Seafood Fishing in Diani

FISH MARKET TALES

by Susanne Ogolla

Photo by Susanne Ogolla

I go to Diani about twice in a year and my daily routine mainly consists of having biryani at Coast Dishes restaurant, a visit to The Sands at Nomad Beach Hotel for some Italian gelato and the breath-taking experience of having seafood in a cave setting, with a view of the stars above at Ali Barbour’s cave restaurant. After ticking those off my list I’m always open to any other new adventures. My last visit in August was quite different. I love seafood and it’s one of my most favourite cuisines and so I embarked on a mission to discover what goes on at the ocean and know more about the people behind the fishing of these delectables.

Photo by Susanne Ogolla

I met with Saidi, a fisherman that works around Kongo River beach who promised to show me around. He was just from the seas and had caught some tewa fish which is also known as codfish, a ton of prawns which was quite interesting to see especially because they were not-so-orange like I’m used to seeing plated and a couple of red snappers. We detoured for a few minutes for him to drop them off to one of the villas, along the Diani strip -they were on order. That was his catch for the day and it wasn’t as big as he’d have hoped for. He explained that the winds stirring into the ocean were too strong, they call it “maji kuchafuka”. The ideal fishing periods are between September and January when it’s much calmer. Also, the fish variety caught in the ocean depends on the seasons such as crab season, lobster season and shrimp season. The region they fish in matters as well. His fishing method was rather interesting, I didn’t know it was possible to fish into the seas without having access to a boat. Many local fishermen there do not own boats because they are very expensive, they start from about Ksh 80,000 and could go all the way to Ksh 200,000. The few who own them get them by taking out loans.

Saidi goes not too far into the ocean at 8 PM every day and stays overnight till 7 AM the next day. He throws his net in and hopes for a good catch by the time morning comes. Other fishermen choose other techniques such as one I saw who was fishing from a surfboard with little bags tied around it to hold his catch. I got to talk to another fisherman who does spearfishing- this is a skill of the chosen few - he gets the job done and it saves him some money that he’d have used to buy fish from another fisherman. Before we could go further up the beach, I had to convince the Diani Mwakamba Beach Management Unit secretary to have access. The fishermen are in different “chamas” which protect them and give them updated information on fishing rules. It was understandable why they were reluctant to talk to me at first but they were more comfortable in front of the camera. They are used to tourists being fascinated by their culture.

The fishermen are allowed to fish wherever they please, no boundaries are set to limit them. The fishermen who own boats and dhows have an added advantage for they can get deeper into the waters which assures them of getting a larger catch. They are the ones commissioned to supply to hotels which require about 100kilos of fish delivered weekly. Some seafood is specifically sold to local residents which is much cheaper than the ones sold to hotels due to the quality of fish. Besides this, they also have deals with the fishermen who don’t own boats, so when they get to the shore, they have some who are waiting to bid for the fish to make sales elsewhere. It was such a scene observing two fishermen who had not yet even set foot at the shore with codfish, prawns, red snappers, white snappers but already had a market. Once the fish had new owners they cut them open, cleaned them up, placed them into sacks and everyone went back to their day’s business to sell them while others rested in makuti sheds that they built by the beach as they waited for other fishermen who’d gone fishing to get back to the shore.

Photo by Susanne Ogolla

Our conversations and interactions convinced them that I had no malicious intentions and so they offered to roast some red snapper for me the next day. How kind of them! What I admire so much of the people there is how much they look out for each other and even though they are in the same business, they believe in working together to grow.