Hard work, good catch, sometimes poor harvest

OFFIN, Bayoku, Ebute and Ibechi are a few of the communities found along the coastal area of Lagos State which stretches through the South-West bank of the Lagos Lagoon. In these parts, fishing is a traditional occupation that is passed on from generation to generation, mostly by Egun and Ilaje people. However, not many people know that this occupation has endured in Lagos since the 16th century.

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Spending days with the fishermen on the lagoon by this photojournalist revealed so much about life and living by the bank of the Lagoon. It also shows what a day means to members of an average family involved in the fish-catching occupation, which is said to generate an estimated annual income of N3 million for a group of families who decide to fish together.

In these communities, every member, from the young to the women, has their jobs cut out for them.

The young boys get their adrenalin pumping casting nets and caring for the boats. These boats are a critical component of the communal trade, they keep them alive.

The women, early in the morning, employ local traps to catch different types of fishes in shallow waters.

They are also the major drivers of the commercial aspect of the trade. From their homes, they make the fish available for consumers – smoked or raw.

To these coastal dwellers, the late part of the day is the right time to set the nets in the middle of the sea.

They set the nets and then calmly await the fishes to get caught in the meshes.

Every day, the men set out early in the morning anticipating bountiful harvests. However, sometimes a hard day’s work is miserably compensated by slow, poor catch.