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Mariale-Colette Meffire - Media help sharing knowledge about the environment and health in Cameroon

Specialized in environmental and health issues, Mariale-Colette MEFFIRE is a Cameroonian journalist based in the coastal city of Douala. She heads a network of female journalists in Cameroon known as Dynamic and Caring Female Journalists (DCFEJ). She also works for the Equinoxe Radio in Douala.

Her passion for the protection and the restoration of the sea and its livelihoods, prompted her to investigate the activities of a group of women specialized in fish smoking in the maritime city of Limbe in the South–West region of Cameroon and discovered that the women contribute immensely in the fight against poverty in their country.

Furthermore, the women are striving for the preservation of the taste and nutritive values of the fishes cherished by the population in and out of Cameroon as well as the protection of the environment.

 

Women: A driving force in the post-harvest handling of fish in Cameroon

Presented by Mariale-Colette Meffire (technical photos: O. Njifonjou)

INTRODUCTION

The fishing industry in Cameroon, like in other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, is made up of men and women with the latter mostly concerned with processing and commercialization. In a 1996 report, over 40% of those involved in the fishing sector in Cameroon are women and they belong to various associations that oversee their activities. The women brainstorm on sustainable fishing with the assistance of fishery experts. One of such female association which is benefiting from these educative discussions is the “Basket Women Association” based in the coastal city of Limbe at the southern foot of Mount Cameroon. The climate is tropical and humid. These women smoke large quantities of fish on a weekly basis and market the produce in and out of Cameroon.

Presentation of the Association

Created in 1989, the Basket Women Association (BWA) at dock yard in Limbe has as main objectives to encourage solidarity, provide mutual assistance and promote better post-harvest methods of fish.

The association has 25 members who mostly hail from Nigeria and Cameroon. They meet monthly to evaluate their business and chart a way forward. Before the Chinese fishermen began practicing unsustainable fishing in the Cameroonian territorial waters, trading between local fishermen and the female fish processors was intense. In the past, the women who are spouses of the local fishermen, easily bought large quantities of fresh fish and processed them using traditional ovens, locally called “Banda” to conserve their products for sale in big towns such as Douala, Yaoundé and Garoua and in neighbouring Nigeria.

This method has proven to be the most suitable way of preserving the fish in a town like Limbe, where humidity is at about 93%. It is worth noting that the nutritional value in the different fish species is preserved after the smoking process. Fish smoking also provides permanent or temporal employment for youths who make up almost half of the about 1000 inhabitants in the dock yard neighbourhood in Limbe.

Considered to be one of the fishing hubs and a fish trading center in the touristy city of Limbe, the area can be noticed from a distance by the thick smoke emanating from the smoking houses which is a clear indication of the intense fish smoking activity there. One of the major characteristics of dockyard is that most of the houses are constructed with planks and the roads are not tarred as the coastline is swampy and mobile and mostly stabilized by the mangroves. The dockyard is located within the southern end of the Limbe municipality.

The worries of the women

Members of this female network have received appropriate training on hygiene, sanitation and nutrition from different sources. Some have attended training sessions in the Gambia to learn new fish processing techniques using the modified chorkor ovens called the Gambian Banda. It consumes less wood, enables a more homogeneous product and protects women's health by reducing heat and smoke exposure.

Unfortunately, these women are unable to construct such befitting ovens due to lack of finances. They are constantly appealing to the Cameroonian government and social partners to come to their aide and build modern ovens or improve credit facilities.

So far, only one member of the association owns a modern oven constructed with money from the husband.

The chorkors used to smoke fish have been constructed on council’s land and women like many others who own such structures hire portions of the land for an indefinite period. In all, the women pay 60.000 CFA francs yearly as taxes to the council and to other fishery services in the area. They claim the amount is exorbitant and want it reduced to permit them to meet up with some other financial exigencies such as children’s school fees, feeding and clothing for the entire family.

Another problem faced by members of BWA is the constant increase in cost of wood used to smoke the fish. A truck load (about 20 tons) of wood costs between 70.000 and 120000 CFA francs (140 and 240 US$). The high demand of the wood has resulted in over-exploitation of the coastal mangroves which serve among others as protection of the coastline and provide essential habitats for reproduction of fish, crab, oysters and many other marine and terrestrial organisms.

The fish processors continue excelling in the business despite the difficulties they encountered, especially when Chinese fishermen were in de facto control of Cameroon’s territorial waters for almost a decade. With the use of pairs of trawlers, the Chinese swept the bottom of the sea and out competed local fishermen in their canoes. The Chinese fishermen were carrying out their activities with the license of a renowned businessman in the locality. Several petitions widely criticizing the unsustainable fishing method of the Chinese were addressed to the administration by traditional leaders, fishery experts, local fishermen associations and the female network (Basket Women Association). It was only in 2010, the Cameroonian government put an end to the practice to the satisfaction of the local fisherman whose business was on the verge of collapse. The locals now hope that the resource will recover and provide a stable source of income. 

