Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
constructed canoe and 40 traps. The average initial expenditure was
probably around 300 000MZN for a standard canoe and 160 000MZN
for 40 traps, a total of 460 000MZN (US$38). Maremas also have to be
replaced every few months. The average salary for a day's formal work in
Quirimba, for example on the coconut plantation or as an ordinary i sher,
was 10 000MZN (US$.83 - see Table 8.4). Most of this small salary was
needed for food and other necessities and saving was not an option for
most ordinary people on Quirimba.
Weeks could pass when a i sher could not go i shing because of the
weather, because of problems with the net or the boat, or because of illness
so any money saved would be used then. Unforeseen expenses included
money for medicines for the i sher himself or a member of the family, for
example, treatment for an elderly relative with TB might cost 40 000MZN
(see Table 8.2). Quinine and aspirin for malaria also had to be bought
fairly frequently. Most people grew their own staple foods such as maize,
sweet potatoes and cassava in their machambas , so for most people food
was rarely a problem.
Groups of women from the district of Mecui , south of Pemba, were
reported to come to Quirimba every year and i sh in the shallows of the
reef l at in front of the village using large capulanas (the patterned cotton
wrap worn by local women and with dozens of other uses). This method
of i shing for very small i sh is found throughout the region (Comores -
Dahalani, 1997; Tanzania - Andersson and Ngazi, 1998). Some village
women said that the reason they did not do this type of i shing was that
it required a special large capulana that they couldn't af ord. This type
of i shing therefore requires a level of investment dii cult for Quirimban
women who have few opportunities for earning cash.
Gill nets were used by a few groups of people for i shing on the reef
l at on the east coast of Quirimba. These nets are shorter than seine nets
and a lot cheaper. Three people are needed to do gill netting so either all
contributed to the cost of the net or one person bought it. The gill nets on
Quirimba were all owned by ordinary families.
A large initial personal investment The main group in this category were
the seine net i shing boat owners. The same person usually owned the net
and the boat, which together could be an investment of over 6 million
MZN (US$500, see Table 8.3). These boat owners were the entrepreneurs
of Quirimba. They had the largest stone-built houses and were amongst
the only people to own motorbikes and other major consumer items. Some
of the boat owners also had other business concerns apart from trading
i sh; some had shops in the village, others traded across the border in
Tanzania.
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