is a traditional village fishing boat still used for
fishing in the Maldives. Coastal fishing villages are often somewhat isolated, and sited around a small natural
harbour which provides a safe haven for a village fleet of
fishing boats. The village needs to provide a safe way of landing fish and securing boats when they are not in use. Fishing villages may operate from a beach, particularly around lakes. For example, around parts of
Lake Malawi, each fishing village has its own beach. If a fisherman from outside the village lands fish on the beach, he gives some of the fish to the village headman. Village fishing boats are usually characteristic of the stretch of coast along which they operate.
Traditional fishing boats evolve over time to meet the local conditions, such as the materials available locally for boat building, the type of sea conditions the boats will encounter, and the demands of the local
fisheries. Some villages move out onto the water itself, such as the floating fishing villages of
Ha Long Bay in
Vietnam, the stilt houses of
Tai O built over tidal flats near Hong Kong, and the
kelong found in waters off
Malaysia, the
Philippines and
Indonesia. Other fishing villages are built on
floating islands, such as the
Phumdi on
Loktak Lake in India, and the
Uros on
Lake Titicaca which borders Peru and Bolivia. Apart from catching fish, fishing villages often support enterprises typically found in other types of village, such as village crafts, transport, schools and health clinics, housing and community water supplies. In addition, there are enterprises that are natural to fishing villages, such as
fish processing and
marketing, and the building and maintenance of boats. Until the 19th century, some villagers supplemented their incomes with
wrecking (taking valuables from nearby
shipwrecks) and
smuggling. File:Po Toi O.jpg|
Po Toi O is a small active fishing village at
Clear Water Bay Peninsula near
Hong Kong File:Jurmos-bebyggelse-2005.jpg|A fishing village at
Jurmo Island in
Korpo, Finland File:Port Isaac 2.jpg|
Port Isaac, a historic fishing village on the north coast of
Cornwall File:Polperro 5.jpg|
Polperro, on the south coast of
Cornwall, has been an active fishing and
smuggling port since the 12th century CE In less developed countries, some traditional fishing villages persist in ways that have changed little from earlier times. In more developed countries, traditional fishing villages are changing due to
socioeconomic factors like
industrial fishing and
urbanization. Over time, some fishing villages outgrow their original function as
artisanal fishing villages. Seven hundred years ago,
Shanghai, beside the
Yangtze River delta, was a small fishing village. Extended fishing communities that retain their cultural identities around a connection to water through fishing, leisure, or otherwise, are sometimes referred to as
aquapelagos. In recent times, fishing villages have been increasingly targeted for tourist and leisure enterprises.
Recreational fishing and leisure boat pursuits can be big business these days, and traditional fishing villages are often well positioned to take advantage of this. For example,
Destin on the coast of Florida, has evolved from an artisanal fishing village into a
seaside resort dedicated to tourism with a large fishing fleet of recreational charter boats. The tourist appeal of fishing villages has become so big that the Korean government is purpose-building 48 fishing villages for their tourist drawing power. In 2004 China reported it had 8,048 fishing villages. ==Early villages==