WFP ASSISTANCE TO ?PERATION PECHE" IN MALI, December 1977. About 8,500 fishermen, distributed over 400 villages in the central delta of the Niger river, receive rations from the UN/FAO World Food Programme (WFP) through "Operation Peche" (Fisheries Operation), a programme set up by the Government, and assisted by the European Development fund of the EEC. The programme seeks to exploit waters with a good fishing potential but which are difficult to reach, to train fishermen in new techniques and to create, at Mopti, the necessary infrastructures for distributing fish in the country. The fishermen are required to contribute, for resale purposes, fresh fish equalling 10 percent of the weight of the WFP rations received. The fishermen and up to five members of their families receive daily rations of approximately 1,650 calories for 120 days a year. WFP furnishes rations to "Operation Peche" under a 3-year, $9 million multipurpose project which provides food to a total of about 18,000 workers and their families involved in rural development in Mali. A Bozo woman of the fishing village of Face Nimitongo prepares fish for cooking outside her hut. The village is on the Niger river, 13 .kms from Mopti.