Konkan Traditional Fishing Boat Ratnagiri Maharashtra

The Konkan coast of Maharashtra, from Raigad to Sindhudurg, supports traditional wooden boat building for shallow-draft fishing in the rocky coastal inlets and river estuaries of the Konkan shore, producing the Nao (dugout canoe for river estuary fishing), the Machwaa (small plank-built coastal fishing boat), and the Hodi (medium fishing trawler) using traditional adze-and-plane carpentry without the use of drawings or measurements, with hull form held in the builder knowledge through oral rule-of-thumb proportions passed from father to son. Konkan boat builders, primarily from Agri, Koli, and Christian fishing communities of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg, source Ain (Terminalia myriocarpa) planking and teak keel timber from the Konkan forest cooperatives, and use traditional coconut coir rope and cotton canvas pitch-caulking for plank seam sealing. The traditional coastal fishing methods of the Konkan include the hand-line trolling for Pomfret and Surmai from the Machwaa, rock-shore net casting for Bombil (Bombay duck), and the Bharit seine for small pelagic fish in sheltered coves. The Ratnagiri District Fisher Cooperative manages auction of the catch at the beach.