Entre terres et eaux : pêche maritime et évolution des systèmes de production en Casamance.

Abstract

M.-C. Cormier-Salem—Between Land and Sea: Seafishing and the Evolution of the Systems of Production in Casamance. Up to the igth century, the marine resources of Casamance, the southern region of Senegal, were neglected; the fishermen were migrants from other Senegalese coastal regions. The local populations of Casamance, especially the Diola communities whose farming System is mainly based on riceculture, have taken up seafishing only two decades ago. This paper focuses on the ecological, political, social and economie factors leading to this conversion founding its argument on the differentiation between the relations to fishing and the relations to the sea according to the coastal societies. This article also shows that the traditional use, by rural communities, of inland aquatic spaces in lower Casamance created true "aquatic terri tories". This traditional management is now threatened by the environmental changes (the Sahel drought) but mostly by rural migrations to the cities. These changes will affect the relationship between fishing and agriculture and, in this context, a new way of running aquatic spaces will take place including the splitting of former "territories".