The Ghanaian town of Elmina was founded in the 15th century by the Portuguese as the first European settlement in West Africa. While gold mining and the slave trade originally played an important role here, fishing is the most important source of income today. Without adopting the contemporary technology used in modern, industrial fishing, or the aggressive conduct of the Chinese fishing boats in particular, the fishermen of Elmina courageously fight for their existence. They have established small cooperatives that share out the income from their small-scale fishing among their members. In that way they can provide a living for themselves, without any form of governmental support.