the Wagenia, these intrepid fishermen

The Congo River is one of the most powerful rivers on the planet, and one of the most dangerous too. In the Kisangani region (Democratic Republic of Congo), the river becomes particularly nervous. This is where the Wagenia, a fishing community whose technique is unique in the world, work. They catch fish with traps, made by hand. “You have to tighten these vines hard to make it solid“, testifies one of the fishermen.

Every day, a team climbs with bare hands on the wooden scaffolding to attach the traps. Others are tied in the water as the river boils. “If the fishermen don’t intervene to lift the trap in five minutes, you’re dead.“, explains a fisherman. The traps then remain in the water. “Here we only know fishing. It is our means of subsistence. We don’t grow anything. Fishing is the know-how that our ancestors passed on to us, it’s all we know how to do“, says Jérôme Aundja, fisherman. And despite the risks, the fishing is not always very good.