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As a megaport rises in Cameroon, a delicate coastal ecosystem ebbs

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Since he was old enough to work, Sam Elong has been a fisherman in Kribi, a coastal town of more than 90,000 inhabitants that stretches along the shore of the Gulf of Guinea at the mouth of the Kienké and Lobé rivers in Cameroon. “Before, when we went fishing, we used to come back with 100-150 kg [220-330 pounds] of fish,” Elong tells Mongabay during a video call. “But over the last 10 years or so, since the port has been built, fish have been less easy to find … The construction of the port has made a lot of noise, and the waves are stronger. It pushes the fish away. Now, after fishing, we come home with 70 to 80 kg [154-176 lbs] of fish.” A father of four in his 40s, Elong spends most of his time at sea, returning to the dock only on market days, Wednesdays and Saturdays, to sell his catch. But in recent years, he’s had less and less to sell. He says he has financial difficulties and struggles to feed his children. “At the present time we eat breakfast in the morning, and then in the afternoon and in the evening we struggle on like this, with nothing in our stomachs. We can’t do otherwise.” he says. Yet Kribi is renowned for its fish. Customers come from the cities of Douala, Yaoundé and Bafoussam to stock up. A decline in fishing could have dramatic consequences for the fishermen of Kribi as well as…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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