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On Belgian Coast, Fishing on Horseback -- and Saving a Tradition

Once practiced throughout Europe, the custom of shrimp-fishing on horseback has all but died out. Nicolas TUCAT / AFP
Once practiced throughout Europe, the custom of shrimp-fishing on horseback has all but died out. Nicolas TUCAT / AFP
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On Belgian Coast, Fishing on Horseback -- and Saving a Tradition

Once practiced throughout Europe, the custom of shrimp-fishing on horseback has all but died out. Nicolas TUCAT / AFP
Once practiced throughout Europe, the custom of shrimp-fishing on horseback has all but died out. Nicolas TUCAT / AFP

Panniers strapped to their haunches, a team of horses waded collar-deep through North Sea waters -- hauling wide nets along the Belgian coast as cawing seagulls swirl all around.
In the saddle, clad head to toe in yellow oilskins, riders steered them parallel with the beach in Oostduinkerke -- the last place on Earth, they say, where the tradition of shrimp-fishing on horseback lives on, AFP reported.
Once practiced throughout Europe, the custom has all but died out -- but a community of enthusiasts has kept the flame going in this coastal town, earning a spot on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.
They do not fish for profit, but the rare spectacle they offer has become a tourist draw for the small town, situated half an hour from the French border.
Back in the day, historians explain, poor farmers used to ride to the coast to fish -- as a way to supplement their diet.
At first they pulled their nets by hand, later using mules then eventually workhorses able to haul much larger, heavier loads. The method was used in Belgium, the Netherlands, northern France and the south of England.
'Unique'
On this sunny day in late October, a group of five headed out at low tide to fish for grey shrimp.
"This is the only place in the world where shrimp-fishing is still practiced with horses," fisherman Gunther Vanbleu told AFP as he sorted his catch on the beach -- surrounded by a curious crowd of smartphone-wielding onlookers.
"You're working with your horse, you're in the sea and the combination of everything at the same time -- the pleasure of catching fish or catching shrimp, all of that together makes it fun," he said.
This time around, some 200 people gathered -- in rubber boots or barefoot -- to watch the afternoon show under crisp blue skies.
"There is always a lot of interest from people, because it is unique," Vanbleu said.
Not for sale
The day's catch -- a few kilograms of shrimp -- is not for sale: it will be cooked up by the dozen families who keep the tradition going and shared among friends.
But the sight alone continues to draw tourists from April to October.
"I think that this will always exist in the municipality," said Vanbleu.
After the custom won UNESCO recognition in 2013, a committee was set up whose purpose is to ensure it is kept alive, he explained.
"I think that it will continue forever," he said.
Asked about the possible impact of climate change, Vanbleu said he has seen some shifts over the years.
"We do notice that something has changed a little, such as the temperature of the water -- it's maybe a little warmer than usual."
"And we are seeing other animal species arrive here," he said. "Maybe if the water gets too warm, the shrimp will move to colder water... in 30 or 40 years."
"If it comes to that, we will see," said Vanbleu -- who for now, come rain or shine, plans to keep riding out to sea.

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Scientists Gather to Decode Puzzle of the World’s Rarest Whale in ‘Extraordinary’ New Zealand Study

A handout photo taken on July 5, 2024 and received on July 16 from the New Zealand Department of Conservation shows rangers Jim Fyfe (L) and Tumai Cassidy walking beside what appears to be the carcass of a rare spade-toothed whale after it was discovered washed ashore on a beach near Taieri Mouth in New Zealand's southern Otago province. (Handout / New Zealand Department of Conservation / AFP)
A handout photo taken on July 5, 2024 and received on July 16 from the New Zealand Department of Conservation shows rangers Jim Fyfe (L) and Tumai Cassidy walking beside what appears to be the carcass of a rare spade-toothed whale after it was discovered washed ashore on a beach near Taieri Mouth in New Zealand's southern Otago province. (Handout / New Zealand Department of Conservation / AFP)
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Scientists Gather to Decode Puzzle of the World’s Rarest Whale in ‘Extraordinary’ New Zealand Study

