Chinese fishing nets / Vasco da Gama Square

The Chinese fishing nets stand on the waterfront at Vasco da Gama Square in Fort Kochi. Each net is a wooden cantilever at least 10 metres high. One arm holds a net over the water, and stone weights on ropes balance it from the other side.

A small crew works each net. They lower the net into the water and haul it back up by rope. Fish from the crews is often sold from the fishmongers on the footpath behind the nets, and you can take your catch to a nearby restaurant on Tower Road to be cooked for a fee.

Eleven nets remain, down from around twenty, a local councillor said in 2025. Three have been rebuilt in new timber, six run on iron bars in place of wood, and two survive only as coconut-log pillars. In November 2025 a wooden platform gave way and seven people fell into the backwaters. Fishermen pulled them out.

Police have since warned operators that any who let visitors onto the platforms will be booked. The walkway along the square is the spot to watch from. The platforms are not for you to step onto.