Bokkom Culture

The West Coast is bokkom country and here in Velddrif these little eye-less fish hanging in bunches together to dry, are a cultural symbol. You do not really know the West Coast and its culture if you nave not experienced and savored the unique, deeply salty taste of these delicacies! But this may not be everyone's cup of tea so to speak... the smell, the taste, the "eye-lessness" can haunt you long after you have eaten a bokkom.

In July, when Jacobus and I were exploring the area, the bokkom lane adjacent to the Berg River was quiet, misty and cold. The boats were berthed and in the few restaurants open, tourists sat sipping their drinks while pizzas and hamburgers were served. In summertime the picture would be quite different: a busy street bustling with people and merchants - you sometimes will need you elbows to row your way through the crowds. Bokkom lane is like an ant's nest, it becomes the heart of the West Coast with fish factories, stores and shops opening their doors and tourists pose next to the bokkom bunches with sunny smiles... 

The vibrant harder industry with the colourful boats, nets and witty fishermen are the true attractions of the region and thousands of tourists flood the area in hopes to capture the West Coast ambiance with the perfect picture.

Harder fisheries have a long history. The first Dutch settlers in the 1600's used beach-seine nets to catch schools of harders in Table Bay. In 1658 four Dutch free burghers got permission to live in Saldanha Bay. The Dutch East Indian Company has given them more than 50 years of sole rights to fish there and transport the fish to the Cape of Good Hope to be sold to fellow burghers as well as passing ships in Table Bay.  A fifth of their catch had to be delivered in dried and salted form. This is where the bokkom culture started.

Today harders are caught by licensed fishers who use gill nets and beach-seine nets to snare their catch.  In these areas fishing is a serious business and around 600 nets are used in the St Helena Bay and Berg River estuary.

“Harder” is the common name for the southern mullet, Liza Richardsonii, and is by far the most abundant of the 15 species of mullet that occur in our waters.  This endemic to our coast use estuaries and inter-tidal rockpools as nursery grounds and many remain in these sheltered waters until they reach adulthood.  They can reach a length of 200mm in  about three years.

The most common method for catching harders is the setting of gill nets.  This is a passive form of fishing wherby gill nets are set either from a boat or by walking them out from shore in the hope that a shoal of fish will swim into them and become entangled.  These nets either drift or are staked or anchored.  The size of the mesh determines the minimum size of the fish that are caught.  Beach-seining or trek-netting is another method used to catch harders.  Woven nylon nets are rowed out into the surf zone to encircle a shoal of fish.  Sometimes the nets are set blindly, but on most occasions a fish spotter, who stands on high ground adjacent to the beach, guides the netters towards a clearly visible shoal of fish.  A single man holds the long headrope on the beach while the net is payed out from the boat.  Both ends of the headrope are then pulled by hand towards the shore by a group of between eight and thirty fishers.  The net gradually folds around the fish and they are brought ashore in the bag at the end of the net.

Up until the late 1960`s the only restriction on harder fishery was the minimum mesh size of 44mm to prevent the snaring of juvenile fish.  In 1974 the practice of purse seining harders from boats was phased out, largely in response to complaints by anglers that the netting was having a detrimental effect on stock of popular angling fish.  By the early 1980`s a permit system was in place.

Netting is a unselective method of fishing and a large number of fish species, besides harders, are trapped and killed by nets used in this industry.  In the Western Cape the Cape Elehant fish or St. Joseph shark as it is known locally, form 25% of the by-catch.  This caused the numbers of the St. Joseph shark to drop sharply. Other fish caught regularly in the harder nets are yellowtail, white steenbras, elf, grunter and galjoen.

Around 95% of all South African bokkoms is produced by the small factories in the “bokkom capital of the world”, Velddrif.  Each factory has its own little jetty across the road on the banks of the river. In the past large shoals of harders were caught in the rivers and the fishermen would moor their “bakkies” (the local slang for a small boat) here to off load their catch. Because of over-fishing catching harders in the river is now illegal and can they only be caught in open sea off Laaiplek.

To get harders ready for consumption in the form of bokkoms, is a lengthy process. A large tank is built of bricks or stones and filled with a strong pickle made of around 50kg of coarse salt and fresh water.  Fish are thrown in there and covered with a thick layer of salt. The next day a wooden press with weights are put on top of the fish. The purpose of the press is to ensure that the guts of the fish is pressed flat so that it does not go bad.  After the third day in the tank the fish are taken out and stringed up in bunches of 10 to 25 fish each on a rope.  The bunches are dipped in freshwater for a few times and then are hanged on the scaffolds outside - in wind and sun - to dry. Early evening the scaffolding is taken inside to prevent the bokkoms to take in the night moisture.  For about five days the bokkoms will hang there - large-eyed like the horns of an antelope... till they are dry enough to be enjoyed.

Believe me, they taste better than they smell...