Maintenance of fishing nets in Gaza ... a profession imposed by the blockade

Ruwaida Amer - Gaza

Green strings twirl around the fingers of the fishermen every morning from sunrise to sunset, sitting in front of fishing rooms and surrounded by nets for meters extended in front of them, looking for torn places in order to fix them to start a new fishing trip with a different type of fish, where dozens of fishermen gather in order to They perform this additional task which is an important part of continuing the fishing profession.

In the Gaza seaport, west of the city, the fishermen gather to fix the malfunctions that hit their nets during the fishing trip because of the presence of rocks and strong fish that damage the nets, where they repair them instead of buying new fishing nets, because they were not available in the Gaza Strip and prevented their entry for more than 13 years, i.e. a number The years of the siege on Gaza.

Long time to maintain it
Ahmed Al-Hissi (57 years old) learned the fishing profession from his grandfather and father until his profession that he inherited for his children has become, he tells Al-Jazeera Net that he begins his day with maintenance of fishing nets, and depends on that on the type of fish available in the sea, and takes out his nets in order to inspect them, and some are not suitable for fishing, but it is not He is forced to fix it for not being able to buy new nets, and he continues to do this for more than a month continuously so that he can catch them in the specified season.

Fishermen use in fishing nets silk threads especially for this, with a small needle-like machine to sew torn nets and connect them together or cut a completely damaged piece and merge the other pieces together, as if trying to make something from nothing in order to continue their profession in one way or another .

It is not easy for fishermen, as it takes a long time, as the period of sewing may reach a month or more, and double effort is made, because some of these nets exceeded 20 years of age.

The bitterness of the profession hurts Al-Hissi for the loss of his two sons in the sea during the previous three years during the fishing trip, where one of them was martyred after the Israeli Maritime Police chased their vehicle and opened fire towards him, and after his injury he drowned in the sea with the boat and did not appear to him until now, and the other died due to a sudden short circuit. While fishing in the sea led to his death, he tells Al-Jazeera Net, "We love the sea, but he does not love us and there is no escape from moving away from him, our soul is attached to it."

Inheritance for children and grandchildren
Zidan Al-Nahal (28 years old) learned to fish from his father, as he saw him sitting long when fixing the fishing nets and he sits next to him and learns from him, and he tells Al-Jazeera Net that learning to sew and maintain fishing nets is an essential and large part of learning the fishing profession and without that they cannot fish.

Many nets are damaged due to their collision with rocks and fish, and it is necessary to inspect them in every season and repair them, although this is very tiring and needs a great focus that may weaken the vision in order to complete this, but they are forced to do so because they are unable to purchase new fishing nets.

When issuing orders from the Israeli side not to allow the fishermen to enter the sea, they sit to maintain their nets for long hours, waiting for a reversal of this decision and allowing them to fish, this scene is repeated every morning along the coast of the Strip, where the 13,000 fishermen are stranding the silk strands in Their window is looking for a place that needs repairs and maintenance.

expensive
To search for defects in fishing nets that span tens of meters, this means that you must have great patience in order to accomplish this task, this is what says fisherman Nasser Abu Omaira (53 years), who has learned the profession of fishing since he was 10 years old.

He meets his children in front of his fishing room and distributes maintenance tasks to each one of them in order to learn this profession, and he tells Al-Jazeera Net that every season has a fishing net that suits him and differs in its quality, and this period is a season of "bird fish" so this comes out of the store and inspects it so that he can catch with it Knowing that there are strong fish and need strong fishing nets in order to bear their weight.

He adds that the fishing nets are very expensive, and the price is eight thousand dollars, unlike the price before the blockade of one third, and days before he got rid of a group of fishing nets and found them very lax and not suitable for maintenance.

It indicates that there are two types of fishing nets, the first type is small nets used in fishing for small fish such as sardines, and this type takes a double effort due to the size of the focus by its maker, while the second type is the large nets used for fishing of large size fish, such as bat and lux, and is used in This species is silk threads especially for their fit with the size of large and predatory fish while hunting and reducing their rupture.

The profession of suffering and pain
Nizar Ayyash, the fishermen's captain for Al-Jazeera Net, says that the continuous harassment that fishermen are exposed to on a daily basis has made the profession very difficult, and many problems have accumulated due to the imposed blockade and the prevention of entry of special materials and machines for fishing boats, in addition to materials used in the manufacture of nets that prevented entry, this all increases The burden on the hunter and makes the profession arduous and very expensive.

In addition to the presence of thousands of fishermen below the poverty line, and they live on aid after the fishing profession was the source of livelihood for all sectors in Gaza.