 Stilt fishermen
Pix and text: Kamalanath Liyanage
 Fishing is a phenomenon that
humans have been practising since prehistoric times to fulfill their
food necessities. When job division takes place to achieve higher
efficiencies, certain families of the villages become parties who
specialise in fishing.
The same theory is applicable to Sri Lanka as we are an island
nation. Those living in coastal areas, river sides and nearby lakes are
potentially good experts in fishing. Their duty is to harvest the fish
productivity according to the customers’ demand. These scenes were
captured when traveling Down South on the Galle Road.
These scenes may be familiar to you, when travelling to places like
Katharagama, Galle, Matara, Unawatuna beach, Polhena beach and Deniyaya
for spending your valuable holidays. But did you even have the audacity
to stop your drive to exchange ideas with our fisherfolk? Did you
evaluate the difficulty of their job?
In Sri Lanka’s traditional way of stilt fishing, fishermen employ the
usage of a vertical stick to maintain their stability in fishing to
about 5 to 10 fees deep in the sea. The horizontal stick is clamp to the
vertical stick to make it comfortable.
  These photographs illustrate the manner of fishing at a place called
Thenuwara and is also common in Koggala, Ahangama and Polhena. Groups of
fishermen fish at a particular place where higher densities of fish are
present. It is possible to observe this fishing technique over the day
where shoals of fish gather.
Also, by fishing on a stilt it offers a sense of quietness and
solitude where a fish isn’t bothered about a noisy boat or fishermen
nets. You can guarantee a good catch in this way but you need time and
patience. The fruitfulness of fishing depends on both luck and the
experience because there is a special way of shaking the fishing rod to
attract fish plus using the right bait. The fishermen just use a less
durable 30 Rupee lead hook for fishing which can get the job done.
Generally, the fishermen catch ‘Bollu’, ‘Parav’ and ‘Salaya’ types of
fishes by using the above technique. During the period of ‘Warakan’,
these fishermen can harvest more fish productivity.
 While stilt fishermen have been an iconic symbol of projecting Sri
Lanka’s image abroad for tourism, their numbers are fast lessening due
to modern high-speed boats and technological fishing methods.
The major problem to the fishermen is the inconsistence of a clear
and reliable market for fish selling. Regular intermediaries and nearby
households are their frequent customers. Since the expectation is low,
these stilt fisherman can spend their life with this less and
fluctuating income level. |
