brief title

A fisherman from the Maldives clubs to death a yellow fin tuna on the deck of a dhoni boat in the Indian Ocean. Using a handmade instrument of death, carved from beach flotsam, the man raises his hands to again bring the club down on the dying fish whose skull has already been smashed by repeated blows. Next it will be gutted efficiently with sharp knives and immediately plunged into ice containers to cool the flesh, reducing the risk of self-deteriorating flushed blood which renders it unfit for consumption under EU law (its live internal core temperature is 40 degrees centigrade). When as many fish have been caught before dark using hand and line method, rather than nets, the boat presses on to the processing factory at Himmafushi where they're filleted and boxed for export to Europe and in particular, for UK supermarkets like Sainsbury's.

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Filename: maldives279-14-11-2007.jpg
Copyright: © Richard Baker. No copying, screen grabbing, transmission or publication without permission.
Image Size: 5315x3543 / 3.4MB; www.photoshelter.com/support/license; https://www.bakerpictures.com/contact; Richard Baker reportage photojournalism environmental issues economics economy financial finance health relationships social issues transportation transport work Maldives Indian Ocean Islamic Muslim Republic state country remote cultural fishing tuna yellow fin sea ocean trade business marine boat expedition trip navigation workforce fishermen livelihood career job wage salary career employees prospects expectation catch fisheries vessel sea-going ship dhoni boating at sea dispatch delivery current full-ahead on-board crew voyage journey efficiency speed knots sea transport surface by sea commerce industry route water Thunnus Albacares outlying fish aquatic seafood marine tropical killing clubbing hitting blood gore traditional deck inhumane cruel cruelty slaughter cull fisherman line-caught dolphin-friendly labour labor slog salary wage kill death butcher striking killed line manual labour line caught fishery occupation job Thunnus albacaraes Thunus albacaraes
Contained in galleries: The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work (large edit), The Journey of Tuna

A fisherman from the Maldives clubs to death a yellow fin tuna on the deck of a dhoni boat in the Indian Ocean. Using a handmade instrument of death, carved from beach flotsam, the man raises his hands to again bring the club down on the dying fish whose skull has already been smashed by repeated blows. Next it will be gutted efficiently with sharp knives and immediately plunged into ice containers to cool the flesh, reducing the risk of self-deteriorating flushed blood which renders it unfit for consumption under EU law (its live internal core temperature is 40 degrees centigrade). When as many fish have been caught before dark using hand and line method, rather than nets, the boat presses on to the processing factory at Himmafushi where they're filleted and boxed for export to Europe and in particular, for UK supermarkets like Sainsbury's.