The signature shore-operated lift nets – or ‘Chinese fishing nets’ – at Fort Kochi in Kerala are now a barely-viable source of income for fishermen.
Shore-operated lift nets, popularly known as Chinese fishing nets, have for long been the source of livelihood for numerous fishermen in Kochi in Kerala.
But this industry is in decline due to various transformations, both environmental and economic. Fish stock has been dwindling due to intense trawling and pollution by industries in and around Fort Kochi. Profits from the catch are appropriated by middlemen and the fishing community gets only a fraction.
The fishermen’s problems are aggravated by ill-designed government schemes that are not cognisant of their specific needs. Additionally, the growing cost of maintaining the nets has become economically unproductive for the owners.
Young people are opting out of this occupation and the Chinese fishing nets will eventually disappear from Fort Kochi’s shorelines.
V. Sasikumar is a Thiruvananthapuram-based filmmaker who focuses on rural, social and cultural issues. This film was made as a part of his 2015 PARI fellowship.