HYDERABAD: It is an ancient tradition among the coastal people, especially those residing on islands, to preserve fish by drying it under the sun and salting it for domestic consumption.
In case the fishermen cannot go out to the sea due to weather conditions or some other unfortunate situation, their families consume dried shrimps and salted fish to maintain proper diet, community activists said.
Noor Muhammad, member of a fisherman’s family from a coastal village near Jati town, Sujawal district, said majority of the families kept a little amount of dried and salted fish, including shrimps, for their own consumption in difficult days to avoid any food shortage.
Presently, like other areas, entire coastal communities have also been restricted from moving out and launching their fishing vessels into the open sea from jetties. In this situation, the fishing communities were safe in terms of food security, but only for a limited time, the activist said.
Many fish varieties retain their taste despite drying and salting. It helps families to fulfill their nutritional needs during difficult times. Noor said seafood processing and use of iceboxes was introduced hardly 30 years ago. Before that, people mostly just dried fish in open grounds on the islands, and brought the same to the market after some weeks.
Currently, dried fish called chhodi in local market is available for sale at Rs100-Rs200/kilogram, depending on size or quality. Similarly, fishermen usually supply large shrimps to the main fish market at the Karachi Fisheries Harbour (KFH), while they prefer drying the smaller shrimps to get higher rates, later.
Fresh small shrimps are available at Rs100-Rs150/kg in the local market, which people sell at Rs500-Rs600/kg, after drying. Akhtar Shaikh, another community activist from Ibrahim Hydri, Karachi, sharing about the traditional practice of preservation, said people dry all types and sizes of fish in open grounds for two to three days.
“Fisherwomen have the responsibility to take care of the products at home, and flip the fish over after every one or two hours to avoid damaging the product. For shrimps, they apply a different method - they boil and then keep it on mats under the sun to maintain its protein.”
In case of rains they cover the place or transfer the product to a shelter to keep it safe, Akhtar added. Shaikh said some specific salt-boats still travel long distance from KFH, stay out in the sea for a week, and bring salty fish to the KFH market.
The crews take larger amounts of salt instead of ice on their fishing vessels. They catch fish from different reserves, sprinkle some amount of salt on it, and put it out on the boat for drying. They return with a higher amount of salted fish and earn better rates.
The crew members on these specific salt boats also get higher share in each trip, because salted fish has higher export value, he said. Some elderly fishermen in Keti Bunder in Thatta district recall the days when they caught more fish and dried it in open grounds on isolated islands. It was the time when they had not fixed iceboxes on boats, and could not process fish or put fresh fish in cold storage for days during travel.
Now, they said, the practice of drying and salting fish had fallen out of trend in most areas. Only a few families might have maintained this practice to preserve fish for their own consumption, or to offer to their relatives and family friends.
Island communities however have mostly retained this tradition to avoid uncertainty in times of high tides, cyclones or other natural calamities. This practice is also helping them survive during the emerging and fast spreading global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus.
Sharing their lifelong experience, senior fishermen said fish needs careful handling, because it spoils instantly after catch due to ups and downs in sea temperature and transportation. Thus, this must be preserved by storing, chilling, drying, salting and boiling.
Salting fish has a long history of benefitting the local fishing communities not only in terms of providing better income, but also in avoiding any threat of food security.