These fishermen intrigued my husband and I during our vacation to Todos Santos last August. Todos Santos is a small fishing and farming village in the Mexican state of Baja Californian Sur.

We visited each day to buy fresh fish from them as they returned from a full day of fishing.

The fishermen are still fishing much the same way their forebears did 80 years ago. No large trawlers. No boating infrastructure. No depth sounders. Very few fishing rods.

Working for two small fishing co-operatives, they set out at dawn in small motor boats launched from the beach into the waves. They use their knowledge of the coast to locate the fish. Most of them use simply a line wrapped around piece of wood. They catch a range of fish – small snapper, prawns, grouper, marlin and even shark. And they catch fish at depths of up to 100 metres. They race their boats into the beach in the afternoon to be towed up onto the berm by a beat up old truck with a smashed in windscreen.

Their catch is sold to upmarket restaurants in the region, no doubt at a premium. The fishermen certainly are not well paid.

A hotel and beach facilities are under construction at this beach, Punta Lobos. Hopefully this will be beneficial to the local community and these fishermen. Hopefully the local fishery can be fished in a sustainable way for years to come. For now, we were humbled by their hard work and obvious skill as fishers.