If goats could walk on water....

For me this photo shows a clash of ecosystems and a reminder that the desert and the sea are uncomfortable neighbours in Sudan. Stand with your heals on the waters edge and facing away from the sea the thing that strikes you is the silence. you hear nothing, no waves, no gentle caressing of the sand, no idyllic transition from land into the sea. Instead an abrupt silence. You would not know that behind you is one of the most diverse and riches marine ecosystems in the world. That metres away below the sea surface lie coral gardens, colourful fish and an assortment of the bizarre and rare. Beyond that, the sea depth drops away and reaches the abyssal depths of 3 km where little is known. Standing here, facing away from the sea and looking at the desert with its extreme openness, and feeling of nothingness you could be in the middle of the desert. But as you turn around the openness continues and here is perhaps the link between the land and sea, because as you turn the far horizon of the desert merges with that of the sea and the feeling of the desert continues and surrounds you. For the beja that sometimes sit and watch the sea, tending their goats, it may appear that the sea is just an extension of their desert. They rarely enter the water, catch or eat its fish. Like the house on this photo above, the Beja sit at the waters edge and if their goats could walk on water and graze on the sea they might understand it better. The fishers that do venture and use the water and live off its renewable supply of fish nearly always come from outside from another tribe. Perhaps from the Nile where there is a tradition of fishing that they now use in the sea.

Fishing by other people that come from outside is also happening with Sudan's offshore waters. The government has restricted the size of the Sudanese fishing boats and engines to 11m and 40hp so the distances and capacity of each boat is limited. This has been done to stop smuggling. Very good you might say, no chance of becoming pirates. However the offshore waters and its rich supply of pelagic fish such as tuna, jacks and shark now belong to the fishermen from other countries. Some are given licenses to trawl for prawn and anything else they can fish as they are allowed to keep their by-catch. Whilst others enter and leave at will. Perhaps if these illegal boats were stealing goats there would be more concern from the beja but here the values are different. For those in Khartoum who make the deals from the licensing of many an Egyptian trawler the value of the marine resource is personally very high. Certainly more than a few goats worth.

Embedded in the Fishery Administration

Its important for me to work closely with government staff during my time here. Some believe that you should by-pass the state as they are corrupt and incompetent and one should work directly with fishers and private sector but in Africa and in many developing countries the state and the people are very closely interlinked. The significance of history and the long enduring relations between the state and people (fishers in this case) is something that should not be overlooked. The state are the people and the people the state and yes corruption and incompetence prevail and I would also add lashings of apathy but at the heart of many of the problems facing fisheries and natural resources is the issue of governance.

During my first visit in June it was decided that I should have an office in the fishery administration. After some initial blank stares I was put in an office with a very capable man called Mamduh Abdullah Osman. I did not have a desk but this was quickly resolved (within a few days) when one appeared and was hammered together. Unlike many of my peers the office has no AC and the heat particularly in the afternoons was quite something and still is. However, the working day is not very arduous. It starts around 8.30, each office has some comfortable chairs around the walls (a bit of an Arab thing I believe) so rather than have meetings around a table western style we sit around and well talk. Its very sociable and you meet all sorts. My office is next to the stores and licensing so its visited by most fishermen, traders and colleagues from neighbouring institutions. The talking goes on for about an hour or so and then its breakfast. Anyone who has worked in Sudan for any period of time will know that breakfast is an important part of the day which proceeds prays. Breakfast consists of lots of flattened bread and a large bowl of ful (baked kidneys beans mixed with oil into a sauce sometimes with white 'feta' cheese). Its pretty nice and this is shared with anyone who is around - all hands in the bowl style. I was looking for printers the other day and got invited to breakfast in the IT shop. Also Im getting breakfast invites from other organisations so its quite a thing. Breakfast and prays usually take up about an hour and half and then there is a run of work until 2-ish when its time for lunch break which proceeds the end of the working day at 3pm so really anything after 1pm is quite hard to organise. So mornings can be quite frantic when you are trying to get things done and meet people etc to maximise the 3-4 hour day.

It may seem laughable and many donors and staff tell me the government staff are lazy and perhaps they are but wouldn’t you be if you had no budget, no resources, no car, no investments, a rubbish salary and no direction. Sudan is just waiting. My colleague feels that he is wasting his life. He is very smart but has lost hope. For me as an outsider its easy - I come and I go. Hopefully I make a difference, influence someone, change a life but with no support from higher government its becomes very difficult for such changes to endure. Its my greatest challenge sustainability. Check out the photo above of my desk bee put together and tell me if these guys have the resources to manage and develop their fisheries.

Hi to all my followers...currently I have none.....I am perhaps a reluctant blogger as blogs can sometimes read like the rantings of a personal diary revealing thoughts and moments in a life that can be interesting or otherwise...but I was persuaded by my good friend Fransisco to do one so I dedicate this blog to him. He has an excellent blog by the way http://mundo-francisco.blogspot.com/


My blog starts in north Sudan, where I live and work in a town called Port Sudan. Dusty, very dry and hot, Port Sudan is the hub of this desert state and the coastal gateway to the country. The population is officially recorded at 300,000 but is perhaps closer to 800,000, as people have moved here from the coutryside to look for work, escape drought and build their lives after 37 years of conflict. In 2005, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed between the southern rebels and khartoum government and a year later the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement was signed with the Beja of the Red Sea State drawing to a close Africa's longest running civil war.


Port Sudan was designed by the British about 100 years ago. Its based on a grid system of roads, raliways and buildings that were developed to assist the export of cotton to the mills of Manchester and the products that fueled Britian's industrialisation. The town has Anglican churches, civic and nautical buildings and at its heart the souk (market) where anything from dates to 4x4 Hilux's can be bought. The relationship between Sudan and Britain is long and enduring and a topic of a future blog. But I have met old men that speak 'BBC English', others that accompanied Prince Philip's visit in the 70's to show him the reefs as well as folk that attended Grimsby College or managed a new agents in Charing Cross and love London.

Whilst much of the attention of the international community has been drawn to southern Sudan, the investments in the RSS have been mainly in the agriculture sector with only a small amount invested in the sea and its fisheries. This is where I work. I am the technical advisor to the fishery sector funded by the European Union and I have an office in the State's Fishery Administration, which has seen little investment and few donors in the last 20 years.

Ironically, the Red Sea fishery is the most productive resoure in the state. With the land suffering from drought and needing extensive irrigation investments, the sea continues to provide fish and marine produce to its coastal communities. The coastal community come from the Beja tribe who have a few generations of fishing experience. Unlike many other coastal communities throughout the world that are demanding more and more from their local fishery the Beja's preference is for meat and therefore local demand for fish is low.

My work aims to improve the management of the Red Sea fishery and the livelihoods of its fishers. The Red Sea in Sudan is a complex of coral reefs and islands with multiple fish species and different users. Fisheries management is not about managing fish its about managing people, and the main challenge facing Sudan relates to its governance. There is a constant tension between Khartoum and the rest of Sudan, between its periphery and centre. For the 1000 or so small-scale fishers that use hook and line to fish the 870 km of coastline, their lives and communities are on the extreme periphery of Sudan's governance. Now both the federal and state government are sparing over its petroleum deposits and wanting to develop its tourism potentials. How the Beja respond to change will determine how the marine resources develop. Over the next year or so I hope to keep you up-to-date with how events unfold as well as what life is like in one of the world's more remote maritime and cultural gems.