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Vom Kattumaram zur Fibre-teppa

2005, EAZ Ethnographisch-Archäologische Zeitschrift

Abstract

Der Hauptanteil des Fischaufkommens an Indiens Ostküste wird immer noch durch traditionelle Fischereifahrzeuge angelandet. Von diesen Wasserfahrzeugen ist der Kattumaram der am häufigsten genutzte Typ. Diese Flöße sind vor allem an Indiens Ostküste zwischen Puri (Bundesstaat Orissa) und Kanyakumari (Bundesstaat Tamil Nadu) in Gebrauch. An diesem ca. 2000 km langen Küstenabschnitt sind unter den etwa 60.000 Fischereifahrzeugen allein rund 40.000 Kattumarame zu finden. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, das traditionelle Wasserfahrzeug der Indischen Ostküste zu beschreiben - den Kattumaram. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf der Beschreibung der Veränderung von Konstruktion und Verwendung dieses Fischerfloßes. Außerdem sollen die zwei, eng mit dem Kattumaram verwandten, modernen Floßtypen vorgestellt werden. Diese Forschungsreise fand zufällig direkt in den Wochen vor dem Tsunami vom 26. 12. 2004 statt. Sie stellt damit eine einmalige Bestandsaufnahme vor der teilweisen Zerstörung der Fischereiflotte an Indiens Ostküste dar. Up to the present day the major part of India's east coast fishery is carried out with traditional fishing craft. Of all these vessels the kattumaram is the most widely used type. These rafts are predominantly sailed at India's east coast between Puri (federal state Orissa) and Kanyakumari (federal state Tamil Nadu). The kattumaram is an astonishingly conservative water-craft. It was probably first mentioned in Periplus Maris Erythraei and could be traced back to the first century AD. The goal of this study is to describe the traditional water-craft of the Indian east coast, i.e. the kattumaram. The focus lies on the description of constructional change and usage of this fishing raft. Furthermore the essentials of terminology, conditions of production, propulsion, crew/propulsion techniques as well as equipment and the spread & usage were described. Moreover two other more modern raft types shall be presented here, which are closely related to the kattumaram. Coincidentally this expedition took place in the weeks just before the tsunami of the 26th of December 2004. Henceforth it represents a unique inventory just before the partial destruction of the fishing fleet at India's east coast. In the following it will be attempted to describe three different types of fishing craft. All three types are definable as rafts due to the inherent buoyant nature of the hull components. The underlying question of the assessment was: In how far has traditional boat-building changed along India's east coast in the last 25 years? The research papers of the Bay of Bengal Program, which were released in the early 1980's, served as reference point. Did new materials encouraged the development of new boat-types or were proven types preferred? Are there local types and if so, did they changed individually?