In our day, the vessels docked in the harbour of Pomorie are mostly yachts, the old wooden fishing boats having been replaced by modern, powerful craft. The traditional occupation connected with fishing in Pomorie, a small town on the Black Sea coast, is on its way out, along with the wooden fishing boats, the fishing nets and tackle. There are practically no old fishermen here to tell stories of the people and of the sea, says Yanko Prodromov, born and raised in Pomorie, whose life has been connected with boats and with the sea since childhood. He now welcomes the guests to the Visitors’ Centre for Fishing and Maritime Affairs in Pomorie:

“The sea gives a lot, but it takes a lot as well. You first have to get used to the sea, and to be able to endure being in a boat without getting sea sick, only then you can start fishing,” says Yanko Prodromov. “The different kinds of fish can be caught using different kinds of net. If you stand watching, it may seem that the other person catches more fish, but – everyone’s turn comes around some time. I’ve never seen a wealthy fisherman – if they earn a bit more, they go and buy more net.”

The special collection dedicated to fishing in Pomorie displays all kinds of things – from photographs of the Black Sea when it froze over in 1929 to anchors and fisherman’s knots used to secure boats. On the wall there is a colour photocopy of the map Christopher Columbus used, and on it – in the lands of the Orient – the harbour of the old town of Anhialo is marked – Pomorie of today.

The museum is housed by the restored water tower near the town, built in 1933-1934. The building has been preserved as it originally stood, and its spectator terrace commands a magnificent view of the sea and the old part of Pomorie. Yanko Prodromov knows many of the wonderful tales connected with the old water tower:

“The water tower with a big pump used to be filled with mineral water from the village of Luka, and it provided the town with water. In 1962, the tower was filled with wine because we are wine-making country (and wine flowed from the faucets – editorial note). It is a three-storey building. Take the height of the building, and the distance down the pipes – that is how much wine was poured into it. This visitors’ centre was the idea of the mayor of Pomorie, and we built it with the local fishermen and with the help of European funding. People come here from all over Bulgaria and they admire this collection very much. We have more than 200 photographs of the fishermen and their boats,” says Yanko Prodromov.

Yanko Prodromov says things have changed since the times when people would go out into the street, roast some fish and hand it out to any passerby:

“People used to study navigation, they used to study the engine – if something were to happen out at sea you have to know how to repair it. All your life you study and still you can’t know everything. When they went out fishing, people would put on a long frieze fur-lined coat called gabin. My father had one with seven lamb skins, because the winters were so cold. The cold would set in as early as October, and you had to keep warm when you are out at sea and throwing the nets. We salted the fish while we were still at sea – we salted and arranged them, there was no refrigerator there. Coarse salt was used from the Black Sea salt pans here – they were closed down in 2001-2002. The best, the tastiest fish in our sea is bluefish and turbot, and the fish that was awaited most eagerly is the bonito.”

Until the mid-20^th century, mackerel was very important for Pomorie – people’s lives and wellbeing depended on it. And though in our day mackerel is scarce, there are still people – like Yanko Prodromov from the museum in Pomorie– who can tell you how to make cured mackerel.  

Gergana Mancheva
Translated and posted by Milena Daynova
Photos: Gergana Mancheva, Visitors’ Centre for Fishing and Maritime Affairs