April 4, 2025
Putting the art into artisanal fishing
At dawn, Luis Escamilla and Diego de Leon don trash bags as rain gear and start hauling the net. They bring it aboard quickly, leaving the fish enmeshed in the web, and head for home. All photos by Paul Molyneaux
On the southern coast of Mexico, fishermen work with what they’ve got and supply local markets.
We’ve all found a place to sleep in the 24-foot open boat, the Jania, out of Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca, Mexico. A gillnet stretches 500 meters toward shore, where the big breakers crash on the sand and send up geysers of foam illuminated by the waxing moon. Offshore, the sound of humpback whales blowing seeps into our dreams. Luis Escamilla, our captain, lies comfortably across the thwart in the…
You've caught the limit!
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Paul Molyneaux is the Boats & Gear editor for National Fisherman.
