Memories and remaining practitioners of gearless fishing and crab collecting in some regions of the Carpathian Basin

Abstract

Some segments of the traditional ecological knowledge associated with gearless fishing and crabbing for both subsistence and recreational purposes have survived in some parts of the world to the present day. Since in ethnographic literature, the phenomenon has been documented for centuries in the Carpathian Basin, and since the traditional lifestyle comprising this activity persisted in the region until the late 1970s or 1980s, I assumed that even today there are people who were actively involved in these activities, or who are even still able to fish without any gear. In my work, I have thus assumed that some of the traditional knowledge associated with these activities has survived modernisation, and I wanted to find at least a few more people who used to practise or still practises fishing and crabbing without gear in our region, while I was also curious to find out more about the some methodology and cultural background of this activity. In August 2022, I contacted 32 people in the Sóvidék region of Transylvania with the intention of interviewing them on the subject. Between August and December 2022, I continued this with online enquiries in Hungary, focusing on the North Hungarian Mountains and the Upper Tisza region, where I also sought people familiar with the subject, while in August 2023, I supplemented my research in the Western Bačka region of Vojvodina, Serbia, and in the eastern part of Baranja region, Croatia. I found a total of sixteen people who could maintain a conversation on the topic, of whom I was able to conduct recorded interviews with eleven. My interviewees reported on four of the five traditional gearless fishing methods. A total of eight species or taxa suitable for gearless fishing were mentioned during the interviews, and my interviewees were also able to provide information on the methodology of the activity. According to the interviews, the activity is a culturally regulated and sustainable practice that has not and does not result in significant fish or crab declines or population extinctions, with the exception of the use of few invasive methods or the occasional greedy attitude of a few gearless fishers. In summary, it seems that some elements of the traditional ecological knowledge associated with gearless fishing still lives on in the landscape today, despite all the old and new prohibitions and lifestyle changes.