Mario Marino Shortlist EIGER FOUNDATION African Photobook of the Year Awards 2024.
The EIGER FOUNDATION is thrilled to announce the top 20 entries for the prestigious African Photobook of the Year Awards 2024.
Book "People at the Port de Peche" 19 x 24 cm, Softcover
In spring 2021, in the middle of the corona pandemic, I traveled to Mauritania to photograph fishermen at the "Port de Peche" in Nouakchott. In the 1960s, around 1,000 people lived in Nouakchott, which lies on the edge of the Sahara. It was a small village by the sea. Today, Nouakchott is the capital of Mauritania and has around 1.2 million inhabitants. One of the reasons for the rapidly growing population in recent decades is the "Port de Peche", the fishing port. Here, in this coastal region of Africa, there are still large fish stocks that have been able to feed the majority of the population. But it will only be a matter of time before this wealth of fish runs out, due to trade agreements between the Mauritanian government and large Asian and European corporations. Lucrative contracts that allow them to systematically exploit the coast off Mauritania with huge fishing trawlers.
Of course, none of the money from the multi-million dollar contracts with the international fishing industry reaches the local fishermen. They are forced to take their small boats further and further out to sea in order to catch enough fish to make a living. They are often out at sea for several days at a time. At night, accidents and collisions with the large fishing trawlers, which are often over a hundred meters long, occur time and again. Many a fisherman has lost his life here in recent years and found his grave in the sea.
I spent over a month with the people at the "Port de Peche". My days began early in the morning at sunrise, when the first fishermen returned with their catches. I followed the women who supplied the fish to the market and slept with the fishermen under large canopies on the beach in the sweltering midday heat at over 40 degrees. In the afternoon, I spent time with these fishermen as they repaired their boats and fishing nets. In the evening, we sat together by an open fire on the beach. Their trust grew. I was able to find out more about the people, their lives and their stories. Apart from the fishing accidents, I heard many stories of fathers or sons who had left a few years ago to find their fortune in Europe and be able to send money home, but often there is no sign of life from them even after years of absence.
It will not be long before the last fish are caught off the coast of Mauritania and the fishermen become refugees or pirates, as can be seen in Somalia, for example, because if a person is deprived of the opportunity to live off the available resources, he is forced to leave his home. If a person has nothing left to lose, he will explore all possibilities to get money or food.
My special thanks at this point go to the fisherman Boite Mustafa. It was he who introduced me to his community of fishermen and enabled me to immerse myself more deeply in the everyday life of the Muslim people on the edge of the Sahara.
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