Oyster picking in Tokeh, Sierra Leone.

Millicent Suray (nicknamed Monday) was gracious enough to let me follow her around for a morning, as she wades waist deep through the river and cut oysters from the roots of mangroves with her cutlass. She does this about once or twice a week. One full bucket of oysters can be sold for about 100 Leones (about 5USD). Millicent has been doing this for about 20 years. It’s not easy but it’s a livelihood that Sierra Leone’s coastal ecosystems offer. But rapid deforestation and encroachment remain a significant threat to mangrove habitats. Their destruction also leads to significant coastal erosion, already visible along most of the Western Area coastline.

This is part of an ongoing series documenting coastal communities in Sierra Leone.