Sri Lanka’s stilt fishermen have become a tourist attraction in the seven decades since this unique form of fishing began, but the photos of them perched above the sea against blue skies or orange sunsets give little indication of the hardships they now face.
The fishermen who fish from stilts in Sri Lanka's southern province of Galle became known worldwide for their patience and endurance; however, they now rely on tourists and pose for them on the stilts to make ends meet. Natural disasters have reduced the number of fish near the coast, and a lack of resources makes it difficult for the fishermen to opt for more efficient forms of fishing or big boats to go out further into the ocean.
“This is a famous fishing, but people need to earn money. When we have tourists coming, we earn money, sometimes we earn 100 rupees [from photos] we are happy, and we can go home. Some fishermen take money from tourists for photos,” Seena Th, a 60-year-old fisherman from Koggala fishing village, told The National.
Generations of fishermen have followed "ritipanna", a fishing technique unique to the island nation, where they sit perched on a crossbar fitted to a long wooden stilt erected in the shallow waters of the Indian Ocean. The stilts are made of local wood called kithul, to which smaller lengths of wood are attached to provide a perch for the fishermen to stand or sit on. The catch is usually small fish like mackerel or sardines.
This fishing technique began during the Second World War and is believed to have been prompted by food shortages. Despite changing times and great advances in fishing boats and technology, the fishermen stuck with the technique.
This type of fishing is practised in the villages of Koggala and Ahangama in Galle district and Weligama in Matara district, which is about 150km south of the capital Colombo. There are an estimated 150 stilt fishermen in the country.
“We do stilt fishing for a living. We are doing the same thing as our fathers and grandfathers did. We have no option. Boat fishing is expensive and needs more people but here I can fish alone,” Priyadasa, 60, who uses a single name, told The National.
“There is less money, but we continue stilt fishing because this is a generational occupation. We do not know any other work. We may be the last fishermen to continue this tradition,” he said.
Challenging work
Stilt fishing is physically demanding – strength is needed to hold the rod with one hand for several hours while balancing on the stilt. It also requires patience to sit in silence so as to avoid scaring away the fish. The fishermen start at 5am and continue through the day for up to four hours at a stretch. They store their catch in a bag tied to their waist or to the pole.
The peak fishing season is in April, Rasika Weelheelae said, but fishing continues from May to September. If they catch enough fish to sell by the roadside or at market, they can earn 400 rupees ($1.37) per kilogram.
“We catch sardines and small fish which don’t need a net. During the fishing season one fisherman can catch up to 3kg of fish with one stick but other times, we get [only] enough for our consumption," Mr Weelheelae said.
“We somehow manage with the little money because what else can we do? I love this job because it is unique and famous, but money is less. It gets difficult to run the house when the catch is less,” he said.
The fishermen also say stilt fishing has become more difficult since the 2004 tsunami, which ravaged coastlines around the Indian Ocean and killed an estimated 225,000 people, including at least 46,000 people in Sri Lanka. The tsunami changed the country's fishing grounds and damaged the coastal ecosystem, causing a decline in fish numbers, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation.
“About two decades ago there were more fish, there were only a few places where the fish would come. Now, there aren't many fish. Before, we caught 30kg in one day – in two hours. Now it is 10kg a day in peak season,” Mr Th said.
Desperate times
With the number of fish dwindling and no resources to buy boats for deep-sea fishing, many fishermen are relying on tourists to eke out a living, particularly during the off-season, when fishing drops. Many fishermen pose for tourists, balancing on the crossbars against the blue ocean waters. The spectacle is popular with social media enthusiasts.
Many fishermen also offer their stilts to the tourists to pose in their own photos. Unfortunately, this has led to others pretending to be fishermen just to receive money for the photos.
“The other fishermen have big boats to catch big fish, they go far away and come back late in the night. But we have no boats so we cannot do that, that is why we do stilt fishing here. We have no option,” Mr Th said.
“There are also some impostors who are posing as fishermen. We want the government to look into this. This further affects our income. My son has learnt this fishing from me and is also engaged in stilt fishing but with less income and competition from these impostors, I do not know how long can we continue,” he said.
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
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Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
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'Panga'
Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta
Rating: 3.5/5
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The biog
Name: Mohammed Imtiaz
From: Gujranwala, Pakistan
Arrived in the UAE: 1976
Favourite clothes to make: Suit
Cost of a hand-made suit: From Dh550
Tips to stay safe during hot weather
- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
- Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
- Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
- Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
- Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
- Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
- Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
Profile Idealz
Company: Idealz
Founded: January 2018
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Size: (employees): 22
Investors: Co-founders and Venture Partners (9 per cent)
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Biography
Favourite drink: Must have karak chai and Chinese tea every day
Favourite non-Chinese food: Arabic sweets and Indian puri, small round bread of wheat flour
Favourite Chinese dish: Spicy boiled fish or anything cooked by her mother because of its flavour
Best vacation: Returning home to China
Music interests: Enjoys playing the zheng, a string musical instrument
Enjoys reading: Chinese novels, romantic comedies, reading up on business trends, government policy changes
Favourite book: Chairman Mao Zedong’s poems
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European arms
Known EU weapons transfers to Ukraine since the war began: Germany 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles. Luxembourg 100 NLAW anti-tank weapons, jeeps and 15 military tents as well as air transport capacity. Belgium 2,000 machine guns, 3,800 tons of fuel. Netherlands 200 Stinger missiles. Poland 100 mortars, 8 drones, Javelin anti-tank weapons, Grot assault rifles, munitions. Slovakia 12,000 pieces of artillery ammunition, 10 million litres of fuel, 2.4 million litres of aviation fuel and 2 Bozena de-mining systems. Estonia Javelin anti-tank weapons. Latvia Stinger surface to air missiles. Czech Republic machine guns, assault rifles, other light weapons and ammunition worth $8.57 million.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
