Slater
01-12-2003, 06:42 PM
Disclaimer: Not intended as a commentary on sustainable (or unsustainable) fishing. This video is simply a window into another community of fisherman.
My comments:
A year ago at this time my wife and I went on a three week trip to tropical southern India to a state named Kerala. Early one morning I got up and headed down to the shore to watch and film the people of the local Chowara fishing village complete the night's haul. From what I've been told these people have lived in the seaside palm forest and fished this shore for hundreds if not thousands of years. It appears that the manual skills employed have probably been in place for centuries - no outboards, no winches. The fish are typically not sold instead are divided among the villagers. While I've been told that the catches are down from previous decades, it appears to be a relatively sustainable yet fragile existance. I don't really know what the offshore commercial impact is on the tuna species that they were catching but having seen the fishing fleets in commercial ports to the north, I'd speculate that technological advances in commercial fishing have had an impact as they have in other fish rich regions.
As for the video, some things to note: there are hundreds of these groups of men fromt the village working nets up and down the shore. The men (no women) head out late at night in wooded boats (you'll see these boats in the video) by sail or oar power and set their nets miles offshore, working their way back over several hours. My footage is only a small part of the final hour of the 8-10 hour haul. Take note of the men slapping the water and "hooting" to herd the fish into the net. I love the mix of generations sharing in the collecting harvest. Finally, you'll notice at the end that the women move in with their metal pots to collect their family's share of the fish for the dinner table.
My comments:
A year ago at this time my wife and I went on a three week trip to tropical southern India to a state named Kerala. Early one morning I got up and headed down to the shore to watch and film the people of the local Chowara fishing village complete the night's haul. From what I've been told these people have lived in the seaside palm forest and fished this shore for hundreds if not thousands of years. It appears that the manual skills employed have probably been in place for centuries - no outboards, no winches. The fish are typically not sold instead are divided among the villagers. While I've been told that the catches are down from previous decades, it appears to be a relatively sustainable yet fragile existance. I don't really know what the offshore commercial impact is on the tuna species that they were catching but having seen the fishing fleets in commercial ports to the north, I'd speculate that technological advances in commercial fishing have had an impact as they have in other fish rich regions.
As for the video, some things to note: there are hundreds of these groups of men fromt the village working nets up and down the shore. The men (no women) head out late at night in wooded boats (you'll see these boats in the video) by sail or oar power and set their nets miles offshore, working their way back over several hours. My footage is only a small part of the final hour of the 8-10 hour haul. Take note of the men slapping the water and "hooting" to herd the fish into the net. I love the mix of generations sharing in the collecting harvest. Finally, you'll notice at the end that the women move in with their metal pots to collect their family's share of the fish for the dinner table.