‘The fish fled’: Nile fisherman earning more from collecting plastic than fish

At 6am, Mohammed Ahmed Sayed Mohammed steers his boat from al-Qarsaya island toward Cairo’s Nile and its riverside clubs, a life he began as a 14-year-old fishing apprentice who never returned to his Assiut birthplace.

“At 6am, Mohammed Ahmed Sayed Mohammed steers his boat from al-Qarsaya island through Cairo’s Nile waters towards the capital’s riverside clubs”

The Guardian

Fifteen years ago he searched for fish here, but declining catches and plastic pollution have pushed about 180 fishers on al-Qarsaya to switch from fishing to waste collection, in a community of roughly 200 families.

The Guardian

VeryNile, launched in 2018 by the Egyptian social enterprise Bassita, pays above-market rates for plastic waste to offer an economic alternative as fish populations dwindle.

Winter fishing once yielded Sayed 25kg of fish daily; today he catches 4-5kg, which he can sell at 70 Egyptian pounds per kilogram (£1.10).

Plastic collection generates higher income: plastic sells for 33 pounds per kilogram (£0.52), up from eight pounds (£0.13) in 2018 when the Very Nile initiative began.

The Guardian

Tin cans fetch 85 pounds (£1.34) per kilogram.

During summer’s low season, Sayed collects 20kg of plastic daily, while winter peaks bring 2,000-3,000 pounds (£31-£47) monthly from plastic alone.

Al-Qarsaya sits opposite al-Bahr al-Azam Street, one of Cairo’s main streets, and hosts the Pharaonic Village, yet remains accessible only by ferry or boat.

“At 6am, Mohammed Ahmed Sayed Mohammed steers his boat from al-Qarsaya island through Cairo’s Nile waters towards the capital’s riverside clubs”

The Guardian

The island’s residents work primarily in fishing and farming, but the community lacks adequate healthcare services and employment opportunities for women outside the Very Nile initiative.

Sayed’s wife died three years ago and his three children did not complete their education.

The Very Nile project employs 25 island women in kitchen operations, sorting workshops and product design, has distributed 150 boats to fishers without charge, runs an emergency clinic and buys produce from farmers, and Sayed used income to build a cafe for his eldest son Mohammed on the island.

Waste collected by fishers, much of it from party boats on the Nile, is processed into products made from bottle caps and plastic bags.

Since 2018, the Very Nile initiative has collected more than 454 tonnes of plastic waste from the Nile and processes it at a recycling factory in 6th of October City.

The Guardian

The fishers who once fed Cairo with fish are now supplying its recycling economy, a shift born of environmental degradation that communities like al-Qarsaya are turning into livelihood opportunities.