Fishing with nets in the port of Algiers

The fishermen of Algiers use small boats for their fishing trips. The equipments and techniques used are still the traditional ones, common to the entire Mediterranean area. Fishing with nets is the most common technique.

Gillnet consists of a single net panel armed with floats at the top and weights at the bottom. It is usually spread in the sea in a straight line, perpendicular to the coastline. The purse seine consists of a large panel of net with floats in the upper part and with weights and rings in the lower one. It is placed in the water to surround the shoal of fish, previously gathered in a point, with the use of a light source. A cable runs between the rings placed at the bottom of the net, closing the fish in a bag. Then they proceed to the embankment.

The control and cleaning of the nets are operations that every fisherman performs once he is back to the port or before the next fishing trip. In the past, this operation was the most important. When the nets were made by hand, in cotton, they had immense economic value and needed constant maintenance.

Traditionally, the weaving of the nets, as well as the rewinding, were operations reserved for women, real experts in the art of “embroidery” of the nets and in its daily maintenance.