Just like netting the ponds back home

Sebastian with his son Modrick, and other son Another (Sebastian’s a comedian) at the far side of the pond

Sebastian showing his yield from one swing through a small pond

Hauling the net in for a fish count

Sebastian transferring fish into a production pond to prepare for a harvest next month

“Keep your foot on the lead line!” sounds about the same in Bemba as it does in English

Pretty sure these are the exact same floats we had on my dad’s nets on the farm back home

Moving slowly to avoid tearing the net on submerged tree stumps

Lenge keeping the floats up

Pulling up the net

A small bream

Bucket (formerly Matt’s basin for washing clothes) and handmade net for transporting fingerlings

Sebastian’s son Lenge, hamming for the camera

Last Friday and Saturday I helped my counterpart Sebastian harvest several of his ponds. Together with four of his sons we seined eight ponds, grading and restocking over 500 fish in order to ~~update existing~~ create new inventory records. (It might not look like it from the pictures, but yes, I did actually go into the water and do work when I wasn’t pulling camera duty.)

It was interesting to observe some of the parallels between this past weekend and childhood memories of working on my dad’s fish farm. “Keep the lead line down!” rang out at regular intervals, referring to the weights that prevent fish from escaping beneath the net. Several times an exasperated father could be heard remonstrating with his sons for not using common sense. I guess it doesn’t matter whether you’re in Central California or Sub-Saharan Africa — some things are just universal.