4×4

Fishing in Fujairah

To celebrate their 60 year anniversary, I went assignment for Toyota and Al Futtaim Motors. How do you tell a 60-year long story? What mark have they made? Sure, you just need to glimpse at the highway to see their presence on the road but my brief was way better. I was to drive to the East Coast and capture the look and feel of Fujairah’s life as a fishing village.

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At sunrise on the beach, we discovered a load of old Land Cruisers, most of them older than I am. They’d certainly put in a few decades of hard work on the beach. Fishing in Fujeirah involves a fishing boat, a Land Cruiser, a huge net in between and a crew of hardworking guys. One side of the net is attached to the boat and the other side to the Land Cruiser, to haul in the net. The catch is then loaded into the back of the car and sent to the local fish market. Ready for diner time…

It’s the daily routine that fascinates me. The simplicity got me hooked. We spoke to one guy who’s been fishing there for 28 years. If the car breaks down, he said, they just weld it together!

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The catch attracted a small crowd looking for fresher than fresh fish. I loved the atmosphere of people coming and going, digging through the nets to source their dinner. In this quaint fishing village, so set back in time, there was complete harmony in this mini economy at 7am in the morning. There’s much to learn from that.

Wk.