Acapulco, even on an early morning in late September, is hot and humid. In the afternoon, it is brutally hot and humid.
Fishing on a boat for seven hours with the sun beating down and reflecting off the water isn’t easy work. But it doesn’t bother these fishermen.
The fishermen on this stretch of beach belong to one of four cooperatives. “A cooperative is several boats,” explained Vicente Hernández, who is 59 years old and has done this for 35 years.
There are around 40 members in each cooperative, and each boat will typically head out into the water with three or four fishermen.
Members of the Las Hamacas cooperative use nets to catch fish while those in the other three use fishing line with a hook and a sardine attached as bait. No one uses a fishing pole. “It is better to just use a line,” Alfonso Rebollar Santana said. “It is more sensitive. You can feel the fish biting.”
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Despite hard work and low incomes, Acapulco’s fishermen stay the course