The beach there by Ribeira da Barca
It's there that most kids are playing
The ball we made out of cloth and any scraps, so it wasn't a ball like this
Before i moved to Sweden I played football in Ribeira da Barca on the beach, like all the other kids,
and then when i moved here I started to play in teams.
Once, there was a lot of sand.
All of this was covered by sand.
1999 I went back and I hadn't been back in ten years
and I discovered that the beach was gone
People saw that they could make a bit of money, so...
one took sand and sold it for building houses over the entire island.
Nowadays we must go into the sea
and take it to land.
There are many youths that are dependent on this work.
There is noting else.
I got sad and cried,
so it was awful because the was not what I had expected.
One has to eat, one has to pay bills, the kids have to go to school,
so of course you need money.
So if there is no fishing you find other alternatives.
Some gather sand.
Fish for Ribeira da Barca means like oil for other places,
so it's... It's their money.
The fish nowdays. There's not much of it.
I don't know why, but the fish nowdays...
Once upon a time there was lots of fish.
Lots of it!
There are days when I make
50 Euros, 30 Euros, 20 Euros.
There are also days when I go to sea, and make nothing,
because when I go, I find no fish.
There is a fishing treaty with the European Union.
They are allowed to fish almost 5000 tons
and for each extra ton there is a fee of about 60 Euros.
Day by day the catches are diminishing, because much fishing is done illegally
and many don't declare their catches.
Those foreign boats come here to Cape Verde to fish.
They have other resources.
Much more efficient than those we use here in Cape Verde.
They catch a lot of fish.
I feel that they are stealing fish here in Cape Verde.
I cannot say that we are being exploited,
There is a treaty which has been ratified by the Cape Verdean Government,
but these people should pay a fair price for the resource.
It's sad that this big giants take from the little people that can't do anything,
It just shows how reality is.
Who the big thieves are...