Eight hours before the tsunami hit the shores in 2004, fishermen in the coastal areas had sent across a message that the sea would come in. It was the elderly fishermen in the area who gave the warning listening to the sounds from the sea and the behaviour of animals in the water and on the land. But, for want of any scientific explanation, the warning fell on deaf ears.
Despite all the information that is being given to the fisher folk by the government and institutions, when it comes to going to the sea and making a catch, most of them just stand before the sea and take a call.
Realizing that this knowledge acquired by experience could be lost if not documented, the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (Kufos) and Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) have initiated projects to document the vast traditional knowledge.
Kufos has set up a chair for the empowerment of fisher folk and archiving traditional knowledge, with K S Kurushan, former dean of the fisheries college as the professor in-charge.
“As scientists, we interact with these fishermen and find that many a time, their predictions are true. They look at the sea and decide where to fish and what kind of catch it would be. Their knowledge of the sea, its colour, odour and sounds are their expertise. Hence we decided to document it for posterity. Much of this knowledge will be verified scientifically also,” said Kufos vice-chancellor B Madhusoodana Kurup.
There are about 10 lakh fisher folk in the state of which 10,000 must be senior fishermen and it is this population that the project will target.
A similar project is already being undertaken by Cusat’s department of library and information sciences. The project, funded by the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE), will develop a traditional knowledge digital library (TKDL) of coastal resources.
“We are looking at traditional knowledge like prediction of fish species availability, whether forecasting, anticipation of problems, disaster warning, general fish habitat and medical applications of marine species that fishermen make use of in their daily life. This knowledge, acquired through experience and transferred down generations, can be utilized for improved and sustainable coastal resource management. This will be documented and linked with scientific knowledge by developing a TKDL,” said Cusat assistant librarian Beena Cherukuth.
She said that the data base will contain different types of contents such as audio, video, images and texts. The final structure of the database will be available within 3-4 months.
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