Mundus maris

Awa SEYE, now in her 60s, is a woman from the traditional fishing village of Guet N'dar in northern Senegal. Like all women from traditional fishing families - especially in Guet N'dar with its surviving rich cultural heritage - she is responsible for the marketing of products landed by the boat owned by the family. She also has, with her two sisters, a small space on the fish processing site called "Sine". The three take turns to process fresh fish into "braised" or "dried-salted" fishery products. She may look like many other women fish processors, but there is more to her than running the family business. Having lost four of her children in child birth, she became a midwife saving countless lives in her village. Over the years, she has also become a highly respected community leader taking up local and national functions in the context of the National Collective of Fishermen in Senegal (CNPS) and lobbying successfully for the rights of fish processing women to scarce space for their work. The work of the Mare Nostrum project of Mundus maris continues in October 2011 to give voice to the men and women in the fisheries. Read more.