man, fotografi, photograph

Fiskebåt. Ceylon, 1961. The mechanization of outrigger canoes, a feat once thought impossible by experts, and of log rafts or teppans, has boasted the catch and the income of the Ceylon fishermen. The Ceylonese Government began to mechanize boats there as early as 1951, utilizing advice and boat designs of FAO experts. Now a Finnish expert, Mr. Erik Estlander who proved that the crudely built teppans could be mechanized, is in Ceylon helping the Government in an ambitious boat mechanizing plan, which calls for 8.000 mechanized boats to be built and ready by 1968.
Ceylonese fishermen launch and sail away in their shallow log raft teppans. Tests have proved that these primitive craft, which can slide over coral and sand reefs and budge ashore on any beach, can yield up to 580 percent in catch once mechanized with outboard engines.
FAO photo by E. Estlander.