Pakistan boat builders keep Karachi fishing craft alive

Traditional boat builders in Karachi’s Ibrahim Hyderi are still making wooden fishing vessels by hand, preserving a craft tied to Pakistan’s coastal fishing economy.

The maritime town on the outskirts of the port city is known for building traditional fishing boats. Workers assemble the vessels timber by timber, using materials such as local eucalyptus wood and African teak.

Muhammad Asif, a 22-year-old boat-builder who learned the craft from his father, said he works from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm with a two-hour lunch break and earns up to 2,500 Pakistani rupees, or about $9, a day for six days of work a week.

The process begins when a fisherman selects a boat design. A master craftsman drafts a template, and workers cut and assemble the hull. Asif said even a small boat several meters long can take up to three months to build and cost one million Pakistani rupees, or about $3,600.

Painter Muhammad Ismail adds designs to completed boats, often floral patterns requested by fishermen. At a nearby harbour, fisherman Qadir Bux said his family’s wooden boat, owned for at least two decades, is something he hopes to restore soon.