Hook, line and sinker
KARACHI: With a 135-kilometre-long coastline, fishing is big business in this city by the sea. But everyone associated with the business of fishing here doesn’t necessarily have to be on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Some stay on dry land, too.
From morning till evening and as much as his poor sight permits him these days, Mohammad Siddiq, a fisherman once, mends fishing nets in a small shop near the Jamot Jetty in Ibrahim Hyderi. “My eyesight isn’t what it used to be but I can still do this work,” says Siddiq.
“Having once flung these nets on the surface of the shimmering waters for, I know well how often they need repairs,” says the old timer. “The fish bites into the nets, our own knives, too, contribute to the damage,” he adds going about his work as he holds the net close to his face.
Saddam, who works in a garment factory, also runs a side business of buying and selling old nets, ropes, floats, etc. “A new fishing net would cost you around Rs8,000 but I will sell you a second-hand one for less than half of that at Rs3000,” says Saddam. He says he buys old fishing nets from the Karachi fisheries area to have them mended before selling them in his shop.
“Recycling isn’t such a bad idea if you are saving money doing it,” says Young Mohammad Imran, another dealer of similar old material for fishing boats and trawlers. But he also sells new stuff. There are big bundles of rope, old as well as new, lying around. “The nylon twine and silk rope chord is expensive. A new bundle will cost you up to Rs12,000. On the other hand, an old rope can be bought for Rs800.
But then it will also break easily,” he points out.