| Surrounded by a mesh of reeds and papyrus, a narrow dugout follows the indistinct course of one of Lake Chad’s countless channels. Africa’s fourth-largest lake teems with such craft, which come from Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Cameroon. These uncontrolled movements worry the authorities because of the illegal fishing in Lake Chad’s waters, which are extremely rich in fish. Well-equipped fishermen from Nigeria, Ghana, and Mali compete fiercely with those from Chad, who have rudimentary equipment and pay high taxes. Fishing is, however, an irreplaceable source of wealth and food for this country, which is the fifth poorest in the world. And yet Chad seems to be bouncing back, for its gross domestic product rose by 11 percent in 2002. This increase was closely connected to an oil pipeline that, from 2004, is due to carry 225,000 barrels of oil a day from the oilfields of Doba, in the south, to the port of Douala in Cameroon.
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.&title2=Dugout on Lake Chad, near Bol, Chad (13°28 "download in wallpaper")
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