Fishing technique and sailboat

Artisanal fishing in the Kerkennah Islands: techniques and society
 
The Kerkennah Archipelago is an ecosystem of living organisms that interact with their natural environment. The fishing traditions that take various forms express this interaction. Indeed, on this extensive coastline punctuated by the small white domes of the popular saints, the local communities have developed a range of technical processes reflecting ancestral know-how.
The techniques, objects and tools associated with them are part of the local environment to which they belong, as evidenced by the materials they are made from, based on esparto and date palm, the blessed tree that marks the Kerkennian landscape.
Far from being reduced to its technical aspects and utilitarian functions, artisanal fishing is an activity that integrates several social and symbolic values and refers to an invisible world, hence the recourse to mausoleums (Zaouia) to venerate the protective saints of the archipelago and holders of the baraka of the sea.
Today, more than ever before, and aware of the heritage value of artisanal fishing, the community considers this activity as an expression of their collective cultural identity, to the point that it generates cultural practices of a normative nature, based on harmony between man and nature, and on respect for the ecological balance on land as well as at sea, thus ensuring the sustainability of fisheries resources in a healthy and viable marine environment.
 
Imed Ben Soula
Anthropologist
Director of Research at INP

Fishing technique and sailboat: Kerkennah

Fishing technique and sailboat: Kerkennah

Kerkennah

Fishing technique and sailboat: Zarzis

Fishing technique and sailboat: Zarzis

Zarzis

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