Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

jambia: curved dagger much favoured by Yemenis

jazr: Yemeni term for worker in an unclean trade, such as a butcher

jebel: general Arabic word for mountains

jihadi: person who devotes his or her life to the religious struggle, sometimes inaccurately conflated with a suicide bomber or assassin

khat: mildly narcotic leaf which is chewed

NCFE: National Centre for Fisheries Excellence, one of a number of scientific organisations researching into fishery management, now abolished

parr: next stage of development of a salmon after a fry, similar in appearance to a baby brown trout, about the size of a finger with brown markings

riffle: when the surface of the river water is slightly broken, and the current is moving faster than a glide (see above)

Salaam alaikum: traditional Arab greeting (May God be with you)

salmonid: migratory fish including salmon and sea trout

sayyid: ruling class in the Yemen, a title given to tribal or religious leaders who claim descent from the Prophet Muhammad

sebkha: white encrustation of salt on the surface of the desert usually indicating the presence of moisture, a sign of quicksand

selta: vegetable broth very popular in the highlands of the Yemen

sharia: law as practised and observed by the Prophet Muhammad in his lifetime, in force in certain countries in the Muslim world

sitara: colourful shawl worn by women in the highlands of the Yemen

smolt: The juvenile salmon, at some point between sixteen months and two years after achieving parr form, starts to change physiologically. It develops salt-excreting cells, and it takes on a silvery appearance. Once fully silvered it becomes known as a smolt, a fish about six inches long. In this form it makes its way downriver to the saltwater estuary. From there, by degrees, it makes it way in the company of other smolts and salmon to the feeding grounds in the North Atlantic where it may remain from one to four years.

Spey cast: an elaborate double-looped cast much beloved by Highland gillies which has the merit that the fisherman never gets his line tangled up in the bank or the trees behind (as in an overhead cast) because the loop of the Spey cast is always in front

thobe: a robe worn in the highlands of the Yemen and in Saudi Arabia

wadi: a riverbed dry except in the rainy season (when it is a river)

Paul Torday

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