Kochi: It surprised everyone when a Chinese delegation, headed by Hao Jia, a senior official of the Chinese embassy in India, paying a visit to the Kochi Mayor recently, expressed his desire to repair Chinese fishing nets, of which only a dozen remain at Fort Kochi beach.
The Chinese connect in Kochi is not very strong, say experts and elderly natives. The origin of the 'Cheena Vala' or Chinese fishing nets in Kochi has always been a matter of debate. Some say that they are of ancient Chinese origin, dating to Kublai Khan’s times (mid 13th century); others say they arrived even before that while yet another section argues that they actually date to Zheng He’s arrival (early 15th century).
“But there was no mention of the Chinese nets till the arrival of Zheng He and the Portuguese. Even Kochi and the backwaters were formed as a result of the floods in the Periyar delta in 1341 that also spelled doom for the Muzaris (Kodungallor). Recent research shows that these were introduced by the Portughese Csado settlers from Macau,” said K J Sohan, Kerala Convenor of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage and the President of the Chinese Fishing Net Owners Association.
In fact, the names of the different parts of the Chinese cantilever fishing nets, suspended like giant webs along the tip of Fort Cochin, used even today, are in Portuguese language, such as ‘rede’ for the net used for catching the fish, ‘borda’ to signify the edge of the structure, ‘brasao’ which refer to the arms of the wooden parts that hold the extensive net together, ‘argola’, the flexible ring on the top, ‘caluada’, on which the fishermen move up and down, and 'odora', the posts which support the entire structure from the bottom of the river.
Currently, there are only around 12 Chinese fishing nets in Fort Kochi and eight in the Vypeen region. Operated from the shore, these nets are set up on bamboo and teak poles and held horizontally by huge mechanisms, which lower them into the sea. They look like hammocks and are counter-weighed by large stones, tied to ropes.
“The ones here are the largest in the world, operated by a team of five or six fishermen, different from those used in the Chinese mainland, or in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. The entire structure of the fishing nets is about 10 m in height and each net spreads to about 20 m over the water body,” Sohan said.
There is no denying the fact that the nets are the traditional signature of Fort Kochi and millions visit the installations every year.
“If the Chinese want to preserve one of the oldest techniques, we should welcome it. However, more importantly, our own government has allotted Rs 1.5 crore towards their conservation. The only problem is that there is no clear-cut modus operandi. Who should be given the money, the owners or the authorities themselves, to carry out the works? Further, there is a lot of teak wood available with the Forest Department and this would be made available for conserving the traditional structures, which is also the livelihood of over 200 people,” he said.
