8 March 2015 / leggypeggy

Twelve men, two boats, two nets and two fish

boats, Chilika Lake, fish, fishing, Ghana, lagoon, lake, Orissa, Prayaan India Overland, recipe, travel

Nets abound in Chilika Lake

The boat minder watches the nets being dragged

Chilika Lake in the Orissa state in eastern India is Asia’s largest brackish lagoon. Separated from the Bay of Bengal by a 60-kilometre-long sandbar, the lake is home to more than a million migratory birds and who knows how many fish.

We didn’t see many of the birds. They flock to a particular island that is now off limits to tourists without a permit. We were told that a while back too many tourists (not foreigners but Indians) left too much rubbish around the island and many birds died after eating the junk. You’d think they just ban everyone from taking food and containers aboard the boats that cruise the lake.

Anyway, we didn’t see many fish either, but we certainly saw the evidence. Vast networks of nets are strung around the lake, plus we saw an impressive fishing technique being carried out by 12 men. Their efforts are possible only because so much of the lake is extremely shallow.

Men dragging nets across a shallow part of Chilika Lake

Curving in to join the nets

Two nets come together

Here’s how it works. While one man (who looked like a teenager) was left to mind the two boats, the remaining 11 divided into two groups to wade and drag two nets towards one another in an attempt to corral fish in the middle.

The dragging process took about 20 minutes as the two groups tugged and hauled the long nets and their frameworks together. They then formed a circle and worked inwards.

Tightening the circle of nets

Our boat driver (yes, we cruised the lake for about five hours) explained that lots of fish escape this tactic, but the fishermen are happy if they get one or two of the most valuable fish. These sell for about 700 rupees a kilo, or about A$12.

Our fellows, if I can call them that, did capture two of the pricey fish, probably weighing a total of five kilos, maybe more.

Smaller fish

Bigger fish

After the ‘catch’, they folded up their nets and headed off to another promising fishing spot. We were told they make four or five similar attempts per day, and are likely to finish the outing with 25–30 kilos of fish.

That would earn them up to 21,000 rupees for their efforts. Assuming the money is evenly split, each man could take home A$35 a day. Not bad by Indian standards.

Oh, and we were told that, in this case, the boats and nets belong to the middleman who buys the fish. Each net alone is worth 100,000 rupees (1 lakh) or A$2000. That’s a lot of fish!

If you love fish, here’s a great African stew recipe I learned in Ghana.