ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that in patterns of domestic and extra-domestic exchange polygamy can become a survival mechanism and a subsidising institution rather than a cultural lag in situations of change. It reviews the history of fisheries in Tombo and the specific circumstances that led to the present structure and organisation of household production. The kin-based household was the unit of subsistence production. Most of the fish caught in Tombo leaves the village in processed form -an activity mainly performed by women. Female participation in fish production was limited to inshore areas around rivers, pools and creeks and involved the use of fish traps, dams, scoop nets and toxins. Women in the Sierra Leone peninsula had their own characteristic fishing gear, namely the circular tumo or mbembe scoop nets used in shallow water and usually operated by two women. Women participated in the cash economy in separate spheres with autonomous financial authority.
