A context of vulnerability in which sacrifices are born: Maria had to start selling fish with her mother, carrying a tub on her head, in Ribeira Grande de Santiago, a routine that symbolizes selflessness for families and for an economic activity that the Government wanted to honor by instituting, this year, the Fisherwomen's Day.

Maria Semedo's secret was to always save 100 escudos whenever she could.

She saved so much that she got married, built a house and moved to the capital, Praia. 

With the mortgage of the house, the family bought the first boat, in a business that grew until it had four boats that make Tufuca one of the main shipowners in the country, employing almost 90 people and, in the meantime, helping two of three children to finish their higher education, breaking the sphere of vulnerability that, as a young woman, had involved her.

"I am confident that, with this work, I can achieve all the dreams I asked God for", she told Lusa.

One of them is to create a fish processing company, but, for now, she asks for more support from fishing shipowners, space for fish storage, more ice and a market just for selling fish, separate from the unloading activity.

Tufuca is one of hundreds of fishmongers - women dominate the activity - who frequent the fishing dock of the port of Praia every day, which has been concessioned to the company Cabo Verde Ocean since 2019.

Next to her, Ingina Moniz Correia, 65, started selling fish at the age of 18.

She is one of the oldest in the space and one of the best prepared to summarize what is currently happening in the sector: fish is more expensive and quantities are decreasing in the seas of Cape Verde.

In other words, the profession requires doing the math every day, but Ingina says that she will be a fishmonger "until death", regretting another sacrifice, that of never having enrolled in social security to benefit from support when "the body can't take it anymore".

The lack of social support is one of the portraits of the informality that prevails in this activity.

About half of the employed population in Cape Verde works informally and the fishmonger profession is one of those in which this modality predominates.

In the midst of so many women is Paulo da Veiga, 47, with a stall for over 20 years, where he sells "big fish", such as tuna, sawfish or wreckfish.

Sacrifices? Yes, he says, without hiding the discomfort of someone who wakes up every day at 5:00 am, but aware that this earns him a valuable income.

The Government of Cape Verde has instituted May 17 as National Fisherwomen's Day, in recognition of the promotion "of the country's fishing value chain and food security".

At the same time, it pays homage to "all the sacrifice" that is demanded of them, as they are, in many cases, "heads of single-parent families, responsible for raising and educating their children".

The date follows the example of what already happens "with the national fisherman, who is celebrated on a specific day", February 5.

According to the Fishing Census, in 2021, the archipelago had about 1,881 fishmongers.

Read Also: Cabo Verde with practically zero deficit in the first quarter (Portuguese version)

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