Fishing

Cotonou's fishing fleet is based only a stone's throw from the Africa Mercy. The fleet consists of hundreds of wooden canoes of all sizes which come and go at all hours - I even see them heading in and out in the wee small hours - powered by outboard engines or sails or paddles. The crews are very brave - none have life jackets or radios, and sometimes they fish miles away from shore with waves breaking into their canoes constantly. I imagine that many fishermen perish every year in this way. But when storms are threatening, they wisely fish in the waters just outside the port: this morning I counted over 70 canoes fishing together, as grey storm clouds loomed at sea. Click on photo to enlarge. Olly