UNUSUAL CATCH OF PEARLSPOT AND FRESHWATER BIG PRAWNS

 It was interesting to gaze at the local method of trapping the ‘Karimeens’ (Pearl Spot), which is a popular fish in great demand. The modus operandi was by three people. One person would squat down on the bed of the ‘Kayal’ backwater which would be one and half meter deep, and by the side of shore. He tapped the mire or mud and grime with his feet. The other person would stand behind him pressing him down by the shoulder when he took a dip so that he did not move up due to the upward thrust of the water. He would pop up at regular intervals to breathe. The third person was moving away from the shore slowly. He held a long rope in his hand the other end of which was tied to one leg of the person who was squatting in the water. The rope would be submerged in the water and the water was stirred by moving it slowly. During this process the water became dark mixed with mire and grime. He moved away from the shore slowly with the rope. After going about fifty feet he came closer to the shore and shook the rope and threw mire to scare fish. The ‘Karimeen’ sensing danger moved and nestled under the squatter’s feet, which was really a trap. The squatter went down under water and skillfully caught the fish with his hands and feet. He immediately passed it on to the person behind him who put it into a pot fastened to his waist. In about one hour the entire pot was full of this fish. It was a tricky job. 

In Kerala, Karimeen is a delicacy served for an important lunch or dinner gathering. It is served as a full fish fry or even as a Fish Moly with bread or Indian ‘Roti’.  

There were daring men in our village who inserted their bare hands into the holes in the granite bunds under water and caught ‘Karimeen’, Pearl Spot, and ‘Attu-Konch’, Giant Fresh Water Prawn. This is a risky job. If the big crabs get a hold of their fingers the catcher would have to patiently wait till they are released voluntarily. A foolish move by trying to pull out one’s hand may end up in a greater calamity. The entire hand itself might get jammed under the big granite stones in the water thereby making it difficult to   swim back to the surface of the water. I remember the three veteran fish-catchers, Kaderkutty, Ibrahimkunj and their elder brother Mohommedkutty. They used to catch a lot of ‘Attu-Konch’ and ‘Karimeen’ in this manner. Unfortunately, one day Kaderkutty’s body was found floating in the lake with his right hand sandwiched in the granite bund. He must have drowned as he was trapped.

Occasionally, during   fishing, the fishermen sense the presence of some unususal fish in the coastal backwaters.   It was during one such occasion that Paulo Maniamkot went in search of Konch and Karimeen in the granite bunds of the backwater. While searching for the same, an Octopus, (Eledone cirrhosa), a Cephalopod moluscan fish having a prominent head with a single, fearsome eye attacked him. This horrible monster has six tentacles. Paulo’s right hand got entangled in the tentacles of the Octopus.  He was taken aback by this sudden attack and struggled to set himself free from his grip but in vain. The Octopus had one meter long tentacles which had eight pairs of suckers all along its entire length made it impossible to break free from its clutches. Fortunately he had the presence of mind to get out of water immediately along with the Octopus which had bound itself to his hand and back; otherwise he would have fainted due to the poisonous material seeping into his body through the suckers, and would have been grabbed and dragged him to the murky bottom. People seeing this horrific sight rushed to his aid. It was with great difficulty that each of these suckers attached to his body was removed. It took almost six months for the    wounds to heal. The scars remained on his body for a long time.

George and his brother Anti, Viswambharan, and Asokan are the defted men in crabbing with the help of ‘Ayiram Choona’, a line of thousand hooks, with baits and also by spreading nets such as ‘Odakkuvala’ to entangle other assortment of fish. They moved in small ‘Otams’, small canoes, to go out into the ‘Kayal’. I noticed that they caught the shoulders of crabs, especially the big red crabs to avoid casualty and they tied their pincers. Crabs are one of the exported items.

A handful of nomadic fisher-folk have recently arrived here from Matsyapattanam, a Cauvery belt in Karnataka State. They live in miserable sheds with plastic-sheet tops in certain pockets by the side of backwater. It is amazing to watch their elderly men and women twirl down the backwater in coracles to catch an assortment of fish with the help of a long ‘Odakkuvala’, a fishing-net to entangle fish.

Excerpts from

MEMOIRS

An autobiography

by

Joseph J. Thayamkeril

Lawyer, Kochi, Kerala, India.

josephjthayamkeril.blogspot.com

josephjthayamkeril@gmail.com