Promethean escolar, Kattelhi in our dialect, is a special fish found in the Fuvahmulah sea. In the early days, there were no metal jigs or modern fishing tackles available on our island or in the Maldives. Preparing to go for catching kattelhi was daunting and involved multiple stages of tasks prior to setting off for fishing.
A fisherman’s first task was to cut the fiber (vaanaa) of sea hibiscus (dhigai). The thin fibers peeled from these trees were used to connect the hook of the fishing line and anchor the stones that would be sent to the bottom.
The first thing they had to complete was to smash huge sand corals into pieces. The chief fisherman of bokkurraa, known as keyoulhu, would determine the quantity of coral pieces required for preparation. They assigned two people to this task. They had to first reserve the ‘saudharaatha marotheyli,’ a special hammer weighing 6 kg. There was only one hammer in our district, Dhadimago ward. It was located at the Abeage household. The two fishermen would go to meet Abea, and they would book the hammer. The hammer was reserved for the first person to arrive.
These two fishermen received the hammer and proceeded to the beach area where the large sand corals were located. They had to smash the corals into pieces weighing a minimum of 3 to 4 kg. Normally the chief fisherman would order 80 coral pieces. The fisherman transferred the smashed coral pieces to mudeyshi once they reached the desired size. They carry the corals in mudeyshi and walk towards the shore area where bokkura is aground.
They would begin fishing after making the necessary preparations. Four people would be releasing the fishing line. Including the chief keulhu, a total of eight crew members would be on board. One crew member would steer the rear oars (Dhekedefaali). They assigned one person to tie vaanaa to the coral pieces. In the central position of the vessel, there were two crews to propel two oars. Each side of the vessel attaches these two oars to itself. We call these oars bandofaali. Among these two men, one person would tie the knot on the coral stones, and the other person would remove the hook from the fish.
In the early days, our fishermen used flying fish or reef fish such as groupers as bait. They rigged the flesh of these bait fish by running the hook point through them at least twice, leaving the point exposed. After the stone touched the bottom, they pulled up the fishing line to free it from the hook. The fishing line undergoes jerking movements to attract Kattelhi fish. Those days they caught 50 to 100 per bokkura. Nowadays, jigging is a popular technique to catch Kattelhi.
