SaiKung Fishermen
These photos captured the daily life of fishermen in SaiKung, there are many different careers in Hong Kong, but we seldom understand how fishermen work or maintain their life, they work around 12 hours per day, their income depends on the number of visitors. They stay on a boat, spending a long time with seafood per day. They go fishing before sunrise and close after sunset. Law, 60 years old, didn't get the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance but working hard in a boat,
the boats are neatly arranged which are waiting for the tourists to start a sightseeing trip in Sharp island, Half Moon Bay or Yim Tin Tsai Village and so on, which can admire the coral and the rock, the local said this is another way to earn money apart from being a fishermen.
"it is easy to doze off when we are free because the boat keeps rowing with the wave, it's leisure and comfortable " Lau answered after founding out someone took a photo of him. There are very few people at around 2 p.m on Thursday.
This is the special way that the fishermen trade because of convenient, Putting the goods in the basket, til up and give it to the customer, and get the money back from the basket. it is difficult for them to climb up and down every time. so this is also a special behaviour that people can only see in SaiKung.
Their money making tool is simple, The boss Law said "it is safe to put the money in the basket as no one can take it away from his boat except the wind, " so he will close the lid after putting money inside the basket.
When the customer choose the type of seafood they want, Law and his wife Wong will show it out and let people check whether it is fresh enough, they will quote money at the same time, Law said"many visitors are afraid to be fake and they are used to bargain for a lower price, but I will only give $10 discount at most, as it is hard to maintain the life. "
Law finishes his lunch every 3 p.m. and Wong still slaughter the fish when Law is resting, She said: “actually we have no free time as many small fishes need to be slaughtered.”
a close-up shot that reflects the process of slaughtering the fish, Wong said: “It can get a higher price if I scrape the scale off.”
Observed a day, it’s seldom to see Wong smile. She chats with visitor sometimes and she smiles when interacting with a baby.
Law always look serious and honest, there is a basket of stale fish on the boat, when someone asks for the price, he will ask the customer to buy another one.
The fishermen will help with each other, another boat comes to resupplyt some fishes to confirm they have enough resource at around 4 p.m.
In February, the sunset comes at around 6 p.m., the sea is shining like the fish scale, the boat is in the middle of the sea which paint a peaceful picture.
In weekday, Law has more leisure time that talking with his friends or regular visitors, he sits out of the fence which is more convenient to climb down to his “store”.
Lau uses a plastic bag to pack the phone which can prevent the water, Our photographer asked him “Why don’t you use the professional waterproof bag?” He said, “this is the cheapest and practical way.”
At around 6 p.m., they are ready to close, put away the umbrella and clean up the baskets.
The sun went down, they left when there are no any visitors.
It’s dark at 6:30p.m., other fishermen are leaving, the pier is restored to a quiet.