Inshore Fishing in Kerala, India

The state of Kerala occupies a narrow coastal strip south-west of the Indian peninsula. The man lives there both on land and at sea. From Cochin (north) to Vilinjam (south), passing through Kollam and Kovallam, a whole community lives thanks to fishing with rudimentary but effective ways. The fishing hawk and purse are the most common. Indifferent to the rollers breaking on the beach Villinjam, sailors are crossing the bar to throw away their nets and then they get in rhythm to the shoreline. The result of fishing, depends largely on the monsoon. Sometimes, despite hours of effort the purse does not pay more than 2kg of fish. It is the equivalent of 5 € to share. To check it, just look above the canoes.

You can also fish at night. Each evening, the boats go about 1 mile from the coast, fishing in the light of oil lamps, illuminating the horizon of a glittering garland. When they are not at sea, the colourful canoes fall on the sand. There are many colours canoes and they sometimes show on the stem, a hallmark of the religion of the crew. A strong Christian community lives in Kerala. Bordering the Arabian Sea, a vast network of lagoons and inlets are insinuating themselves into the land form the Kerala Backwaters.

In these fluid and shifting landscapes, everyday life is impregnated by sea. You can fish other species, with other techniques, like those giant squares, common to Cochin, also called "Chinese net" and inherited from ancestral relationship with China.

Texte : Anne Jankeliowitch