The Banc d’Arguin National Park, located on Mauritania’s northern coast, is home to around 4,000 Imraguen people, the only community permitted to live within the protected reserve. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1989, the park supports extensive seagrass beds, migratory birds, marine mammals and a wide variety of fish species sustained by nutrient-rich ocean upwellings.

Among those continuing the community’s traditional way of life is fisherman Samata Mahmoud, who has worked the bay since childhood. Each morning, fishermen leave the village of Iwik aboard small sailboats known as “lanches,” as motorized vessels are prohibited within the reserve to help preserve its fragile ecosystem.

The Imraguen are known for a distinctive seasonal fishing technique practiced during the summer months. At low tide, fishermen stretch long nets across exposed mudflats while another strikes the water with a pole, driving fish toward the waiting net in a method refined over centuries.

Despite strict fishing regulations inside the protected area, community members say catches have declined significantly. Mahmoud and fellow fishermen report that species once common, including yellow mullet, have become increasingly scarce.

Abderrahmane Chevif Bouhobeiny, president of the Association for the Safeguarding and Preservation of Imraguen Culture, said fish stocks in the areas traditionally used by the Imraguen have fallen to less than 30 percent of their levels a decade ago. He attributed the decline to mounting pressure from climate change and intensive fishing activity outside the boundaries of the national park.

Researchers say environmental changes are altering the marine ecosystem. Mohamed Ahmed Jeyid of the Mauritanian Institute of Oceanographic and Fisheries Research said warming waters, increasing ocean acidification and shifts in nutrient-rich upwelling patterns have disrupted the ecological balance of Banc d’Arguin.

According to Jeyid, stocks of some commercially important species, including mullet, have fallen sharply, with catches dropping by roughly two-thirds since 2017. He warned that these trends directly threaten the food security, livelihoods and cultural traditions of the Imraguen community.

Park officials say environmental pressures are being compounded by social and economic change. Nami Salihy, director of Banc d’Arguin National Park, said the transmission of traditional knowledge has weakened as younger generations migrate to cities or adopt modern fishing methods that offer higher incomes.

Older fishermen recall a very different way of life. Mohamed Lemine Jededou, 76, said the Imraguen once crafted their own nets and fishing equipment from natural tree fibers and lived more simply before changing technologies and population growth transformed local fisheries.

Women continue to play a central role in the community by drying fish, extracting fish oil and producing jewelry from fish bones. Fish drying, once essential for preservation before the arrival of refrigeration and improved transport links, remains an important traditional practice.

Mariam Bilal, who processes fish in the village of Tin Aloule, said the sea remains the foundation of the community’s existence. Without fish, she said, there would be no livelihood, adding that the traditional Imraguen way of life has changed profoundly over time.

Changing fish populations are also reshaping fishing practices. Boat owner Ahmed Amaida Khaliva said fishermen increasingly target catfish, a species they once ignored because of its limited commercial value, after more valuable fish became harder to find. His experience reflects the broader adaptation underway as one of West Africa’s oldest fishing cultures confronts mounting environmental and economic pressures.