A handout photo taken on July 5, 2024 and received on July 16 from the New Zealand Department of Conservation shows rangers Jim Fyfe (L) and Tumai Cassidy walking beside what appears to be the carcass of a rare spade-toothed whale after it was discovered washed ashore on a beach near Taieri Mouth in New Zealand's southern Otago province. (Handout / New Zealand Department of Conservation / AFP)
A handout photo taken on July 5, 2024 and received on July 16 from the New Zealand Department of Conservation shows rangers Jim Fyfe (L) and Tumai Cassidy walking beside what appears to be the carcass of a rare spade-toothed whale after it was discovered washed ashore on a beach near Taieri Mouth in New Zealand's southern Otago province. (Handout / New Zealand Department of Conservation / AFP)

It is the world’s rarest whale, with only seven of its kind ever spotted. Almost nothing is known about the enigmatic species. But on Monday a small group of scientists and cultural experts in New Zealand clustered around a near-perfectly preserved spade-toothed whale hoping to decode decades of mystery.

“I can’t tell you how extraordinary it is,” said a joyful Anton van Helden, senior marine science adviser for New Zealand’s conservation agency, who gave the spade-toothed whale its name to distinguish it from other beaked species. “For me personally, it’s unbelievable.”

Van Helden has studied beaked whales for 35 years, but Monday was the first time he has participated in a dissection of the spade-toothed variety. In fact, the careful study of the creature -- which washed up dead on a New Zealand beach in July — is the first ever to take place.

None has ever been seen alive at sea.

The list of what scientists don’t know about spade-toothed whales is longer than what they do know. They don’t know where in the ocean the whales live, why they’ve never been spotted in the wild, or what their brains look like. All beaked whales have different stomach systems and researchers don’t know how the spade-toothed kind processes its food. They don’t know how this one died.

Over the next week, researchers studying the 5-meter (16-foot) -long male at an agricultural research center near the city of Dunedin hope to find out.

“There may be parasites completely new to science that just live in this whale,” said van Helden, who thrilled at the chance of learning how the species produces sound and what it eats. “Who knows what we’ll discover?”

Only six other spade-toothed whales have ever been found, but all those discovered intact were buried before DNA testing could verify their identification.

New Zealand is a whale-stranding hotspot, with more than 5,000 episodes recorded since 1840, according to the Department of Conservation. The first spade-toothed whale bones were found in 1872 on New Zealand’s Pitt Island. Another discovery was made at an offshore island in the 1950s, and the bones of a third were found on Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island in 1986.

DNA sequencing in 2002 proved that all three specimens were of the same species — and that it was distinct from other beaked whales. But researchers studying the mammal couldn’t confirm whether the species was extinct until 2010, when two whole spade-toothed whales, both dead, washed up on a New Zealand beach. But none has been studied before.

On Monday, the seventh of its kind, surrounded by white-aproned scientists who were measuring and photographing, appeared relatively unblemished, giving no clue about its death. Researchers pointed out marks from cookiecutter sharks — normal, they said, and not the cause.

The dissection will be quiet, methodical and slower than usual, because it is being undertaken in partnership with Māori, New Zealand's Indigenous people. To Māori, whales are a taonga -– a precious treasure -– and the creature will be treated with the reverence afforded to an ancestor.

Members of the local iwi, or tribe, will be present throughout the dissection and consulted at each turn, allowing them to share traditional knowledge and observe customs, such as saying a karakia -– a prayer -– over the creature before the study begins.

“According to our beliefs and our traditions, this whale is a gift of Tangaroa, deity of the ocean,” said Tumai Cassidy from the local people Te Rūnanga Ōtākou. “It’s very important for us to respect that gift and to honor the whale.”

The iwi will keep the jawbone and teeth of the whale at the end of the dissection, before its skeleton is displayed in a museum. 3D printing will be used to replicate those parts, using a CT scan taken of the whale’s head this week.

“It all builds a richer picture for that species but also tells us how it interacts with our oceans,” Cassidy said.

It’s thought that spade-toothed whales live in the vast Southern Pacific Ocean, home to some of the world’s deepest ocean trenches. Beaked whales are the ocean's deepest divers for food, and the spade-toothed may rarely surface, adding to its mystery.

The assembled scientists on Monday included a few who had traveled from abroad to see the whale, which was put in refrigerated storage after its discovery.

“What we are interested in is not only how these animals died, but how they lived,” said Joy Reidenberg, a comparative anatomist from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. “In discovering how they live, we are hoping to find discoveries that we can apply back to the human condition.”