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"DYNAMITE FISHING"
Philippines, February 2003 |
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All islands of the Philippines have a large fishing community.
Unfortunately not all fisher men use conventional nets or hooks. |
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Former dynamite fisher Gonzalo preparing ammonium nitrate for the explosion. This explosive substance is normally used as fertilizer and readily available. Today he has understood the impact of this fishing method and only agreed to join the production when he had learned that it is for preservation purposes. |
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The fuses... designed to burn underwater.
The aluminium part is a blast cap, which ignites the ammonium nitrate and causes the explosion. These fuses are difficult to obtain and are the most expensive part of these explosive charges. |
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| Bottles are filled with the inflammable fertilizer. An oridinary bottle of gin (0,3l) usually does the job, but unfortunately gallon-size containers are often used too. |
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The fuse is wrapped to a matchstick and pushed into a bottle. The water-tight seal is cut out of common flip-flops. | |||
| With the charges prepared, the fishers go to sea, where they look out for spots at which schools of fish can be found. When a good spot is located... |
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...the fuse is lit with a matchbox... | |||
| ...and the "dynamite" is thrown amongst the fish... |
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... regardless of the consequences for Nature.
(Of course, for this production, the explosions did not take place in the middle of a school of fish, but in an already completely destructed and liveless area.) |
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| Immediately after the blast, the hookah-diver gets ready to descend. He is equipped with an old-fashioned, leaking mask (frequently carved from bamboo!) and his air supply comes from a hose (commonly used for aquarium pumps), which is connected to a compressor on the boat...
(Usually Remy doesn't blast the reef to bits. He has worked on projects for WWF and is a dedicated environmentalist. For this film he agreed to play the role of a dynamite hookah-diver.) |
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... his weight belt is a rock that is fastened around his waist in an old T-shirt and his fin is made of plywood. | |||
| Artifishal underwater cameraman, ready to enter the water immediately after the explosion. |
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Meanwhile, below the boat, dozens of blasted fish sink to the sea bed...
(These are from the market) |
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| ...with the Hookah close behind... |
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...to collect them. | |||
| The landscape in this area is entirely wasted and... |
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...there is death all over the place making it hard to imagine that... | |||
| ...not all too long ago, it used to be like this. |
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