respond we will include its response alongside this link]