tempus fugit

By ceridwen

Sprung trap

Ultra low tides - how I love 'em!
Always a chance to explore what's usually concealed under water and to gather some goodies. 
This is one of two ancient fish traps that are exposed only when the sea retreats.  I blipped  the other one, on the opposite side of the bay, a few years back.
It's impossible to say how old it is because it must have been renewed constantly as the stones were dislodged by wave action but the aim of such traps is to corrall shoals of fish on a falling tide by driving them into the hook shaped structure so that they could be easily captured with nets or hands. I imagine the whole community, including women, children and old men, would take part in the operation,  sleeves and skirts rolled up. 
Fish were much more plentiful once and the resulting catch would be salted and saved for the lean winter days. Similar sorts of  traps can be found the world over. In this short video, within an article about the old fish traps of Western Australia, the speaker laments that tourists are not made aware of the nuances of indigenous culture. It's no different here.

Today there were local people out prawning, like the man here  poking his net in amongst the stones of the old trap, while others were hunting for cockles and razor clams. While Raki had a splash around and found another dog to play chase,  we captured a few of the latter - supper sorted!

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.