Joal-Fadiouth Fishing Port

Joal-Fadiouth is one of the

most important fishing ports of Senegal, and the largest artisanal fishing port in West Africa. Every step of the fishing process is handled in the traditional manner here, for example, the fishermen use pirogues, which are flat-bottom wooden boats small enough to easily take on land. Before exported to neighboring countries, the fish are dried on hundreds of wooden shelves in the pungent “fish drying zone” in the eastern part of the village. This zone covers acres of land.

Like clockwork, the Joal-Fadiouth covered fish market is overwhelmingly crowded at five o’clock in the evening, when the fishermen get back from their pirogue adventures. Locals and tourists alike jockey for there share of the fresh catch. The market is on the right side of the village close to the beach, while the drying zone is to the east.

Adapted with permission from

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