The Snoek
Marine indigenous knowledge
The snoek is one of the symbols associated with South Africa’s Khoi and San who have centuries-long recorded habitation along our coastline. The art of reading the migration patterns and of harvesting this marine food source, a staple in the diet of coastal indigenous peoples has been handed down over generations. This indigenous knowledge includes numerous methods for the preparation of snoek, which can be consumed fresh, dried and salted, or smoked.
We believe that the Creator grants humans access to the oceans. All along our coasts there have always been Khoi-San fishing communities for thousands of years, who make a living on shellfish, penguin eggs, larger fish and even seals. Joyful dances and praises to the Most High would peak among fishing communities shortly after full and dark moon, because the sea then rises high and lots of fish find themselves in the fish traps during spring tide. That an ignorant European observer exclaimed: “Look, they worship the moon!”, was not only disrespectful regarding our culture, but insulted us as believers. Our fish traps were built with care. As shown at Still Bay: semi-circles built with larger and smaller rocks and stones so that small fish could escape through the openings.
The most famous fisherman in our history, Kx’aothumathub, better known as Autshumato, was an intermediary for the English, who took him as a 20-year-old to Bantam, in order to gain knowledge of their trade there (1631-32). Unable to pronounce his name, they called him Harry. Twenty years later Jan van Riebeeck, who had to establish a halfway post at the Cape, employed him as the first interpreter of the VOC.
The pike was made so famous by us that there is an Afrikaans proverb: “The pike are running!” We were wary of dangers like the great white shark. However, the main danger today is South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment Act which makes sure that large companies as far as Gauteng acquire licences for large-scale fishing on the West Coast. Those newbies are neither poor nor do they have intimate knowledge of marine life, while some of our experienced fishermen, who have made a living there for generations and just want to survuve, don’t even get quotas.
The ordinary pike is the symbol of this struggle.”
-Dr. Willa Boezak
Text from Struggle of an Ancient Faith: the Khoi-San of South Africa.
Cape Town: Bidvest Data, 2017.
