I come from a family of fishermen but I attended the French school before working two years at the national printing house. I quit my job at the printing house to join the fishing following the death of my father as the family had no financial support after his demise. I enjoy fishing especially with the very fine thread nets. It is the only thing that keeps me going. I built my house thanks to fishing but that was back in the days. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to build.
Fishing: Past and present
Fishing was more fruitful in the past; you could sail all day without seeing a boat. Now you can’t sail 30km without seeing boats. The sea is overcrowded with them. Everybody has turned the sea. Even the farmers, because there is no more cultivable land. They sell their land to build houses and turn to fishing.
We sell the fish we catch to the women and fishmongers. Fish is also our main source of food.
On the foreign fleets
They are causing us a great deal of damage but we cannot do anything because they are protected by the government. We need to revisit their operations here.
Due to their presence here, we often need to travel long distances to catch fish. We travel as far as Mbour, Gambia, and Mauritania, spending six months at a time. There are tough regulations in these places and we sometimes end up getting fined. I have once been stopped in Joal which is 114 kilometres from Dakar.
Migration
I have friends who migrated in search of a better life. Some of them died en route. Others made it safely and some have returned due to difficulties encountered in the host countries, and even then, they are willing to go back.
Unionism
We don’t have a strong union. We help each other when we need to.