The fishing port of St-Marc, a coastal city in the Artibonite department of Haiti, offered a window into the resilience of Haitian community life in 2020, as fishermen, market women, boat builders, and their families navigated a year of compounding crises with the pragmatism and solidarity that characterized Haitian coastal communities.
The daily rhythms of the port — boats departing before dawn, fish arriving at the dock, women negotiating prices and filling baskets for transport to markets — continued through the political crisis, the COVID pandemic, and the storms of the hurricane season. The sea offered no option to shut down: families dependent on fishing had to send their boats out regardless of what was happening in the capital.
But 2020’s crises had reached even this relatively peripheral community. COVID restrictions had affected the transport of fish to Port-au-Prince markets. The pandemic had disrupted the purchasing power of urban consumers who bought much of St-Marc’s catch. And the general deterioration of economic conditions had reduced the ability of fishing households to maintain their boats and equipment.
Community leaders in St-Marc described the year as among the most difficult they could remember, but they also described the mutual support networks that had helped their community absorb the shocks. Fishing families that had good catches shared with those who had not. Religious communities organized food distribution. The bonds of community life that had been built over generations proved, once again, to be among Haiti’s most important resources.