I traveled a few days ago to a place in South India,
a place called Kochi, in the State of Kerala.
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| Photo by Mark W. Laughlin |
One of the things you notice as you drive in, are these cool looking fishing nets.
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| Photo by Mark W. Laughlin |
They are fixed to a pier on the shore. They lower straight into the water and lie on the bottom.
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| Photo by Mark W. Laughlin |
When down, the tips of the four "spider arms" reach the water, and the net is out of site.
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| Photo by Mark W. Laughlin |
When the a-frame arm is tilted back, the net rises out of the water.
If there are fish in the net, they slide down to the part of the net fixed to the pier,
and to the guys waiting to grab them...
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| Photo by Mark W. Laughlin |
...and to some of the "helpers" who want to see what "we" have caught.
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| Photo by Mark W. Laughlin |
The Port of Kochi opens out onto the Arabian Sea, on the west side of the south part of India. The fishnets line both sides of the inlet.
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| Photo by Mark W. Laughlin |
This is one of my new favorite photos. I say that for several reasons, first of course, I like the way it looks , the way it came out. But more than that, I began to study it. There is one a-frame that is horizontal on this first net, and a second one that is leaning back to the right, toward shore. Pulling down on a rope on the shore-side a-frame starts the net tilting up out of the water.
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| Photo by Mark W. Laughlin |
But study for a moment the large stones tied onto the ends of ropes, suspended from the shore-side a-frame. There is not one large stone, but many smaller ones, all on different length ropes. As the shore-side arm tilts down, you need progressively less help from the counter weights, so , the first (lowest) weight comes down to rest on the pier, lessening the downward pull.
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| Photo by Mark W. Laughlin |
As the arm comes further down, progressive weights rest down on the pier, progressively reducing the pull of the counter-weights. An ingenious, variable-mass counterweight system. Totally cool !!
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| Photo by Mark W. Laughlin |
Next, the small ferry, from which I was taking the net photos.
Y'all take care,
- Mark
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