Artisan Fishing

Just a follow up to Stuff's post about catfish hunting. We have seen a few different types of artisan fishing practices in El Salvador, which I find really interesting compared with the high scale, often technology dependent effort you see in the UK, I guess you can't switch off the fisheries observer inside once you get it going.

Besides the kids getting catfish dinner with their bare hands we've seen individual fisherman in the river and on the coast with small throw nets as well as hand lines, the small fiberglass boats which is the more industrial scale side of things at La Libertad Fish Market and even a man climbing through the mangroves with a small pointy stick, I do not know what he was after.

I do wonder (and somewhat doubt) if any of this is monitored or regulated at all. We saw some more unusual catches at the fish market including a baby hammerhead and several small piles of small shark fins.

It's really cool to see some more traditional techniques, although I don't doubt the nets are now made from modern materials but the lack of technology utilised is refreshing.

Here are some photos of river and sea net fishing and o the boats used in La Libertad.

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