Visiting The Largest Fish Market In Mogadishu, Somalia 🇸🇴
Intro
During my time in Mogadishu, Somalia, I got up to quite a few activities, one of them being visiting the largest fish market in Somalia. Being a fisherman at heart, I found it interesting to see how many fish are in the ocean near Mogadishu. I am already planning a trip back to go fishing for billfish.
DISCLAIMER: THIS POST CONTAINS PICTURES OF DEAD FISH AND TURTLES.
The Experience
One of the staple pieces of Somalia's business is the fishing industry. Located in downtown Mogadishu, it is one of the largest fish markets in the country. Countless fishermen spend days on the seas to come back in the morning and sell their fish for 5 cents a kilo, even for yellowfin tuna.
While I am a fisherman, I am strictly catch and release for billfish.
When I say Somalia has fish, I have never seen so many gamefish in a market in the world. Everything you could think of, from Mackerel to Yellowfin to Marlin to Sharks to Sailfish to Turtles.
What really shocked me was seeing the turtles being killed. At first, I held an ethnocentric perspective since I didn't understand why they would kill these magnificent creatures. However, my guide told me that the reason is that turtles contain natural medicines for healing the flu and colds. I still don't think it's right, but it is also not my place to judge as it's not my culture, and I don't know much about it.
Then there were the billfish. If you come in the early mornings, it is truly exceptional as hundreds of fishermen are lugging in giant black marlin, giant blue marlin, and sailfish. Numbers-wise, Somalia might have the most billfish in the whole world. When I was there, I saw about 15 in the market, and that was after all of them had been sold.
I spent a good 30 minutes in the market just observing and understanding the day-to-day life. The Somali people were very friendly to me and even ripped a tooth out of a shark that had just been caught to give me as a souvenir. It's weird because the profit margins for fishermen in Somalia are so low. One sells their fish for 50 cents a kilo to the market, and the market sells it for 2 USD a kilo to the customers. Usually, Yellowfin Tuna would be more prestigious, but every fish has the same cost in the market.
Final Thoughts
It was a beautiful and enlightening experience visiting the fish market in Mogadishu, Somalia. Sure, things were a lot different, and that surprised me, as I saw dead billfish and dead turtles, but then again, I also understand that this is necessary for survival in Somalia. It was an incredible experience, and I want to thank everybody at the market that was really nice to me.
With that being said, I would really love to come back to Mogadishu and do some fishing. I do not want to take fish from the ocean since I know Somalis are protective of their fish, but just to hook up to some monster marlin and then release or give away to other fishermen to sell. Any chance you guys would let me? I can only imagine the numbers in this country.
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