Four bonga for 20 cents to four for 50 cents.

August 4, 2019 10:02 AM

The women fish sellers of West Africa. This 6 min video from China Dialogue Ocean shows how global demand for fishmeal (mainly used to feed farmed fish) affects locals in the Gambia. According to the Gambian ministry of fisheries, the establishment of Chinese fishmeal factories on the coast is part of the difficult calculus for national development. But women looking to feed their families, see it quite differently: "exporting fishmeal doesn't benefit us, it makes us suffer... we Gambians should have access to the fish before the factory."
posted by spamandkimchi (3 comments total)

I thought the video in the article was really well done, simple, and powerful. Thank you for sharing. I found the factory on google maps and even from satellite images you get a sense of the community that depends on the fishing industry - all the boats on the beach and in the water.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 6:03 PM on August 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Tell me more about how your development agency helps build sustainable economies and empower women in Gambia, I'm sure you've thought this through completely. /hamburger

I've read quite a few examples like this now, where some change like a factory has a lot of unforeseen consequences in gender relations especially, and this pattern where the development gives men some waged opportunities but further precarises women is not new either, eh.
posted by Acid Communist at 9:54 PM on August 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

"Whenever the timber trade is good, permanent famine reigns in the Ogowe region because the villagers abandon their farms to fell as many trees as possible..."
posted by wildblueyonder at 9:17 AM on August 5, 2019