Smoking method

Fish smoking in Limbe has been practiced for several decades now and is widely believed to be the best post-harvest method. Fishes smoked are the pelagic schooling species ethmalose (Ethmalosa fimbriata) and sardine (Sardinella maderensis). These species are abundant in the waters off Limbe. They are locally called “Bonga" or "Mololo” and “strong nkanda”, the two main fish species widely consumed in Cameroon and other Gulf of Guinea countries. They are rich in protein, fat and other nutrients. Smoking consists of two stages

First stage:

Before smoking properly begins, the fishes are thoroughly washed and arranged vertically, with their heads placed on the grills of the ovens by permanent and temporal workers called “bolo boys” or “bolo girls” With a temperature of over 90°C from the oven, the darkish water flows through the mouth of fish during the first phase of the smoking process which last between 6 and 7 hours. Within the first three hours 1/3 of the weight of the fish is already lost.

Second stage:

Wet wood is used to produce the thick smoke that gradually smokes the fish and provides the attractive brownish colour to the fish. The fish are constantly turned so that all parts of the fish undergo the process, which lasts between 24 and 72 hours. At the end, almost 90 % of the water is drained from the fish and 70% of its weight is gone. It can thus be conserved for almost two months without decaying. 

Different dishes

The different fish species are used to prepare assorted Cameroonian dishes. “bonga” or “mololo” and “strong nkanda” are consumed differently in the various regions of Cameroon. For example in the littoral region, the Doualas use them to prepare “Egusi pudding” and “Ndole”, while in the West region they are used to cook porridge plantain locally called “Topsi banana”.       

The fishes are equally important ingredients in one of the most popular Cameroonian dishes from the South-West region called “Eru”.

The taste derived from these fishes varies from one meal to another depending on relative composition of ingredients. In certain homes, especially the under-privileged in the society, a single fish or parts of the fish are used to prepare a meal.

Nutritional value of fish

In an area, where fishing is the main activity of the population, fish remains an important nutritional component in the diets. They are roasted, fried or smoked. As widely known, the fatty fish suitable for smoking contain many nutrients which are beneficial to health.

They also include vitamin A, zinc and valuable proteins which are preserved even after fish processing such as smoking. Statistics from the Food and Agricultural Organization (published in Kawarazuka, 2010) suggests that fish protein and animal protein consumption in Cameroon in 2009 stands at 36.1%.

Though blessed with this aquatic product, it was pretty difficult to independently verify the extent to which the population from this sea-side neighbourhood of Limbe actually consumes the fish or whether their concern is more on commercialisation.

Since no cases of malnutrition have ever been signaled in this part of Cameroon, it may be safe to say fish consumption there or the purchasing power derived from the fisheries-related activities is contributing to the food security and well-being of the population.

Conclusion

From all available indications and in the absence of cold chains, canneries and a well-developed transport infrastructure, smoking remains the best post-harvest fish conservation method in coastal Cameroon, especially as the rich nutritional value of the product is guaranteed. In a country, where average poverty rates stand at more than 50%, with the female folk being the worst affected, the dynamism of the women in the fishing community show the potential for improvement, if they can access opportunities in economic and commercial activities.

Apart from feeding the population, the income generated by the women helps enormously for the well-being of their families. The major challenge now is how the fish smoking business can evolve without the environment being destroyed. Savings in fuel wood per unit of smoked product have been shown to have also additional health benefits, but initial investment costs remain an issue. In the longer run, other post-harvest conservation methods based on renewable energy would also need to be re-examined or fish smoking combined with more extensive regeneration of fuel wood.

A concerted action is badly needed to open avenues for production, processing and consumption modes which strike a better balance with the renewability of the different resources underpinning the livelihoods of the women and men in the Limbe fishing communities. These must at the same time account for the multiple regional and international links through migration, trade and tourism. This will include more effective interaction with local and regional government and social partners on the plight of the women and promoting more responsible exploitation of Cameroon’s territorial water and its resources. It should also entail the restoration and sustainable exploitation of mangrove wood for smoking while safeguarding the many other ecosystem services of the mangroves, which are multi-facetted and very real, but do not have a market price.

With its experience in this domain, e.g. in neighbouring Nigeria's Niger Delta, the not-for-profit organisation  Mundus maris – Sciences and Arts for Sustainability is willing to support different social actors (women's groups, fishermen, local administrations, scientists, artists, schools) in their efforts to explore more sustainable management of the seas and its resources.

References

FAO, 2000 - Poverty in coastal fishing communities. In Advisory Committee on fishery research third session December 5–8, 2000. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization. Available from: http://www.fao.org/ DOCREP/MEETING/003X8905E.html

Kawarazuka, N., 2010 - The contribution of fish intake, aquaculture, and a small-scale fisheries to improving nutrition: A literature review. The Worldfish Centre Working Paper No.2106. The Worldfish Center, Penang. Malaysia. 51p.

Njifonjou, O., Njock, J.C., 2007 - Management and exploitation dynamics of the small scale fisheries in the Bay of Biafra: An integrative analysis of the Purse Seine fishing activity.The International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, 14: (3), 243 – 249.

Njock, J.C., Njifonjou, O., 1997 - L’utilisation des captures accessoires de la pêche crevettière au Cameroun : Rapport de l’atelier international sur la pêche crevettière dans le golfe de Guinée ; Douala, 12-14 février 1997

Ngo Som, J., 1996 - Women's role in Cameroon fishing communities: the cases of Limbe and Kribi. In: Report of the Working Group on women’s key role and issues related in fishing communities. FAO Document

Interviews with members of the Basket Women Association (BWA), July 2010.