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Bobbing Around on a Dhoni

Appears in
The Tinned Fish Cookbook: Easy-To-Make Meals from Ocean to Plate

By Bart van Olphen

Published 2021

  • About
Pole-and-line fishing is the only method used by the tuna fishers in the Maldives. It’s native to their culture. Having fished this way for centuries, they have become one with the ecosystem: one hook, one line, one fisherman, one fish caught at a time.

On Laamu Atoll, a group of tuna fishermen from Horizon Fisheries will gather every day at dusk. As the last light of the day fades, they set sail in a dhoni, the region’s traditional fishing vessel. Around ten o’clock in the evening, once the boat has anchored, some fifteen fishermen will be lying on deck. The temperature will be quite pleasant, in the mid-eighties. It does not get much hotter or colder around here, close to the equator. The fishermen pass the time with a card game, a chat, or a bite to eat. They’re waiting for their nets to fill with small fish—the fish that the skipjack tuna feed on and that will be used as bait when the sun rises. Several hours later, when the captain has decided there’s enough bait, he will start the engine and sail farther out on the Indian Ocean.

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