The Aby lagoon at Assinie

The Aby lagoon in figures

The Aby lagoon covers 424 km², which makes it the second largest lagoon in Côte d'Ivoire. It reaches more than 30 km inland according to the text of its encyclopedia entry, although the infobox gives 25 km. The average depth is 4.82 m and the deepest point is 17 m. To the south and east, the lagoon forms a natural border between Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. About 250,000 people live around it, mostly Akan, with settlers from Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana.

How it meets the ocean

The lagoon opens to the sea through the Assinie pass, which is narrow and shallow. Many islands slow the tide down as it travels into the lagoon. The Assinie canal links the Aby system to the Ébrié system, the lagoon of Abidjan, which is why the two names are often mixed up. Assinie itself sits on the Aby side.

Two rivers feed the lagoon with fresh water: the Tanoé, which supplies 63 % of it (a 600 km river, most of whose basin lies in Ghana), and the Bia, which supplies 29 %. Where fresh and salt water mix, mangroves grow, an important nursery for birds and fish.

Fish and fishing

Tilapia is present all year, chrysichthys is common from April to June, and the bonga shad Ethmalosa fimbriata makes up about 70 % of the fish stock. The most common crustacean is the crab Callinectes amnicola. A survey counted 3,260 fishermen in 2001, and the production landed at Adiaké represents a little over 30 % of the national total, with estimates of 6,000 to 7,000 tonnes of fish and 2,000 to 3,000 tonnes of crustaceans a year. These figures are old: do not read them as today's situation.

What it means for a visit

The lagoon is also a transport route: the peninsula of Assinie can be reached by private boat or pirogue across the water. The lagoon shore is much calmer than the ocean shore, so it is the safer place to swim with children. The Ehotilé Islands National Park is cited among the protected areas of the lagoon: ask your host about a pirogue outing with a known boatman.

Sources

Wikipédia, Lagune Aby (area, depth, rivers, fish, fishing, population); Wikipédia, Assinie (access to the peninsula).