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Extra > Lisa Lim Baron
While the main source of livelihood in the small village of
Kirinda, Sri Lanka, is fishing, some 175 young men are deep sea divers. Most of them are self-taught, who dive,
using rudimentary gear, up to five times a day, six days a week, for conch and other sea shells on the
ocean floor. While they may collect some 30 shells a day, they can only dive in the good season,
which lasts four to six months from November each year.
They are paid approximately US$ 1 for each shell
they collect by those running such operations, such as this man, pictured with some larger specimens,
whom we were introduced to by the village
school's principal while we were engaged in linguistic fieldwork on Kirinda Java (the variety of
Sri Lanka Malay spoken in Kirinda). Also harvesting sharks' fins for the Chinese market, he asked
us what the fins were actually wanted for.
Half the buildings of the village of Kirinda,
the fisheries harbour and all the villagers' boats were destroyed by the tsunami, and many
of the divers' gear and stocks were washed away. Some 100 people are reported dead.
Lisa Lim Baron
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