TECNICAS DE ELABORACION Y "CURADO" DE CUERDAS DE CURRICAN PARA LA PESCA EN TAGANGA/SANTA MARTA, COLOMBIA.

Abstract

The present paper gives a detailed description of the elaboration and curing of curricán lines, formerly used as fishing lines in Taganga, a small fishing village on the northern coast of Colombia. These lines, made of cotton fibers and produced industrially, were disassembled and then retwisted by hand, or tightened and then carefully covered with a thinner string of the same material. The curing ("curado") that followed these operations was achieved by immersion of the lines into a boiled infusion of the bark of the prop roots of mangroves (Rhizophora mangle) and/or a rinsing with the hypocotyls of the same trees. By means of the techniques mentioned, the fishermen sought to improve the resistance of their fishing gear to sea water.