Fishin' in the dark 4/1/11

Lake Victoria has a very diverse aquatic life.  From the abundance of tiny snails that carry Shistosomiasis to Nile perch over 100lb. But one of the most interesting is the omena.  Omena are a tiny fish, usually about an inch and a half when full grown.  In other parts of the world omena would probably be ignored or used as bait, like the minnows in US lakes.  But, not in Africa. Omena are caught, dried, and eaten all around the lake.  You can see huge nests of the tiny fish spread out on the beach every morning, waiting for the sun to bake them.

                We were sitting at our favorite hang-out (the only place to buy a beer in Matoso), talking with some friends about omena.  We stared asking about the boats that we saw out on the lake every night and how they are caught.  It turns out that our friend Sammy worked on an omena boat as a young man. “Would you like to go out and see it for yourselves?” he offered. Of course!!!

                So, a few days later Matt and I were walking to the beach at 8:30 pm ready for a few hours out on the high seas.  We met with the boat owner.  He had a motor that we could use, so he had made a deal with another boat of fishermen.  He would tow them out to the fishing grounds if they would let us watch them fish.  They seemed to think that was a pretty good deal, and went about starting the pressure lamps.  These are kerosene lanterns that you pump to increase the pressure of the gas so it burns brighter.  They are a vital part of the omena business.   

We had managed to procure three life vests making us the only people going out on Lake Victoria that night wearing bright orange, reflector clad outer wear.  We definitely got a few looks, but once I saw the state of the boat, I was okay with looking silly.  The four of us (Matt, Sammy, the driver, and I) hopped into the long wooden vessel and put our feet into the three inches of water in the bottom.  It had been raining, so we didn’t think much about it.  Sammy started to bail the water out with a small pail.

We tied the other boat to ours and began slowly moving out into the lake. As the shore receded into the darkness I became thankful that I was not navigating.  You see, there is no electricity in our area, which means no lights.  And this particular night, there was no moon (which makes it perfect for fishing).  So, the only guide posts to navigate by were the stars and the cell phone towers 20km in either direction.  Everything else just melted together in the darkness.  Ahead was a sea of yellow lanterns bobbing gently.  We got to a spot that seemed promising and unhooked the other boat. They began paddling around dropping their lantern floats into the water.  Then we waited.

The way you catch omena is by attracting bugs.  So, the fishermen put bright lanterns on the water and wait 30 minutes.  The omena are attracted to the swarming insects and begin jumping out of the water around the lights.  Then the boat circles the lantern with a net and slowly pulls the net in collecting all of the fish underneath.  This takes a team of four men and typical net-full wouldn’t fill a grocery bag.  The fishermen fish all night just to make a small profit if they are lucky.   

After the second catch we noticed that Sammy was bailing water again. Now there were 6 inches of water in the boat. It seemed like a good time to turn back. So we thanked our new friends and started motoring back to shore. As we pulled away from the lanterns it became clear how amazing the night was; a sky full of stars and the Milky Way stretching right through the middle and behind us thousands of lanterns all across Lake Victoria. It looked like a city stretching out on the water. I have never seen anything like it. As we walked home Matt and I marveled at the amazing adventure and felt privileged to be some of the few “mazungus” to ever experience it.