SUNDAY, JUNE 30, 2024
Frazer Andrade
During the rainy season since activities such as sea fishing are at stand still, Goans have been using creative ways to cater to their taste buds, thus not compramizing by any means on their fish quota, during the monsoon season.
“In the month of May, when local fresh water ponds and lakes were harvesed children and adults alike, would rush there to watch and buy loads of fish. Some of it was consumed on the same day, some was kept aside to prepare Molho while some of the live fish was put into huge copper pots (Bhann) with water and was taken out for consumption, as and when there was a need”, recalls Agnelo Andrade from, Ambajim, Margão.
He further mentioned that as a child in the 1970s, he would head to the old market in Margão to purchase Bull frogs sold in jute sacks, by local youth who went catching them during the previous night. No sooner it rained, children would head to the fields being ploughed for planting paddy, in search of ‘kongé’ (field snails) and crabs which were then cooked that day. While if extra, these were stored in covered copper pots or bamboo baskets. Late nights or early mornings during the first rains of the monsoon season were fun when boys in villages, from most houses would go in groups, to the field, forests and river banks with kerosene lamps such as those of the Petromax company or fire torches to catch fish, frogs and crabs.
This technique of fishing using light is referred to as ‘Dhipkavnni’ (a tachnique of fishing, which makes use of light senctivity of fish and frogs). Piedade Miranda from Fatorda mentions about some other interesting fishing techniques used by himself as a child. He says, “This technique was good for small flowing streams called ‘vall/voll’. In it, an elongated basket made of bamboo was used. The basket had one conical closed end on one side and a wide opening at the other. This trap is locally referred to as ‘kuddu’. It is placed in the narrowest area of running water within the gushing stream. The part of the canal towards the sides of the trap is blocked with twigs or mud. Fish enter the trap through its wide mouth, positioned against the flow of water and cannot escape as the other end of the basket is tightly tied together. The trap is then lifted from the waters for the catch.”
“Sometimes, in paddy fields, locals throw fish food and when the fish gather, they are caught by covering them with bamboo traps”, he adds. At times, regular wide mouthed bamboo baskets were also used to catch fish. These baskets were quickly plunged into a field pond and lifted up to empty its contents which comprised of some good fish if one was lucky enough.
Poller (line-fishing) and Gorovop or rod-fishing are both methods which make use of metal hooks. In the former technique, if one wants to catch a larger variety of fish, a nylon string instead of a rod with multiple hooks and attractive bait, like a big prawn is flung into the water, while in the latter technique a nylon string with a hook is tied to a wooden or bamboo stick. Baits and hooks used depend on the kind of fish one wants to catch. Small prawns, earthworms and rice dough are commonly used bait. Today, in most cases bamboo rods have been replaced with advanced fishing rods.
‘Khutavanni’ is a local technique of stake fishing practiced in Goa. This method involves, the use of wooden poles being staked into the river along the edges, with a net tied across them to trap fish. The fish is then harvested at low tide. This method has been commonly used in the monsoon season to catch fish like chonak (sea bass) and dodiyare (croaker).
Agostinho Coelho from Cortalim mentions about catching ‘Choddnechem nuste’. During the first rain, fish from field ponds comes up swimming against the flow of running water, thus reaching land surfaces where water gushed by. “We would go to catch this fish while it rained like cats and dogs,” he says. Further stating that they would go with a sharp knife or a ‘koito’ or a ‘balho’ (spear) and hit it on the heads of the catfish that came upwards against the flowing water. “The last catfish was always the first target, as if started killing from the front, all of the fish would simply disperse, making the catch difficult,” he says.
Kanni or zalli marop (barrier net fishing) is another way of fishing that requires about two people to carry out the task depending on the catch. A rectangular net with two bamboo sticks on either side is held up by two men as they move through shallow waters. More men can be used to trawl a bigger net over the waterbed of a deeper body like a pond. The same method is called zalli when the net used is semi-circular in shape attached to a bamboo framework. Fishermen use ‘zalli’ to catch prawns in muddy sections of shallow waters. Kaanthalli requires the spread of about a 300-metre-long net and may be also referred to as cast net fishing. Small floats, traditionally made of mango wood, run across the length of one side of the net enabling the net to fall over the water like a vertical curtain. A similar smaller net cast by a single person is known as paguer/paguel.
Catching crabs to make that delicious crab curry or Xec-xec which every Goan relishes, requires an equipment called Cobulem/coblem. It is made up of a net woven against a circular metal frame which is placed along the river or stream edges. A string tied to the Cobulem is left until the river banks. If movement in the string is detected, the nets are pulled up via the string. In addition to using the Cobulem, the bamboo kuddu mentioned above is also used in crab catching. Here cattle waste sourced from butcheries was generally used as bait. River clams are caught by free divers using their hands while oysters are dug for on seashores and riverbanks.
