We sell a boat in Lebanon for $9,000 and they’ll sell it on for around $15,000 and we also regularly sell boats to Cyprus, for around $10,000 which is still very cheap for them No single boat Arwad produces is identical to another. Inside the frame of one of the larger wooden vessels Mohammed Bahlowan is making (MEE/Tom Westcott)The rest of each boat is made by eye and the skills and knowledge passed down through generations of Arwad boat builders, Mohammed says, tapping the side of his head to show where all the plans are stored. "This is our only template, which can be used for any sized vessel, and from this we gauge distances, positioning and numbers of nails," he says, demonstrating with swift pencil markings. It is the only template the Arwad boat builders use, upon which the main rib of the keel is based. Traditional methods endureĬlimbing agilely over 1970s' wood-cutting machines, Mohammed pulls down a single piece of wood, shaped like a giant boomerang. The most expensive boat the Bahlowan family recently made was a 14-metre vessel which, complete with wood-lined cabin, kitchen and toilet, sold for $50,000. "We sell a boat in Lebanon for $9,000, and they'll sell it on for around $15,000, and we also regularly sell boats to Cyprus, for around $10,000, which is still very cheap for them," says Mohammed. International prices are more than double, including export tax and a percentage of the sale price which goes to the Syrian government.
The destructive method of flinging hand-made grenades into the sea, killing everything within reach to increase fishing yields, has become popular in several countries in Africa and the Middle East.Ī boy looks out over the harbour at Arwad, full of wooden boats made on the island (MEE/Tom Westcott)The main market for Arwad's boats remains Syria's coast, where the smaller vessels retail at around $5,000, but many go to Lebanon and a handful to Europe. He cites pollution, sewage, chemicals used in water treatment, chemical waste from factories on the mainland and the increased use of explosives for the drop in fish stocks. People along this stretch of coast love to go fishing, and every young person wanted a boat for fishing, but this has changed because there are so few fish here now, not like before, and fishing has greatly diminished," Mohamed says. "We don't have the same amount of work as 10-15 years ago. A recent drop in business is less connected to Syria's ongoing civil war but rather is due to pollution causing a big fall in stocks of fish in local waters.īefore 1950, we were making huge boats here entirely by hand, without electricity
The demand for Arwad's wooden boats remains modest, but the Bahlowan family still has between 18 and 20 boats under construction at any one time. They now only work on the wooden boats during their shore leave. A member of the Balhowan family works on the skeleton structure of the hull of a new boat (MEE/Tom Westcott)For many years, boat building has not provided a sustainable income for most, so many members of the Bahlowan family hold regular careers at sea, mostly on container ships or in Syria's navy.