Fish Driers of Negombo
On the edge of the Negombo lagoon, sprawling over ½ km of sandy beach, sits Sri Lanka’s largest traditional fish drying complex. Over 300 locals work here and process around 20,000 tons of fish annually, brought in from all over the country.
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The drying process takes 3 days and starts with brining and gutting, before extra processes including de-heading, de-finning, skinning, and halving. These messy stages are mostly performed beside the sea which carries away all the discarded blood and viscera. Next, the fish are arranged by species on lengths of coir netting and dried in the sun. Some of the fish dried here include: catfish, mackerel, sardine, anchovy, tuna and barracuda.
Negombo, Sri Lanka May 2022
For the last 16 years, Nathan (66, below) has been working on this beach collecting discarded fish heads, earning him $5 a day, if he can fill two barrels worth. He grew up far from here, in the Knuckles mountains of central Sri Lanka where he worked as a farmer. One fateful day, soon after reaching 30, his family turned on him and took all his money. Nathan had no other choice but to leave the countryside and head for the city. He arrived in Negombo and started working in hotel as a porter. After a few years, drinking got the better of him and he was kicked out. This is when he began looking for work on the beach.
I met Sardina (below, in pink) on the quieter of Negombo’s two fish drying beaches, arranging fish outside her house with her family. She was very sweet and kindly posed for me while joking that I take her to England. During my time on these beaches, many people came up to me asking for help with British visas or help with leaving the country. Life here is hard, especially during the Sri Lanka’s current political and economic turmoil.
