MONOMAD | Recording Traditional Fishermen's Preparations for Sea

The fishy smell of fish immediately surrounds the sense of smell when entering the area of the Fish Base Center in Pusong Lama, Banda Sakti District, Lhokseumawe, Aceh.

The fishy smell mixed with fuel, typical of the aroma of a fish landing base. The roar of engines, the voices of people, and the occasional seagull dancing in the distance.

The sound of seagulls drowns out the roar of fishing boat engines and the shouts of people. If the fishy smell is not smelled, the hustle and bustle at the fish landing base is truly beautiful.

Life is full of passion. People who enjoy fresh and healthy fish, which fulfill their nutritional needs, occasionally need to see the struggle of traditional fishermen crossing the ocean to catch fish with simple equipment. If you see this hard struggle, it feels sinful to leave even just a small piece of fish on your plate.

There are dozens or maybe more than 100 boats of various sizes at the Pusong Fish Landing Base. Some are anchored and there is no activity on the boat. There were workers cleaning the boats, either after returning from fishing or preparing to go back to sea.

In another corner, I recorded with my iPhone camera the fishermen tidying up their nets for catching fish. The blue nets—as blue as the afternoon sky—were being sewn back together at the broken parts. They tidied up the nets while laughing happily, as if they had forgotten about the high price of fuel in Indonesia and the many illegal fishing boats that stole fish with more sophisticated boats in Indonesian waters.

On the other side I saw gallons of fuel being supplied into large jerrycans from a pump. The jerrycans were arranged neatly and then transported onto the ship. I photographed the activity.

Then there was a ship loading ice from a truck into a fiber. The way they unloaded the ice was unique. They used a kind of surfboard from a truck parked on land and quickly lowered the ice blocks into the ship.

Once inside the ship, the ice blocks were loaded into the fiber. I asked a fisherman how long they would be at sea with such preparation.

According to the fisherman, the duration of their voyage depended on the size of the GT, supplies, and the ship's cargo and catch. "Some only do it for a day, two days a week, and the longest is two weeks," replied the fisherman.

I recorded all the activity. I could feel the hardship of the fishermen's struggle in catching fish with traditional equipment. Maybe I wouldn't be able to be a fisherman, even for just one day.[]