Fishing

If there are lakes and rivers, there is fish. And in Africa few peoples can be found that do not catch fish, except for cattle-breeding peoples such as Fula or Maasai. For some peoples fishing is the main source of food: Bozo and Somono in the mid-stream of the Niger River, Kotoko on the Logone River and Lake Chad, Yakoma on the Ubangi River. Many Bozo live in boats with their families and do not come off to the shore for weeks.

For farmers fishing is a subsidiary occupation. In a dry season, when people have free time, they sometimes dam rives, scoop dry the water between them, and fish can then be collected from the bottom. Usually the whole village takes part in such event. Another collective event is fishing with roots of a poisonous plant. The roots are thrown in a river; the fish becomes stupefied and floats bottoms up. Then, the only thing that is left is to collect it from the surface. A part of the catch is immediately pounded and put in a sauce, and the rest is smoked so that the fish may not spoil in the heat.
Of course, one may fish alone, with a harpoon, a bow, or fish-traps made of branches and nets.

Ocean fishing in Sub-Saharan Africa was traditionally less developed than on other continents. But it existed, and some people are still engaged in it: Swahili on Zanzibar, Lebu in Senegal, Moors in Mauretania. But much more fish in coastal waters is caught by foreign seiners that give part of their catch to African countries in return for the quota.

Fishing with jahazi boats is the main occupation of the inhabitants of the sea shore. Zanzibar, Zdanevich A., 2006.		Children are fishing with fishing nets and plastic bags. If they are lucky, they will sell the fish to the traders on the fish market on the left bank of the Alo (Ngadda) river . Maiduguri, 2005		Where the seabed in steep, one can cast a net from the shore. Nouakchott, Vydrin V., 2001.