Hit by Covid, Senegal's women find renewed hope in fishing

Ndeye Yacine Dieng drops embers over peanut shells covering fish. Since her birth on Senegal's coast, the ocean has always given Ndeye Yacine Dieng life. Photos: AP/Leo Correa

Since her birth on Senegal’s coast, the ocean has always given Ndeye Yacine Dieng life. Her grandfather was a fisherman, and her grandmother and mother processed fish. Like generations of women, she now helps support her family in the small community of Bargny by drying, smoking, salting and fermenting the catch brought home by male villagers. They were baptized by fish, these women say.

But when the pandemic struck, boats that once took as many as 50 men out to sea carried only a few. Many residents were too terrified to leave their houses, let alone fish, for fear of catching the virus.