from HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to world@lemmy.world on 15 Mar 12:00
https://sh.itjust.works/post/56841190
At 6am, Mohammed Ahmed Sayed Mohammed steers his boat from al-Qarsaya island through Cairo’s Nile waters towards the capital’s riverside clubs. Fifteen years ago, he searched for fish. Now he hunts plastic bottles.
“The fish fled from the plastic chokehold,” said Sayed, who has lived on the Giza island since arriving from Assiut, further south on the Nile, as a 14-year-old fishing apprentice. He never returned to his village, marrying locally and raising three children who now live alongside him with their 12 grandchildren on the island housing 200 families.
Declining fish populations, caused by plastic pollution in the river, have forced approximately 180 fishers on al-Qarsaya to pivot from traditional fishing to waste collection.
VeryNile, launched in 2018 by the Egyptian social enterprise Bassita, has aims to clean up the river by paying fishers above-market rates for collected plastic waste. The initiative buys plastic at prices significantly higher than a standard recycling plant would pay, providing an economic alternative as fish populations decline due to pollution.
#world
threaded - newest