Fishing villages and changing identities : the case of Marsaxlokk, Malta

Abstract

Our daily lives are characterised by a multitude of tasks which immerse us in an everyday routine, the consequence being that we seldom stop to think about what characterises other people’s lives, what makes them who they are, their own busy schedules, what impacts their livelihood and the problems they encounter in meeting their everyday demands. Sometimes we are oblivious of the fact that whole communities pertaining to the same nation have different lifestyles from ours and yet they share a common ambition with the rest of the world; the struggle for survival. One of these particular small Maltese communities is composed of fishermen. All of us know what a fisherman is and some of us have a basic idea of what a fisherman does but relatively few, with the exception of those involved in the trade itself, know what it takes to be a true fisherman. I made the latter point the aim of my study. I set out to discover what being a fisherman entails by studying the fishing community of the small, quaint village of Marsaxlokk, in the south of the islands of Malta. Being a resident myself, I have always harboured a strong attachment to this village and as everyone else inhabiting this island, I have always associated Marsaxlokk with fishing to the extent that the two entities have intertwined themselves into one. This preconception is indeed a reality and I know it well since I have Xlukkajri family members with strong bonds with the sea. Nonetheless, not being raised in the trade itself as my predecessors from the father’s side were, I wasn’t completely aware of what characterises fishermen. This is all the more true of people who have never encountered and interacted with the fishermen themselves. I know I owed my family and the fishermen an in-depth research study to preserve their identity and Marsaxlokk’s uniqueness for the present and future generations whose interest in the Maltese identity might intrigue and tempt them to read this work. Historical information about any topic which we happen to be reading about is a must if we want to obtain a thorough understanding of the subject at hand. Both the introduction and the first chapter aim at providing the reader with historical information about the village and the fishermen respectively. In order to compile the first chapter I collected existent information about the past Maltese fishing communities with particular attention to the Xlukkajri. This information is also of a historical nature since little contemporary work had been done about this topic. This gave rise to the chapter ‘The Maltese Fishermen in the Past – The Xlukkajri Fishermen Make History’ which also happens to be the first chapter that sheds light on the various criteria that make up the fishermen’s world.