Female fishermen of the Bedouin tribe living along the coast of Oman still go out to sea to catch fish every day. However, they may be the last generation when no one wants to continue this traditional work.
Khaleedah al-Hokmani, barefoot, strode through the murky waters, holding a rusty iron spear. She walked in silence, until she launched her spear into the water, making a resounding sound, like a deflated balloon. Seconds later, a silver cuttlefish emerged, spraying black ink all over her clothes. Without hesitation, the woman tore the squid into pieces.
She said, this squid is female and has eggs, she separates the squid eggs and eats them directly. A bag of blue ink remained between her fingers after she drained the ink bag. Hokmani grinned, revealing black teeth.
“This is our way of promoting health,” she asserts.
That’s how about 400 female Bedouin fishermen do their job of catching invertebrates. They inherited that method from their mother. This work is so ingrained and rooted in Oman that female fishermen have a “monopoly” of fishing.
They are known by the locals with the special name rahas . Using only spears , they hunt squid, rays and octopuses, and also travel the shores to find oysters and clams to sell in local markets.
The women inherited the hunting method from their mother.
However, in the context of promoting the commercialization of the seafood industry, which is mainly for men, the fishing work of female fishermen is increasingly being pushed into a state of decline, and may even change. lost.
Most of the female fishermen live and work in Mahout, a remote seaside town of 17,000 families belonging to the Bedouin tribe. Mahout is in Al Wusta Province, the most productive fishing area in Oman.
Although the country is more than 95% dependent on small-scale fishing, it is investing heavily in offshore fishing projects. For example, a seafood canning factory worth 24 million Omani riyals (VND 1,438 billion) in Al Wusta is being established, expected to open in 2024, and tenders for the purchase of three large fishing vessels.
Farha al-Kindi, founder of seafood company Sea Delights, said while the expansion of the fishing industry is aimed at creating opportunities for local fishermen and foreign workers, these projects are had no significant impact on the female fishermen on the island.
For Hokmani, who had been taught spear fishing , she now feels the fishing job is more precarious than ever. She is currently divorced and has eight children. In the morning, she works as a bus driver to earn extra income besides her main source of income from fishing.
Hokmani and the other fishing women form a group. To fish, they drive 50 kilometers from home to the work area, carrying tools such as iron spears, plastic fuel canisters with ropes to pull fish, besides tea cakes.
As a seasoned member, she leads her group in fishing. After two hours of fishing, she had obtained the result: 20 cuttlefish, 2 rays and nearly 30 seashells.
Women who show off their achievements
A similar situation occurs on Masirah, Oman’s largest island, where Bedouin female fishermen have long fished freshwater snails. Here, Shefya al-Farsi, 58, has been in the profession for 40 years. However, her daughters did not learn a trade, choosing instead to attend university and aspire to work in the city.
Farsi said: “I wish my children would continue my work. We want this work to be carried on by the next generation. But now, it seems very few women want to follow this profession.”
In the distance, two male fishermen in a small boat were casting their nets into deeper water. Because they are subsidized by the Oman government, their equipment is very modern, in stark contrast to the rudimentary tools, made by female fishermen.
“We don’t want this job to disappear,” Kindi said. We still want to use the traditional way of fishing, and also want the government to support and create a better environment to teach the girls.”