photo – On the eastern basin of the Mediterranean Sea, the city of Tire is located in southern Lebanon, a city with an ancient history, and it has gained wide fame in ancient times at the level of maritime trade, especially in the Phoenician era, as its sailors were considered to be the most skilled sailors at that time, where their boats were sailing to Europe and the world loaded with goods.
This maritime trade necessitated the Phoenicians to specialize in the manufacture of ships and boats, so they built it with mastery and this industry is still alive.
A craft that is inherited by generations
Elias Barbour and his brothers are the last of this industry in the city of Tire. Besides the hunter port in the city, his grandfather founded in 1900, a workshop for the manufacture of ships and boats, and this craft taught his children, and in their turn they taught their children over the years, but this craft today is threatened with the final closure after these brothers, as they did not inherit it after them.
Elias, who is the older brother of (Al -Jazeera Net), says that he and his brothers are skilled in Lebanon. Everyone means them from all of Lebanon and from the Arab countries, and his brother has moved to Cyprus and established a workshop for the manufacture of ships.
Despite the difficulty and scarcity of this industry in Lebanon, it is neglected by the state, according to Elias, who affirmed that no one is interested in this heritage profession threatened with disappearance, and indicates that his work today is limited to conducting the repair of boats and ships, while the demand for new ships and boats is very few for several reasons.
Endowment threatened
The first reason, according to Elias, is the high prices that occurred in the prices of raw materials. The prices of wood rose, the prices of nails for the marine industry, paint materials and others.
As for the largest and most dangerous reason, according to Elias, it is the chaos in the port of Tire, as tourist boats replaced the fishing boats illegally, and no hunter can be able to get one of his sons a new boat, given the narrow area.
And anyone has the right to buy a boat without having a berth in the port, which led to the stopping of the demand for boats very significantly.
He says: “We used to make 4 or 5 fishing boats in one year, but today and 4 years ago we have not made one boat, and we are currently working only in the field of maintenance of tourist boats and old fishing boats, and this is our only source of livelihood now, and unfortunately today this industry is threatened with disappearance, and we may be the last generation that is practicing if no one moves.”
In turn, George Barbour, the brother of Elias, told Al -Jazeera Net to the high cost of production due to the high electricity bills, and the payment costs of hydrocarbons for the private generator, especially with the large interruption of state electricity, and this arises additional burdens on the manufacturer, who suffers mainly from stagnation in the manufacturing market.
He adds that this profession despite its aesthetic, but it is exhausting, as there are accurate scientific accounts that the maker must adopt, otherwise he will fail in his work, and George indicates that the danger of closing their operator in pictures lies in that they are the last to professionalize this profession, and therefore it will end in an irreversible.
On the possibility of teaching her very people, he says: “It is only possible for those who live in the operator from a young age, and we were from an early age we were with our father, and we learned the craft from him by heart, and we have become experts, but it is difficult to learn it now, any person for a fundamental reason, which is a lot of demand for hunting or tourism boats, and therefore no one will be enthusiastic about a craft threatened with extinction.”
appeal
Elias Barbour complains about the great negligence that this craft is exposed to, and demands the Lebanese Ministry of Culture as the one concerned with the heritage professions, to pay attention to this ancient craft, and he says: “We do not want the Ministry of Culture money, but we want moral support, the management of an uninterrupted photo port, and the fishermen want to build new boats, but the problem is that there is no space to accommodate new boats, The port of the fishermen is now just a name, as tourist boats seized it, and some of them began selling or renting the anchors that belong to the state mainly, and this is contrary to the law, but no one moved, knowing these abuses.
He adds: “My message today for the state and the concerned parties, that they freed a port of pictures from the hands of influential people who exploit the anchors of the fishermen, this facility is a public property, and the rights must return to its owners, and then the role of the Ministry of Culture that must support us comes, and it must cooperate with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to protect this unique maritime heritage, especially since the port is registered as a hunting port, and not for tourism.”
In an interview with (Al -Jazeera Net), Deputy Chairman of the Fish Guard in Tire, in an interview with (Al -Jazeera Net), said that when the country sought the port, that was considered a port for fishermen, “But the surprise is that between 100 to 120 tourist boats acquired the moorings, from influential people and owners of power, and this is absolutely illegal.”
Rizk holds what is happening to the head of the port, who is responsible for addressing these abuses, stressing that the union made great efforts with the previous government to address this matter, but the result was negative, and the abuses continued, and it hopes from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport in the new government to visit the port to see the state of the fishermen and address the abuses that threaten their livelihood.
