Tombua Desert Sea Town, Angola
Tombwa (also known as Tombua or Porto Alexandre) is a city of Namibe Province in southern Angola. It has an estimated population of 40,000 inhabitants. It is an important port on the South Atlantic Ocean for oil production and fishing.
Fishing in Angola was a major and growing industry before independence from Portugal in 1975. During 1975–76, some of the processing plants were destroyed, and most of the modern fishing boats left with portuguese refugees. Consequently to thirty years of war, human absence left the incredible marine resources of rivers and coastline of Angola untouched. Hence the interest of the foreign fishing companies which perform the majority of the catching (italian, spanish and japanese companies in particular). Fresh fish, fish meal, dried fish, and fish oil are produced for the domestic market and for export. In 2000, the Angolan catch was 238,000 tons (while it was about 300,000 in the early 1970’s), 97 per cent being caught from the sea. This catching enabled to export 11 million US dollars of fish products the same year. Foreign fleets under license fishing in Angolan waters have to leave a part of their catching to Angola as payment in kind in order to ensure and provide fish for local supply.
Epic Angola Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound
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