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Lone lady
of the lake
Sabina Hofer is one of the few
professional female fishers in
Switzerland and the only one on
Lake Lucerne. The lack of fitting
fishing overalls for women is just
one of the many daily obstacles
that the 39-year-old must overcome
in this often rough and brisk
business. Nevertheless, Sabina
Hofer considers her profession a
privilege rather than a burden and
is fascinated by the natural beauty
of the environment in which she
gets to work. She especially loves
the amazing light effects every
morning.
By Remo Meister
It sounds romantic. Every morning
before the sun rises over the mountain
peaks of Central Switzerland,
one climbs into a small fishing
boat and sails out onto Lake Lucerne.
One may find genuine inspiration
from the tranquillity of the
water, the fresh air and just generally
the pristine quality of the Alpine
surroundings. Later during
the morning one reels in the fishing
nets and returns to port with
a plentiful catch. From there the
fresh fish make their way to the
different specialty shops and eventually
onto the plate of the consumers.
On a frigid winter day the
demands of this profession, however,
are suddenly very different
and a lot less pleasant! Hofer remarks:
“Of course it’s not always
cosy on the lake, especially when
the weather is really cold and the
climate is generally harsh, but even
then, I focus on the positive aspects
of my job.”
The 39-year-old from Meggen is
one of only about 10 professional
female fishers in all of Switzerland.
As such she is a rare personality
in a profession that has al-
portraIt
ways been famous for producing
distinctive characters. In Switzerland,
the fishing industry has been
in decline for many years. In 1975
the country had about 600 registered
fishers, while today there are
less than 350. This is echoed by
Hofer: “20 years ago there were
about twice as many fisheries on
Lake Lucerne as today.” Indeed it’s
a hard business and often the children
of professional fishers have
different ideas about their own career,
wanting to do something else
than carry on a trade that requires
a lot of hard work and six to seven
days on the job every week.
Even Sabina Hofer didn’t start her
career in the family fishing business,
but instead opted to train as
a registered nurse. Until 2009 she
worked in several different hospitals.
“During the past few years I
started to consider the idea of getting
active in our fishery.” Finally
when her dad wanted to start handing
over the family trade and her
other two siblings did not want to
take it over, things got more concrete.
“He is now 74 years old and at
a point where he still wants to oc-
Bordmagazin 29