Catching shrimps on horseback
Eddy d'Hulster is a dedicated fisherman. That wouldn't be anything really special as the 64-year-old lives in the Belgian coastal town of Oostduinkerke and the North Sea is practically right at his doorstep.  And still, it is special: as Eddy d' Hulster does not go out to sea with a shrimping boat, but instead he rides through the surf catching shrimps on horseback.
Eddy d'Hulster is one of the last horse fishermen. In the past centuries, there were horse fishermen in almost every city at the North Sea, not only in Belgium, but also in England, France and the Netherlands. However, the increasing mechanisation that has not spared the fishing sector has contributed to the fact that this old profession has largely fallen into oblivion. Only in Oostduinkerke is this tradition kept alive offering tourists a unique spectacle during the holiday period.
It's a beautiful beach day, the sun is shining from a cloudless sky; fathers are building sandcastles with their children or flying a kite while the smallest holiday guests splash around in the tide ways. In about an hour, the ebb-tide will reach its lowest level. But all of a sudden, there is a stir in the idyllic scene. Mighty horses tow green and red trailers from the promenade across the beach towards the water. The horse fishermen are coming! Suddenly, the children fetch their buckets, the adults "arm" themselves with cameras and camcorders and everybody follows the horses like a flock of birds.
The Brabant shire horses wait patiently while they get unharnessed and long nets with two wooden boards at their ends are lashed tightly to their saddles.  Then the horse fishermen mount the horses and lead them into the water. They ride through the surf in triads up and back down, followed by dozens of seagulls looking forward to a tasty meal in the nets that they get "served" without any major effort.
The entire spectacle takes half an hour. Then, the horse fishermen return to the beach. Surrounded by a horde of children and adults, the men with their yellow oil gear present their catch: small fish, crayfish and, of course, shrimps. The horse fishermen throw the small fish back into the sea – these are not their catch. The crayfish as well. They quickly burrow their way into the mud to escape the curious hands of the children. Only the shrimps are dumped into the box for the catch. On some days, the freshly caught shrimps are cooked right at the beach and distributed among the holiday guests.
But today's catch is not large enough for that. The horse fishermen explain that during the summer, the water near the surf was too warm, which made the shrimps swim further out into the sea where it's colder. Consequently, during the summer, horsefishing is more of a tourist attraction that is financially supported by the community in this period.
What tourists may consider a romantic reminder of the past is truly hard work for the six fishermen, as they normally don't go fishing for just half an hour as they do for the holiday guests, but for three hours at a time: one and a half hours before the lowest level of ebb-tide and one and a half hour afterwards.  The spring time between late April and late June and the period between mid-September and late October is the most lucrative period for the horse fishermen. And right after a storm. According to the horse fishermen, the shrimps had been truly shaken "awake" and almost jump into the nets. In such cases, a catch may easily amount to 30 to 35 kilograms. Today, that is a lot. In the past, catches amounted to more than twice that much.
Overfishing is one of the reasons for the ever decreasing pickings. In former times, there was a shrimp season, a sprat season and a herring season. Today, the big cutters catch these animals all through the year. "Sometimes we are amazed that we catch such great amounts at all," say the horse fishermen.
At home, they cook the shrimps with several ingredients which they do not disclose. Each of them has his own secret recipe and they all say, of course, that theirs was the best. Eddy d'Hulster, Henri Durant, his father-in-law, and Johan Casier, his son-in-law only tell us: they don't cook the shrimps in North Sea water as many other fishermen do. They use fresh water instead so that the shrimps won't taste too salty.
Today, none of the horse fishermen is able to make his living from catching shrimps anymore. Most of them have a main occupation, while horsefishing is a sideline job. And apart from the problem of finding the right horses that are willing to go into the water, the fishermen are also worried about the next generation of fishermen. Only a few young men are willing to take on the strain of the cold and hard work. But as soon as someone has been found to do it, he feels just like the men around Eddy d'Hulster and cannot resist the passion: Once a horse fisherman, always a horse fisherman.
Author: Ulrike Koberg
Translated by new ethics
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