O Lovely: Sea Snail--Whelks

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Sea Snail--Whelks

On a Sunday I planned an outing with the family to a sea side which is almost virgin and very few people are allowed there. The sea side is semi rocky and is near Karachi, Pakistan. The place is a Big Mountain Rock and the sea hits its base which is around 200/300 feet below. A fisherman family lives there on top of the rock and earns their living by fishing in the sea. They have their Launches and Boats for Fishing. Plus they use fish traps to catch fish.

While interacting with the fisherman family I learnt that they also catch Sea Snails with the help of specially designed traps. This was new for me and I thought I shall share this information with you.

As can be seen here the trap is almost a shape of a round box with an inlet from where the Sea Snail enters by crawling to eat the fish hanging in the middle as a bate. But after entering they are trapped and cannot go out as Snail cannot swim and the bottom of the trap has no outlet.

These Sea Snails (whelks) are a delicacy and are in high international demand. Though the fishermen don’t eat them themselves but sell it to the international buyers. They are normally sold at a price of $ 3.5 to $ 4 per Kilograms. The Fisherman told me that he catches around 300 kilograms in about 36 to 48 hours.