Shankumugham Beach Fishermen

One of the 3 beaches we visited over the weekend included Shankumugham Beach, where I witnessed some incredible fishing efforts and high yields! As we walked onto the beach my friend Subhash said “Have you ever seen fishing from the beach?” and I told him “I have fished from the beach a million times as I grew up on one!” Suddenly I could tell that he knew we were talking about 2 different things. haha As we got closer I saw a long line of men, about 30 (?) pulling on a long net-like line. They were leaning backwards like they were playing tug-of-war. This effort was consuming the strength of every man. The net extended from 100 yards on the beach to 100 yards (?) into the ocean, past the waves, and once in the water, formed a semicircle to trap fish. The guys on the beach were working HARD to pull this net, keep it in place, as the currents were very strong. (Lots of riptides on every beach we visited.) However, there were 2 guys in the water, who really had the tough job, seemingly. The waves kept crashing into them as they worked to guide the net. These guys had drawn the “short straw” of this fishing effort, or were maybe new to the team. Not sure. It was a fascinating event to watch as they finally pulled the net out of the water, almost like a boat out on the water will raise a net up in an automated way. As a boat uses a form of power, it was amazing to see these men working to ensure the net came out of the water in a precise “rounded” way where they could ensure the greatest yield. Again, the men in the water seemed to have the tough job. I am not in any way knowledgable on this fishing process and so these are just my observations and take-aways from standing on the beach. It could be much easier than it appears, to ensure a lot of fish are trapped. I only know that I was NOT EXPECTING what I saw in the nets that finally arrived on the shore. I grew up in an area where we would set shrimp nets (also in a semicircle, yet it was easy to pull the nets in from a small boat as we were not in “heavy currents”, or they could be pulled/raised from a boat crank and dropped easily onto a boat deck). So...the nets were pulled onto the shore of this beach, and everyone gathered around, and it was thousands of small silver sardine-type fishes. Two or three of the 30 men bent down and loaded these slippery little fish into crates. We followed the process until the last step pictured here below, where they were loaded onto the back of a MOTORCYCLE to transport for sale. I am sure that balancing all of that weight could not have been easy. I hope it was a “fresh” guy on the bike, as these fisherman had to be exhausted! My hat is off...