More than fishing

We met at Associação Ilha de Moçambique. Cassimo Abdurremane was eager to share his stories as an inhabitant of the Island but also discuss about the hardships of the fishermen. After the conversation at the Associação's office, we took off to the nearby Fishermen Beach where he guided me through the mix of sand and fishing nets.

Cassimo Abdurremane

President of the Fishermen Association of the Island of Mozambique, 60 years old
Excerpted · August 2017

Interviewer: About his background and the Fishermen’s Association:
Cassimo Abdurremane: I was born on the Island. I went to school here. Then I went to the military and also after the independence, on the 25th of April 1975. Then I was my own boss. From the bottom of my heart, I like to live here on the Island. But where did I get my willpower to help the fishing community? 20 years ago, I used to go to the Island to buy fish. The boats have like 4 or 5 bosses. For example, one owns a little of the fishing net, Antony has the engine, José has the boat...They do partnerships. So the fisherman was always under pressure. Those bosses stay inshore. There is a group of fishermen that goes fishing. And they fish by the box, which one with 30 Kilos maximum. Sometimes they catch 300 kilos of fish, 10 boxes. But other times they return with only one fish, named the 1 metical [Mozambican currency], despite catching the 10 boxes. So he goes fishing very early in the morning, leaves his children at home, has rent to pay…returns very late only to return with one fish, for 1 metical, because all the other fish stays for the bosses they fight between them for it. Then these bosses would create debt between the sellers because the bosses didn’t have money to buy fuel…So life is very hard for fishermen. So I started feeling for the fishermen. I approached them and said, “What if we formed an association?”. But the bosses were distrustful about this. But I insisted. And I managed to gather some people. The bosses realized that I was doing something right.

I created the Fishermen Association of the Island of Mozambique which searches for alternatives for fishermen’s work and also has the role to defend nature and fauna. Sometimes the fishermen's community wants immediate results. But we need to apply for funding for this and that organization. That process takes time. The fishermen don’t have the patience to wait. They just ask “I want 20 meters of fishing net”. But that doesn’t work like this. But with requests like this, our association loses credibility. We do credit rotations. The association receives a certain fund and to choose who will receive it, we do a selection. It is indeed hard, especially in African associations, to ask the members to pay for their membership quotas. But it is with quotas that we can make something to make a change. They ask us for things but they don’t give back anything. But ok. We do a rotation credit. We give them the material and do a credit, which they have to pay X per month. There was a time that the Island suffered a lot from cyclones. Almost every year we have cyclones. But some years are worse. We had a partnership with OIKOS, in the years 2007-2008. That time I wasn’t here. We had elections for the president of the association, and the man that won the election didn’t quite understand the fisherman. I lived 11 years in Pemba. So when I returned, I found the association sort of abandoned. When I left we had a project with an Italian organization, that would give us 10 boats and it was already authorized with all the equipment. But we had bad weather and all the boats were destroyed. So my fight now is to try to do the maximum to restore the boats we used to have. Because many people lost their jobs because of the boats, and the destruction. Restore things little by little.

Here on the Island, we don’t have a store that sells fishing materials. The philosophy of the association is to open a store that can serve its member’s needs. Right now I can talk about the association of the fisherman as the main association related to fishing activities because the fishermen believed in what we did. We had the idea to have a freezing arc to store the fish either for the fisherman or for the local people. We also have an idea to have an ice factory because some boats can go to the sea for about 2 or 3 days. But since they don’t have the resources to freeze the fish they don’t go on those fishing trips because they will lose the fish. We can consider that the association is conscious and we search for alternatives for the development of the fisherman because he is limited. They only know when and where to fish. It needs to exist training of the fishermen, needs to exist experience exchange, not only within the country but also from around the world. We must see if we can leave artisanal fishing. This type of fishing just supports a little family, it doesn’t develop. Around 60% to 70% of people fish. Fishing is the main economical activity on the island but it also exists in great amounts around the country. But since the Island doesn’t have local agriculture, the main activity is fishing. The day fishing disappears, the trade will be low, and the movements at the bank will also be low. The main focus of life is fishing.

What is your connection with the Island of Mozambique?
C. A.: It means a lot of things. The Island is the first capital of this county. Second, the Island is a place where the local people are very hospitable. Because of religion. Around 70% to 80% of people on the Island are Muslim. We learned how to welcome visitors. It is not easy. We are people of peace. During the 16 years [of the civil war] people come to Island as refugees. And the fishermen's community as well. I have a project in mind that I would like one day a neighbourhood for the fishermen to be created, in the continental area. Because the fishermen don’t have their own home, here on the Island. The fishermen are not local here, it is an immigrant. In the old day, when a certain person taught the fishermen how to catch fish in a motor boat, they didn’t need to go 60 miles into the ocean to fish. The fish was all here, near the shore. But now, given the amount of people fishing, from other places also, they must go 30-50 miles offshore. They return around 8 pm. And sometimes without any fish. If we manage to find a partner that would help us figure this out, the help would be welcomed. We used to have around 150 boats. Now we just have around 40-50 boats. And more are disappearing. When the engine malfunctions it is very hard to get a new one or to fix it. A new engine is 300000 meticais, around 4,500 euros. And the bosses ask for example 40 meticais to use the engine. But they go fishing without GPS, or some sort of orientation device. But while they are searching for fish, the engine keeps running, it doesn’t stop. So it would be nice to empower the fishermen with a probe, for example, to reduce the engine work effort.

Do you think the Island of Mozambique has changed over time, especially after the World Heritage nomination?
C. A.: We have to thank UNESCO, despite things did not go as planned. UNESCO had 50 projects for the Island of Mozambique. In general. But it didn’t happen. The “why’s” are questionable. From 91 to today, the Island has changed slowly. For example, our road used to have many holes, and now the main road is fixed. The people can walk. The houses are in the hands of foreigners and they fix the houses. The islanders that owned the houses didn’t have the financial conditions to take care of them. So they sold the houses to foreigners that rehabilitate them. Today we are to be congratulated because the Island is doing better, and is developing. The next generation is indeed the one that is going to benefit from this.

Did you visit any of the Island’s museums?
C. A.: The things that the museum had in the ’70s, during my time, were better than today. The majority of things were reallocated by the government to the Museum of Maputo. With the appearance of the Arqueonautas and everything… and some other people that got permits, nobody knows how they got here, and took all the coins. So it is not fun going to the museum. We could also create a museum with a religious theme. But we don’t have the habit to make museums. A lot of things went missing, and now we are like this.

What do you consider to be your heritage?
C. A.: It is part of myself. We all are heritage. Everyone on the Island is a heritage, is a museum. My parents passed their heritage to me. I know the Island from what was before and what it is now. And it is all heritage. And heritage is also what I am doing. Without fishing there is no life in the Island of Mozambique. We are fighting to improve fishing activity.