Uvuvi (Tanzania, Zanzibar)

In Zanzibari Swahili, uvuvi refers to the act of fishing, but also, more broadly, to a way of relating to marine life based on attention, endurance, and memory. Here, coastal fishing is transmitted orally, without a written plan or exact measurements, but with a precise knowledge of lunar cycles, winds, and currents. The seagrass meadow, often ignored by visitors, is in reality a nourishing space: a refuge for fish, a filter for the waters, a witness to the health of the lagoons. In this world governed by the tides, the art of fishing is as much a matter of technique as a sensory reading of the shore.