Port of Essaouira – part 1 is here.
The ocean off Morocco’s Atlantic coast is one of the richest fishing grounds in the world. This post is about human-scale commercial fishing.
Have you heard the seminal 1994 collaboration of Ry Cooder and Ali Farka Toure – Talking Timbuktu ? The all-time favs here are “Ai Du” (track 9) and “Diaraby” (track 10).
spotify:album:2MSgPFGGgIn5EqLezjLpt9
The port of Essaouira is no longer a full-service commercial port except for fishing and ship maintenance. People at the hotel told us that the fishing boats return everyday around mid-morning.
So I(Chris) went just before noon and was totally in awe of the sight and sound around the port. The energies on display on land, sea and in the sky were unbelievable.
There was so much activities on the water as the returning boats streamed into the rather small port. The boats had to turn around and parked itself next to a moored boat in order to unload its catch. There were at least 30 people per boat.
Sardine is the main commercial interest, followed by mackerel and anchovies. These fishing boats are trawlers which ply the coastal waters and return with crates of sardines forming towers on the stern.
As fishing boats were arriving every 15 to 30 minutes, the number of people working shoulder to shoulder at dockside was mind-boggling. Most of the work on the wooden boats and on the docks were done by human labor. There was not much mechanization and no automation.
As it was close to midday and getting warmer under the African sun, the fishes which had been kept on ice had to be offloaded quickly. These boats do not have refrigeration on board and kept the catch on ice in open air.
What impressed me the most is the human conveyor that was formed across several boats to unload the crates of sardines from the boat that had just returned and “double-parked”, being the last and furthermost from the pier.
Somehow I don’t think the people work for a company or a fleet. There was no logo or uniform. I did not see walkie-talkies either. So the organization of labor around the docks amid the chaos – placing people at the right spot, knowing and coordinating what to do, and getting the crew paid at the end of the day – must have been well-rehearsed and evolved over the years.
I noticed two kids on the dock watching the human conveyor and waiting to pick up any fish that fell off a crate. See the pink plastic bagful of fish held by one of the two scavengers. There was indeed some results. It was surprising that such an activity was tolerated by the men transporting the fish.
The port of Essaouira caters to the low-tech coastal fishing fleet while the high-seas industrial fishing fleet is based in Agadir which lies further south and has a deep water harbor. Until a treaty and fishing license was signed with the European Union in the 1990s, Morocco had many disputes with Spain which has a modern fleet and operates within Morocco’s territorial waters.
The crates packed with sardines on ice were hauled away. The term “packed like sardines” comes from the image of sardines in a can, but these photos lend more support to the impression.
Ten crates form a stack. There are at least 90 crates in the photo below.
The crates were loaded onto a refrigerated truck heading to a canning factory (I assumed). A lot of people were congregating on the dockside – a few were clearly tourists but there were some local spectators or men that just got off the boats, having finished a day’s work.
After the catch was offloaded, the men worked together to repair and tidy up the nets and buoys.
Getting the nets ready for another day of trawling. I will think of all these hardworking people whenever I pull open a can of sardines.
Flocks of seagulls dashed around above head eying for a chance to grab a fish, and there were lots of fish in the open. “Flock” is an understatement as the sky was full of birds – “swarm” might be more accurate.
This fishing port is a memorable place – the energies, labor, and diversity of activities. It has been going on for centuries, day after day.
