South of the port city of Dar Es Salaam, right on the coast, about 50 simple stone houses huddle under the palm fronds. Omari Mussa, who until recently made his living as a fisherman, grew up here.
Mussa's skin is tanned by the sun, and he's missing a finger on his left hand, blown off by a mistimed throw of a bomb - his tool of choice when it came to reeling in the sea bream and red snapper.
"It's dangerous," he said. "Nevertheless, everybody here used this technique. Fishing with the usual methods is hardly worthwhile."
Detonating a bomb in a coral reef can net fishermen up to 100 fish - and lots of money. The shockwave from the blast pops the air bladder in every living creature within a radius of 5 to 20 meters, depending on the amount of explosive used. Fish sink to the bottom, and fishermen then collect the largest.
In a fraction of a second, the bomb transforms a brightly-colored reef teeming with life into an underwater desert. For that reason, dynamite fishing has been outlawed.
