Description
The fish market of Elmina is the most vibrant and authentic fishing market in West Africa. Located beside the town's fishing harbour and close to the famous Elmina Castle, it offers visitors a fascinating glimpse into everyday coastal life in Ghana.
Fishing is the economic heart of Elmina. About 75% of the town's population depends directly or indirectly on fishing and related activities. The harbour is one of Ghana's most important fish landing sites, handling a significant share of the country's artisanal fish catch.
In the morning brightly painted wooden fishing canoes return from the sea. Fishermen unload their catch while traders—mostly women—sort, negotiate, and sell fish at remarkable speed. The market is full of activity, noise, and colour, with species such as herring, mackerel, barracuda, shrimp, squid and many others changing hands.
A distinctive feature of Elmina is the important role of women in the fish trade. Many buy fish directly from the boats and either sell it fresh or take it to nearby smokehouses, where fish is preserved over slow-burning wood fires. Smoked fish from Elmina is distributed throughout Ghana and is a staple ingredient in many local dishes.
In 2023, a major redevelopment of the fishing harbour was completed. The modernized facility includes a new fish market, auction hall, net-mending area, daycare centre, improved docking facilities, and other infrastructure designed to support the local fishing industry.
We visited Ghana on our overland trip by car (a Toyota LandCruiser 4WD campervan) from West-Africa; see our channel https://www.youtube.com/user/JanvanBekkum for hundreds of clips. More clips of Ghana can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMYlw_C7EP8KqyTKPnPCZ38MjsZxf_bkB. Enjoy more markets by playing the clips in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMYlw_C7EP8K3F6XCwWuo4kChlTHlhgRB.
Music and/or sound effects:
- 'Whimsy Groove' by Kevin MacLeod. Link: www.incompetech.com. License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/;
- 'Symphony of the Streets. Hip-Hop Background Music for video 60 second' created by Maksim Dudchyk and uploaded from Pixbay (https://pixabay.com/nl/music/orkestraal-symphony-of-the-streets-hip-hop-background-music-for-video-60-second-476679/).;
- 'Calm inspiring technology logo short version' created by Alex Zavesa, distributed by Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/film-special-effects-calm-inspiring-technology-logo-short-version-518993/).