Fish trade is without doubt the most important market branch in Moree, and the leader of the female traders is the Fish Queen Mother (konkohene). She has an assistant woman, who is the leader of a council of seven women; the Queen Mother's "helpers". A Queen Mother is elected by the fish traders for her life time. She must be a mature woman with extensive knowledge of the fisheries, and her main role is to be a negotiator and mediator when there are problems and conflicts concerning fish trade between the women, for example over the quantity or quality of fish.
Well over a generation ago each fisherman handed over his share of the catch to his wife or female relative. She smoked and sold the fish, gave the fisherman the amount of money they had agreed upon, and kept any surplus from the market price, the bontodo. The sale of a canoe's catch now usually goes through a wholesaler or enam enyi (woman selling fish)8. Together with the bosun (the captian of the canoe) she is in charge of the counting of fish and control that the sale of the fish is done correctly; that the crew member's wives or other women get no more or less than they are entitled to buy.
The enam enyi is usually one of the canoe owner's wives or, as already indicated, she may be a canoe owner herself. In addition to being a wholesaler the enam enyi has an important function as a creditor. She can give short term consumption loans to the fishermen and she advances fresh fish to the fish buyers, so that they can smoke it, sell it and pay back later when they have the money. From her, the canoe owner can get a long term investment loan in order to buy for instance outboard motors, nets or petrol. The advantage for both the fishermen and the enam enyi is that the debt is repaid in the form of fish. This makes the repayment more flexible for the fishermen, and it ensures the woman's supply of fish.
A canoe's catch is counted in number of enamel pans (one pan of herring is approximately 28 kg), it's value estimated according to the day's beach price. The catch can be shared in various ways, depending on ownership and the internal organisation of the crew. For example, a canoe (with a male owner) has a crew of 20 men. The owner has two wives of which his first wife is the enam enyi and among the crew 16 of them have one wife, while the remainding 4 have two. If the canoe had a good catch of 100 pans of herring, the procedure of division is often as follows: The cost of petrol - the petrol share - which for this trip was equivalent to the value of 20 pans, is first deducted. That means that both owner and crew contribute to the major expence of petrol. The enam enyi is responsible for selling the fish of the petrol share, and out of the income, the bontodo, to purchase petrol for the next fishing trip. In addition to covering the expences for petrol, the enam enyi is also responsible for providing food and provisions for the crew.
The remainings of the catch (80 pans) is shared in two; fifty fifty. 50% (40 pans) goes to the crew. Since this canoe has a crew of 20 men they get the income of 2 pans each. Each of the 16 single wives are entitled to 2 pans, but the 8 co-wives will only recieve one pan each.
The other 50% (40 pans) is for the owner and is divided in three shares; one for the canoe, one for the motor and one for the net. These are the shares his wife/wives are entitled to buy, and the 40 pans will be divided between them. Table 1 summarizes the division of the total catch among the women.
Table 1 Division of catch according to shares and to wives of fishermen.
| Petrol share | Owner's share | Crew's share | Pans/woman | Total | |
| Enam enyi | 20 | 20 | - | 40 | 40 |
| Owner's 2.wife | - | 20 | - | 20 | 20 |
| Single wives of crew (16) | - | - | 32 | 2 | 32 |
| Co-wives of crew (8) | - | - | 8 | 1 | 8 |
| Total | 20 | 40 | 40 | - | 100 |
When we look at this example we see the economic advatage of being married to a canoe owner and even better: to be enam enyi. Although she has no bontodo for the 20 pans of the petrol share, she can choose to buy and process it for herself. Even if he had had 3 wives, they could have bought 13 pans each, compared to the 1-2 pans of the wife of a crew member. An even more advantageous situation is of course when the woman owns the canoe herself. Then she gets the shares of the canoe, motor and net, and she earnes both the sales price and the bontodo of the 40 pans. We shall retun to the importance of marrying a canoe owner in the career of a woman, but we will first take a closer look at how they go about it in their occupations of fish smokers and traders.
Women do not only buy fish from the canoes in Moree. Those who can afford it hire taxis and purchase fish from the nearby fish market in Elmina. They also go to other towns further away, such as Axim, if the rumour goes of good fisheries in that area. One solution, especially during the lean season, is to buy frozen fish from the coldstores in Tema. Another source of fish supply is the factory trawlers that are called the Koreans. These are industrial trawlers owned by foreign companies in Tema. Not all of them are Korean, but are named so in Moree. In Moree only female canoe owners have special agreements with the commercial trawling companies to buy the by-catch, known as dumping fish. In return they supply the trawlers with provisions. Only the women's canoes, which are known as Seicos and are registered by number, are allowed to approach the trawlers.
Some of the fish is salted and/or dried, but the great bulk is smoked on the traditional circular mud ovens. Depending on the length of the smoking process and the storing practices, the fish can be kept for more than six months. It is in processing and long distance trade the profit potential in fish production lies. The smoked fish from Moree is marketed in Mankessim the year around, and some small scale traders can never afford to go further. Some go to Swedru, Accra and Techiman. But Kumasi is the most important market during the main season or when there is a bumper catch. Those traders who have large smoking and storing capacity can also go to Kumasi during the lean season when fish fetches the highest prices. The fish is transported in big trucks to the inland markets, while the traders themselves go by public transport via Accra on a better road. During the bumper season groups of traders often hire a bus, a Benz, and go together directly from Moree to Kumasi 9.
During the main fishing season, many of the large-scale traders stay at home in Moree administering their enterprises. In such busy periods they send a daughter or younger sister, called a representative, to Kumasi to take care of the fish trade. These travel back and forth between Moree and the market in Kumasi, or they stay in the receiving end for 2-3 months during the whole season from July to September. The traders have also developed a sending system, which is practical when the traders do not travel with the fish themselves; each woman has a symbol, a painted figure on her head pans and fish boxes, or if she sends the fish in baskets, each is equipped with a piece of cloth. The truck driver as well as the trader's partners in the marketing town must know her symbol. It is important to know the driver well, he is ofen trusted with large amounts of money, which are carefuly packed and marked with the "symbol cloth". Most of the traders stay with a lodging woman (also called middlewoman) in the marketing town. She also provides them with credit and other facilities in the market. Such lodging women often have a middleman in their service, these are men from northern Ghana who organize carriers, arrange the wholesale trade, negotiate between the women, deliver and collect money. Personal contacts are of vital importance since the whole system of trade is based on credit and trust, and often life-long trading relationships develop.
