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Nouakchott10/26/2007
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Fish Beach Scene...Bring'em On In! #784
Fish Market Beach, Boat Coming In
Lots of Action as They Arrive
| Very sloow::will write later Visa into Mauritania only 10E each. To capital Nouakchott via taxi ..driver from day before, Mulay, cost us 10,000 ea or $40 US since we did not share taxi. Fellow from Bremen, Germany we had met later said he shared a taxi w/ 8 others altho only cost him 4,000 or $16 US and it took him 8 hrs during heat of the day! Since we left at 4:30 am and arrived at 10 am it was cooler and we got to the Mali Embassy before closing at 11 to get visas!!!(6,500 or $14US) Now ckd in at Auberge Menata...very busy place, lots of travelers most French in groups. We had a 'discussion' again about travel time and destinations(what to see & how muchy time). Talking to Sven(German translator fellow) he was heading for the fishing port which gets hopping around 4. We left for fish port and taxi driver 'Makta' from liberia told us about it. When we got there it was 1000 times the Todos Santos fish 'port' - the crescent beach was at least a mile long, as far as you could see in both directions, with literally hundreds of ponga boats, one coming in every 2-3 minutes. Hundreds of people crowding around boats, guys hauling baskets/crates on their heads from boats to waiting transport or just dumping them in a huge pile while kids stealing fish as they scurried up from boats. Guys hauling them grab 1-2 fish each load into their poncho pocket as bonus?! They are paid 2,000/day and then get 2-4000 more from fish bonus sold. Makta said that since 1990 it has become big business making millionaires(buying boats then paying fishermen 100-200/day) Before then he said his dad used to go down to the beach, dig a hole and when waves come in hole would fill with fish. He said folks back then didn't eat fish, it was only eaten by the very poor...now everyone does. This is the first or second largest fishery in the world and operating in two shifts, every day 7 days a week FULL TILT!!! We later found out that off W. African coast is the last big fish 'mining' area in the world, and headed for a collapse! See article: Visit web site about fish farming And another site: Visit Africa Fishing |
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