Moroccan fisheries and ports

Posted on 1 March 2009

First there is one distinction, which I must make clear, it is that the Western Sahara is part of Morocco, it is not a separate country yet, although there is a push for independence.

Despite this apparently the economics and politics surrounding this rich stretch of natural resources is intense and better left alone. The border crossing from Mauritania to Morocco although organized, took us about 5 hours. Once over the Mauritanian side we had to wind our way though a land mine infested gravel track, which was hideous to say the least. The Moroccan military were welcoming dressed in their “Fidel Castro Cuban revolutionary” outfits. Although orderly, we once again were rushed to wait, and 4 odd hours later we were free to head into Western Sahara. We were surprised to have a sniffer dog in the car. Apparently there is as major drug problem particularly from Dakar, Senegal. I suppose the main surprise was that this was the most comprehensive car search since we left South Africa. Actually it was only the second time in Africa that our car was even checked, the first been the entry into Cabinda.

Expecting a similar dingy city like Nouadibou (the port town in Mauritania) we were surprised to find stunning tile paved sidewalks, roadside cafes, food stalls and restaurants. Not a single piece of paper was blowing around on the street. After 6pm the town comes alive with colour as people crowd the streets for evening shopping and coffee. The activity is backed up by the ever-present rhythmically lacking call to prayer by the mosques, which echo’s over the rooftops and cliffs, which disappear abruptly into the Atlantic Ocean. Dahkla has a huge military presence, as the Western Sahara motioned for independence, Morocco moved in and strengthened its presence in the area, a strategic motion based on the wealth of the area and the significance of the port and associated fishery. The military presence made filming and access to the port tricky, and as we were to soon find out, this would be our problem through out Morocco. The military although ever present were unassuming, and one never felt unsafe. According to a mate who flew over the military barracks, there are huge cannons and guns all pointed at strategic entry points to Dahkla, somewhat unnerving but ready for any attempt at kicking the oposition out.

I digress, back to diving; we finally located the dive store and negotiated a dive. Although this sounds simple it wasn’t. We were assured that the diving was excellent; we could either swim onto a shipwreck or explore a reef with abundant fish life. The options were tantalizing, the reality well, just wait and see.

We negotiated a 2-dive package for the 3 of us, which would cost Dh 1600 (or 160 Euros). Dad and I tried to bash the price down offering publicity and photos for media, but not to be, until Linda got onto the scene. She got stuck into this poor chap and before we knew it the dive price was halved and we were on our way to see the magic beneath, or so we thought.

The dive compressor rattled alongside the cliff filling the tanks as we put on our wetsuits. The water temperature was about 20 degrees, pleasant to say the least. We packed the small, really small boat with really, really small motor with all the dive gear and slowly putted (for lack of a word suggesting no speed at all) out to sea. The green/black water did not look inviting. After an hour and only a short distance from our departure point, it was time to descent into the muck. Not sure if we could get any footage or pictures we descended through the vomit like clarity and finally got to the silted ugly bottom 10 meters down. We did find a reef though; there it was a rock in all its glory sporting an array of one cucumber and a pretty small fish of some sort. My mind was doing the maths 80 Euros for a cucumber, now there is a bargain. After examining the rock for all it had, we went exploring and to our surprise found a slightly bigger reef, 4 or 5 bigger rocks. There were more fish present, but it was hard to see them. We spent 63 minutes underwater scrounging for any possible footage and trying to get an understanding of life underwater in the Western Sahara, not as easy as it might initially appear to be.






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