Fisherman in srilanka

The fishermen of the Negombo lagoon live in abject poverty in small, thatch palm villages on the water's edge. They rely on traditional knowledge of the seasons for their livelihood, using outrigger canoes carved out of tree trunks and nylon nets to bring in modest catches from September through till April.
Fishing boats in Negombo

Their boats are made in two distinct forms, oruvas (a type of sailing canoe) and paruvas (a large, man-powered catamaran fitted with kurlon dividers), and are said to have originated in the islands off the Mozambican coast; they were brought to Sri Lanka by Portuguese traders in the 17th century.

For generations the lagoon has provided the fishermen with a plentiful supply of crabs, shrimp and many of the native species of fish, but with the onset of global warming these sources of food have dwindled. The men are regularly forced to head out to the ocean to fish, often losing money in the chartering process. In recent years, the villagers have supplemented the income earned from fishing by collecting toddy, or palm sap, which is used to brew arrack.

Negambo Beach.