My Account Belgian Coast tradition : the fishermen of Oostduinkerke resort, and the statues on the beach where shrimp catching is still practised with horses
(Browse the collection : West Flanders Province time lapse and video stock footage)
In the small western Belgian fishing village of Oostduinkerke, fishermen use horses, rather than boats, to go shrimp fishing — one of the very few places in the world still using a technique dating back to the 15th century. The method makes use of the horse’s strength to pull a fishing net through the shallow waters of Oostduinkerke, a natural habitat to grey shrimp (Crangon crangon), just before and after low tide.
(Reuters)
Fishermen- and women catch grey North Sea shrimps by taking their strong horses out into the water. They pull a wooden beam that drags a net behind it. The vibrations of the beam make the shrimp jump up straight into the net! While this way of fishing used to be common along the entire Belgian coast, nowadays the fishermen in Oostduinkerke/Koksijde are the only ones still practising this method. It is the only location in the world where this form of fishing is employed, which is why it was designated Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.
The trade was once practiced by families on the North Sea coast from France to Germany and southern England, and today there are only 17 people alive who continue this now Unesco-recognised tradition. Oostduinkerke – an 8,500-person Flemish community on Belgium’s north-western tip – is the last place in the world where it still lives on.
(BBC)
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