Before being a commercial crossroads or a colonial capital, Aneho was — and fundamentally remains — a fishing village. Resting on the narrow strip of sand that separates Lake Togo and the Mono River from the immensity of the Atlantic Ocean, the city lives to the rhythm of the tides. Here, fishing is not just a profession; it is the very soul of the geography.
The Ballet of the Cast Net
The image has become iconic: at dawn or dusk, men stand in precarious balance on slender carved wooden pirogues. With a movement of athletic grace, they deploy the cast net. The net opens in the air like a gigantic circular spider web before crashing onto the surface of the clear lagoon water.
This gentle and silent estuary fishing mainly targets carp, tilapia, crabs, and giant shrimp that proliferate in brackish waters (where the fresh water of the lagoon mixes with the salt water of the ocean when the river mouth opens).
Traditional cast net fishing, a secular gesture passed down from father to son.
Oceanic Fishing: The Big Thrill
While the lagoon offers serene fishing, the Atlantic Ocean is the theater of a fierce struggle. The waves on the Aneho coast are reputed to be among the fiercest in the Gulf of Guinea. The immense sea pirogues, painted in bright colors and often stamped with biblical verses or protective symbols, must cross the formidable wave bar.
The return of the deep-sea fishermen at midday is a spectacle of human cooperation. Dozens of men (and sometimes women) line up on the beach to collectively pull the enormous net (the beach seine) from the sea to the dry sand, singing to the rhythm of the effort to coordinate their strength.
« The ocean is not given, it is earned. And what the lagoon offers you with gentleness, the sea tears from you by force. »
The Indispensable Role of Women
As soon as the fish touches the sand, the men step back and the realm of women begins. The fishmongers buy the catch directly and handle the entire value chain. The fish are scaled, salted, and then taken to vast courtyards where hundreds of artisanal ovens smoke the fish over a low fire. It is this golden smoked fish, a true local economic nugget, that will then be conveyed to the major regional markets of Lome, Cotonou, or Lagos.