Fishermen of Essaouira
It’s 7am. The embers of the early sunshine are beginning to wrap their way around the globe, making the seas calm waters echo the expanding purples and blues from the sky above.
Although the day is just beginning for many, it started hours ago for the fisherman of Essaouira who wake-up in the early hours of the morning on the hunt for sardines.
Sardines, which represent over 60% of the Moroccan daily fish catch, come out to eat early in the shallows before the sun starts heating their waters; driving them to the shadows.
Many of the fishermen in Essaouira still use small traditional fishing boats, that are light enough to carry to the seafront where they await the sets of waves to lift their vessels and pull them out to sea.
The fishermen return in waves bringing with them their bounty. It’s quickly sorted before being iced and distributed to the nearby restaurants and markets. Larger vessels and ports are used for international exports.
Alcohol, although forbidden to be consumed in public by anyone but tourists, emerges from nooks and crannies, often disguised in blank label-less bottles. The homemade spirit known as ‘Mahya’ (water of life) is made using traditional techniques that often don’t meet market standards, and is usually sold on the black market. In Morocco, they consume over 70 million liters of this homemade beverage a year.
As the orange light begins to fall, so does the activity in the shipyard; the fishermen dispersing upon the town before tomorrow’s early call.
Photography & words by Tom Ford