Mass Fishing @ Bapatla Beach

Suryalanka(Bapatla beach) is one of the most popular, playful, harmless and best beaches of Andhra Pradesh. The tourists from different places flock the beach especially on weekends. Haritha Resort has been built on the shore of the beach to cater to the needs of the beach lovers and tourists. Because of its flatness and harmlessness, most of the tourists can enter the salty water for about twenty feet long and play with the rising and falling tides. Water scooter ride intrigues the sea lovers on the Beach.

Besides the tourism, the beach is the lifeblood for fishermen of nearby villages. Generally, in India, the hungry fishermen go fishing on wooden boats into the sea and do the fishing with the help of white colored nets. Due to the widespread of awareness and  development of accessible technology, fishermen in India have started innovative techniques to catch more fish in less time and manpower, and one such innovative is Mass Fishing. Mass Fishing is usually employed on the foreign oceans; that too, on the ships with large bag like net which is immersed into the middle of the sea and fish are scooped up with the help of that large balloon like net and some electronic equipment.

Now, here at Bapatla it is completely different, fishermen don’t got into the long distances but spread the longest and widest net into the sea of U shaped with the two ends are on  either sides, pushing the middle part of the net deep into the sea. About two hundred fishermen on each side pull the net which has been spread into the sea like we clean mucous on the tongue with the help of tongue cleaner with both the hands on either side of it. Spreading and drawing the humongous net and collecting fish require plethora of fishermen, tractors to carry after the fish had been accumulated. The tractors carry the fish up to a certain distance of two kilometers. Then, when they reach the main road, the large containers would be waiting for the fish to be transported to the nearest towns and cities. A gigantic common balance would weigh the just-died fish and loaded into the containers to be transported to the nearest markets of towns and cities.

The fishing would start at dawn and end at dusk, with gales of laughter, happiness, money and satisfaction to the contractors and fishermen. Even the tourists would enjoy the stellar spectacle of catching the umpteen live fish which become the dead in the blinking of an eye. On the other hand, the fish would feel extremely desolate and miserable by being caught in the inescapable net by the cruel human and they lose their lives as soon as they are out of their mother water.

The sadness of fish is the happiness of man.

The death of the fish is the survival of man.

 Killing the fish for filling the stomach.