Chinese Fishing Nets Kochi – An Unusual Way of Fishing
It was a new day, and we had a new place to visit. I must have done some things correct for they say what goes around comes around. Such relaxation and a perfect vacation as this was turning out to be was getting infectious now. My deep thoughts were interrupted by the honking of the taxi driver and my friend called out to us. We were heading today for the Chinese fishing nets Kochi at Fort Knox. It is a great tourist place, I reckon where the travelers understand the ‘catch’ that the fishermen get with the use of these nets.
The room service chap spoke volumes of how the Chinese Fishing Nets were introduced in Fort Kochi by the Chinese explorer, Zheng He while some say they have been introduced by the Portuguese settlers from Macau. It could be possible considering a myriad of influences inflicted on Kochi in the yester years. Held by bamboo and teak poles these nets are mechanically suspended and are used to catch fishes. Though not that the fish caught here are big in volume but as being a major tourist hub, the place has numerous vendors selling off the local fresh catch in no time at all.
The beauty of these nets is that they are operated from the shores since they are fixed land installations. They are lowered in the sea for a few minutes to a certain depth. For a person looking at them they appear like hammocks but no doubt this is a unique way of fishing, one that I never witnessed anywhere else. We strolled around and tried our best to understand the mechanism of these Chinese fishing nets Kochi but I guess it is the natives here who have mastered this art while we tourists can only try to figure it all. What we noticed was that a total of six men operated these nets and in perfect tandem yielding results very quickly. We do not mull any further because the next destination awaited us as we were to go to the Jew town to see what it had in store for us.
Indian Wanderers 