Oostduinkerke, Belgium – A coupleof hours after dawn one late July earlymorning, the noise of Gregory Debruyne’s horse Kelly trotting through the verdant lanes of Oostduinkerke echoes through the charming seaside town in west Belgium.
Pulling a cart filled with fishing equipment and devices to sort shrimps, Kelly – a brown Belgian draught horse – and Debruyne are heading towards the sandy coasts of the North Sea to go shrimp fishing.
Debruyne is a Belgian horseback shrimp angler in Oostduinkerke – the last location in the world where this centuries-old practice of capturing shrimp utilizing horses rather than boats continues.
“I discovered horseback shrimp fishing from my dad when I was 11 years old,” Debruyne, now 27, informs Al Jazeera, as he gets Kelly prepared to fish for the day in the town centre, close to the sea.
Dozens of travelers are crowding around them and excitedly enjoying as Debruyne covers Kelly with a warm blanket and installs 2 brown baskets on either side of her back. He likewise connects a chained net to her tail.
“Using her hindquarters, Kelly will wade through the shallow waves of the North Sea, upuntil the seawater reaches her chest, pulling the net, which has a chain at the bottom. This pull produces a vibration that disrupts the shrimp in the shallow waters, instigating them to dive into the broadened net,” Debryune describes.
Four other anglers and their horses have signedupwith Kelly and Debruyne in the town. All the horseback shrimp anglers puton brilliant yellow anoraks – thick waterresistant coats – and black gum boots and head off towards the North Sea on their horses.
“I hope to return after about an hour, with a deserving catch,” Debruyne yells back as the viewers watch him and Kelly heading into the sea.
Horseback shrimp fishing – which is on the “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” list kept by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) – started in northern Belgium at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, when the area was under the control of Christian monks.
While it was likewise practiced in the Netherlands, France and parts of southern England, simply 12 households in Belgium still pursue the custom.
In 1502, there was an abbey at Koksijde (in contemporary Belgium) and the monks desired shrimps and fish to consume, something the regional spiritual neighborhood was just too pleased to require. “The regional farmers, who owned horses, chose to go to the sea and catch shrimp and fish and provide it to the monks of the abbey. This kicked off the practice of horseback shrimp fishing,” Eddy D’Hulster, who worked as a horseback shrimp angler for 56 years, informs Al Jazeera.
These days, horseback anglers like Debruyne likewise work on industrial vessels to make more cash. On vessels, the horseback shrimp fishers likewise catch other fish and not simply shrimp.
D’Hustler himself has likewise worked as a angler on vessels, however states he much chooses capturing shrimp on horseback consideringthat he thinks the brown shrimp is moredelicious when it comes from the shallow waters of the North Sea.
‘Live for the horse and the sea’
Sporting a navy blue cap imprinted with a sign of a horseback shrimp fisher, 81-year-old D’Hulster is viewing the intense yellow anoraks of Debruyne and the other anglers with their horses out at sea and thinkingback about his veryfirst time fishing in such a way.
“I began fishing for shrimp on horseback thanks to a love story,” he laughes.
“I satisfied this lovely lady in the town and foundout that her daddy was a horseback shrimp angler. I started knowing the custom from him when I was around 18 years old, lookingfor to impress his child. We were quickly wed which was terrific,” he states, blushing.
“But this was likewise the start of a larger love story in my life which constantly made me feel like the king of the world – horseback shrimp fishing!” he exclaims.
Shrimp captured by the horseback shrimp anglers in the North Sea are greyish-brown in colour and called brown shrimp. They are discovered in the shallow waters of the sea and Belgians thinkabout them to be the tastiest shrimp in the world due to their sweet and salted flavour.
“When I began fishing, it was the start of spring and the North Sea back then was overflowing with brown shrimp,” D’Hulster states. “Treading into the shallow waves of the sea, we might quickly catch about 20-30kg [44-66lbs] of shrimp and make a living through this custom, earning about 30 Belgian francs [about 0.75 euros] for a kilo.”
Today the cost is 10 euros ($11.11) for a kilo of shrimp, he states, and “it is the just kind of shrimp I love consuming”.
While the catch and the cash they might make was an reward that drew young males and females in Oostduinkerke to horseback shrimp fishing, D’Hulster states that for lotsof of them, it is likewise a enthusiasm for horses and the “mighty blue” North Sea, which keeps the ancient custom alive here.
“Shrimps are what we capture, however as a horseback angler, you should live for the horse and love the sea. When I began fishing, the thing I liked the finest was my horse, Mina. She was about 10 years old and I purchased her from my father-in-law. We discovered shrimp fishing together,” he states.
Mina passedaway when she was 20 years old, after which it took D’Hulster 6 months to train another horse to fish.
“Mina taught me to love the open sea. I do missouton her, however my household now owns around 10 to 20 horses which are skilled to fish in the sea,” D’Hulster states.
Like Kelly, Mina was a Belgian draught horse – a type experienced for farming work. The horseback fishers buy horses in huge Belgian cities like Brussels and select the “calmest” ones to accompany them shrimp fishing. Calmness makes it mucheasier to train the horse to tread through the waves of the sea and not to be alarmed by sea animals in the shallow waters by the coast.
While any horse can be qualified to shrimp fish, the Belgian draught horse which is likewise understood as the “Brabant” horse (named after the province in Belgium) delightsin the briny waters of the North Sea and, being larger, morepowerful and quicker than other types, can muchbetter assistance the fishers to bring out their trade effectively, according to D’Hulster.
Climate modification: A front-row view
After a little more than 45 minutes at sea, Debruyne and the other horseback shrimp anglers slowly start returning to the coast.
As quickly as Kelly’s damp hooves touch the sandy beach of Oostduinkerke, she grunts, obviously d