Dozens of low fishing boats lay anchored in flat waters off Mozambique’s capital, stranded for days as surging fuel costs kept their owners from heading out to sea.
Since the government hiked prices in early May because of the impact of the Middle East conflict on supply, many fishermen in Maputo’s quiet Pescadores quarter have not had the cash to fuel a fishing trip.
“The impact is dramatic for us,” said Carlos Nguenha, vice president of the local community fisheries council, as wooden boats bobbed idly behind him, some piled with nets.
“These conflicts don’t only impact those countries, they affect the whole world,” Nguenha said. “We appeal to them to sit down and talk so that we can overcome this.”
Nguenha’s council covers 1,800 fishermen and nearly 290 boats on the Costa do Sol just north of the city. Members are young and old and mostly family breadwinners, with no other work, he said.
Mozambique’s energy authority in early May increased the cost of petrol by 12% to 83.6 meticais ($1.3) a litre. Diesel rose by nearly 46 percent to a record $1.8 a litre.
While fuel costs are slightly higher in other countries in the region, the sharp increase, coupled with erratic supply, has hit hard in Mozambique, which was listed as the world’s second-poorest country in a World Bank economic update published in March 2026.
There have been massive queues at filling stations and some people have reportedly given up using their own vehicles in favour of public transport.
Its poverty headcount, defined as people living on less than $3 per day, is 81% and most employment is informal and low-paying, the World Bank report said.
Small quantities
Exhausted and dishevelled, Eduardo Alexandre and his crew had just landed their boat on the Pescadores beach with no catch after more than 24 hours at sea.
“We would still be out there but we had to come back because of a lack of fuel,” the 49-year-old said.
It can take six to seven hours to reach the open sea where the fishing is best, he said. “We needed another 10 litres.”
With the scarcity prompting some people to buy smaller quantities of fuel in water and soft drink bottles, the government has also cracked down on the use of unapproved containers to fetch and carry the precious liquid.
Its recommended sturdy metal or hard-plastic containers are intended to prevent leakages and fires, and also curb informal fuel trading, it announced. However, they cost around $40-45 each.
“Where are we going to find the money to buy the recommended containers?” Nguenha asked. ”Since our childhood, we’ve been using our own.”
Feeling the squeeze
“My children go to school and I support them with the fish that comes from here,” said Martinha Djive, a 42-year-old fish seller sitting on the sandy beach.
“So without fuel, the crisis affects everyone us who depend on this, our children, and the whole population,” she said.
Many stands at the nearby market were empty but a few fish were being scaled and gutted for sale at prices higher than before the increase.
“We’re selling very little because customers are also feeling squeezed by the rising price of fish,” said Carlota Mabasso, wearing a colourful traditional capulana around her waist.
Despite its poverty, Mozambique home to around 30 million people is rich in natural resources, including planet-warming hydrocarbons.
A giant gas project by French fossil fuel behemoth TotalEnergies is under construction in the insurgency-hit north, reportedly the largest private investment in Africa’s energy infrastructure.
The World Bank said the project, coupled with the country’s removal in October from a global money-laundering watchdog grey list, could grow foreign investment.
However, the country’s “fiscal space to respond to shocks is severely limited, whether from climate-related disasters; external economic shocks such as the conflict in the Middle East; or rising insecurity in the north”.
Economist and researcher Teresa Boene said the rise in costs risked pushing Mozambique’s most vulnerable further into precarity.
“It is the government’s role to protect its citizens,” said Boene, from the Centre for Public Integrity think tank. “Fuel is the engine of the economy.”