Chinese Fishing NetsAmbience, birds, net hauling 171006Picture a huge net strung across a wooden structure that raises and lowers the net with a set of ropes, pulleys and large boulders as counterweights. The technical name is “shore operated lift nets”, but in the city of Fort Kochin on the southwest coast of India, they’re known as Chinese Fishing Nets. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.Legend has it that nets were introduced to India by Chinese explorers in the 14th century. When I visited Fort Kochin in 2017, the nets had become a prime tourist attraction for the city. Fisherman: “Chinese was here in 1380. But then they were made with bamboo small ones. Now we make big ones.”A crew of six men raise and lower the nets two hundred times a day, sometimes chanting as they do so. On the day I was there, they caught some anchovies and mullets.Ambience: fisherman’s chantSounds of the Chinese Fishing Nets in Fort Kochin, Kerala, India. Check out our website, pulseplanet.com, for some exciting news. That’s pulseplanet.com. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.
Chinese Fishing Nets
Net fisherman's chant in Kerala, India.
Air Date:07/13/2020
Scientist:
Transcript:
Chinese Fishing NetsAmbience, birds, net hauling 171006Picture a huge net strung across a wooden structure that raises and lowers the net with a set of ropes, pulleys and large boulders as counterweights. The technical name is "shore operated lift nets", but in the city of Fort Kochin on the southwest coast of India, they're known as Chinese Fishing Nets. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.Legend has it that nets were introduced to India by Chinese explorers in the 14th century. When I visited Fort Kochin in 2017, the nets had become a prime tourist attraction for the city. Fisherman: "Chinese was here in 1380. But then they were made with bamboo small ones. Now we make big ones."A crew of six men raise and lower the nets two hundred times a day, sometimes chanting as they do so. On the day I was there, they caught some anchovies and mullets.Ambience: fisherman's chantSounds of the Chinese Fishing Nets in Fort Kochin, Kerala, India. Check out our website, pulseplanet.com, for some exciting news. That's pulseplanet.com. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.