Fishermen with their catch at the Al Wakrah harbor. Pic: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula
After a long summer lull, activities at Al Wakrah fishing port are slowly gaining momentum. The arrival of cool weather helps fishermen and those who do fishing for leisure to get more catch.
The Al Wakrah fishing port harbours around 1,200 small and large fishing boats with each having an average of six people including fishermen working. The port is also busy with fishing launches and cruisers.
The fishing boats spend around two to three days in the sea and fishermen claim that the catch increases at least thrice during the cold season compared with hot months. Ahmed Al Darwish (21 years) a Qatari owner of three fishing boats and two launches had just returned from the sea in an evening of a weekday.
He agrees that a pleasant weather is always a good sign for fishing. “I enjoy fishing, I spend like three to ten hours in the sea during the winter. The fishermen on my boats spend like two or three days in the sea. The amount of fish we get in four months between December and March is definitely more compared with other months,” he told The Peninsula.
Replying to a query if there was any impact on fishing activities due to the unjust blockade imposed on Qatar by siege countries, Ahmed said “There is no impact. All activities are happening as usual and we get all fishing equipment without any disruption from countries like Oman.”
At the same time, a group of fishermen were fixing ‘Karkur’, a round metal fishing net, at the Al Wakrah fishing port. Most of them are from countries like India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. “Four to five people work in a small boat and six to ten people work in a big boat. There are others here who do work like boat reparing. All of us are busy during the cold months. We get more fish and we are sometimes get paid more,” said Rakesh, and Indian fishermen working at the Al Wakrah fishing port for more than eight years.
The most common types of fish caught by these fishermen are Sheri and Hamour and mostly sold at the Al Wakrah fish market. While, Omar an Egyptian fishing enthusiastic and his two friends were taking their inflatable boat into the water.
“We go fishing for few hours almost every day after work. It’s more enjoyable when the weather is pleasant,” they said.
