MIDDLE EAST: Lights shimmer on the softly swelling surface of the black velvet sea framing the breakwater at the fishermen's port.
A breeze lifts the faded UN flag at the Beach Club as fingers of oily salt water lap the bows of boats drawn up on the shore, most abandoned by fishermen who no longer make a living from the sea.
"You know the fishing is bad when you can see us and when we use lights," snaps Khaled Muhammad Abu Amira, head of the Fishermen's Union, the next day, dismissing the romantic scene of the night before.
He is holding court in his office in a ribbed blue metal container at the port.
"I was out all night and caught five kilos of fish. I am happy to have five kilos. We earned 500 shekels (€91) - 200 go for fuel and bait and the rest divided between me, my father, my brother and an employee."
Before the first Intifada erupted in 1987, Gaza's fishermen were permitted to roam freely, and they had good catches. Israel began to impose restrictions at that time, and these have become progressively limiting. Under the 1993 Oslo accords, the fishermen were entitled to go out 20 nautical miles and circulate in a 1,200sq km area. But since then, Israel has allowed them to fish only three to five miles from the coast in an area of 330sq km.
"We don't believe the situation will change when Israel withdraws from Gaza," says Muhammad Najib Omar Bakr, the grizzled owner of a large boat. "Before the withdrawal began, three Israeli boats monitored us. Now there are 14. "They harass us, tell us we are out of bounds when we are within the legal area. Sometimes they shoot at our boats. Once they leave Gaza, they will target us even more because we will be the only Palestinians they meet. They will take revenge against us if Israelis are killed or hurt in Palestinian attacks."
Abu Amira points out that 10 fishermen have been killed and 70 wounded in recent years.
Israeli, Egyptian and even Turkish boats harvest the 15 nautical miles of water denied to the Palestinians. Since the Gaza catch does not meet demand, fish that Palestinian fishermen should be catching is imported from Israel at Israel's high prices.
Small boats go out no farther than two miles where fish are scarce; their owners cannot afford the fuel. In the fleet are 18 trawlers, 65 larger boats for catching sardines, and 170 small boats that use lines instead of nets. Before the second Intifada began in 2000, the average daily catch was 10 tonnes. Today it is six. The boats are taking fish from breeding grounds, rapidly depleting stocks.
Experts give fishing, Gaza's sole remaining indigenous industry, two years if the current trend continues. This would leave some 35,000 people without income.
The International Management Group, a European intergovernmental organisation, has drawn up a modest, realistic plan to refurbish the port and restock the fish. The proposal, which is still looking for finance, involves improving the breakwater, constructing piers along it, dredging the Nile Delta sand that clogs the port, and building a new fish market.
Unemployment is about 65 per cent in the Strip.
Many fishermen already go to welfare societies to get food for their families. "We do not know any other job, we are not trained to do anything else," says Bakr.