By Diana Coker
Thirty-seven years old Mariatu Mansaray, a fish vendor for the past twenty-five years at the Tombo Community is among several women fish vendors adversely affected by COVID-19.
According to her, selling fish has been her only source of livelihood.
” I am a widow and have four children, two boys and two girls, the first child is 20 years and the youngest is 7 years old and they all depend on me to take care of them, which I now find extremely difficult to do,” she said.
She further disclosed that for decades she has been going to the harbour to buy fish and sell at the local market and use the proceed to run her home, pay school fees for all her children and attend to other basic needs.
“Before the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, sales were very encouraging, because lots of customers used to patronize with us even though fish was, at the time expensive.
From the total sales I always saved at least 20%, 50% invested back into the business and the remaining 30% used to run the home,” she added
Narrating her ordeal further, she said that the current situation has gotten tougher as things have drastically changed and getting worst day by day, noting that the fish business is no longer profitable.
“Sales are very slow now, customers are not buying as much as they use to before as it takes two to three days to sell one bowl of fish. Before COVID-19 I use to sell all within couple of hours daily, but now even to get fish at the harbour is difficult, most of the fishermen have moved over to Guinea to fish.
As a result of the current situation, I have been forced to use my savings to take care of my children’s education.
I am no longer saving a dime, because I no longer make profit. There are days I have to sell the fish the same price as bought from the fisherman.
I normally leave home around 7:30 am in order to get to the harbour before 8:00 am to buy fish, wash the sand out and then ice them, before going to the market to sell. But because the catch has drastically reduced now, I have to go very early by 6 :00 am, as it is on first come, first served basis and it also depends on affordability,” she disclosed.
She further stated that at a time when they were badly hit by the economic situation in the country they expected Government to have intervened to salvage the situation by way of providing them stimulus package, but they never benefited from it.
She added that some of her colleagues who could not cope with the situation have stopped selling as they have gone bankrupt.
Tombo is predominantly a fishing community and .most of the women there are fish vendors who share similar stories. They lamented the adverse effect the Coronavirus pandemic has negatively affected their livelihoods.
The Public Relation Officer for the Consortium of the Fishers Union, WudiBaki Koroma stated that the union is aware of the plight of the women but can do little or nothing as it stands.
One of the fishermen attributed the low catch to the hike in fuel price as according to him, the longer you stay in the water, the more fuel you consume and if there is no handsome catch, you run at loss.
According to the Food and Agricultural Organization assessment report, self-isolation and restriction of mobility reduce demand for fish and fish products, which has negative economic impacts on women’s livelihoods and income immediately (harvesting, processing and trading), and in the future. In addition to lack of economic opportunities, women fish vendors may be exposed to a greater risk of infection, since markets are places of close contact and have limited sanitation and hygiene facilities, the report states.
This story was put together with support from Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) and the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) Human Rights Fellowship.
