of silver rising from below . The fish were attracted to plankton , and the plankton were attracted to the light . They would begin to circle , a chain linked loosely , and over the next hour their numbers would grow . The black gaps between silver links would close until the fishermen could see , below , a solid mass of silver spinning . Abdulrahman Zeitoun was only thirteen when he began fishing for sardines this way , a method called lampara , borrowed from the Italians . He had waited years to join the men and teenagers on the night boats , and he 'd spent those years asking questions . Why only on moonless nights ? Because , his brother Ahmad said , on moon-filled nights the plankton would be visible everywhere , spread out all over the sea , and the sardines could see and eat the glowing organisms with ease . But without a moon the men could make their own , and could bring the sardines to the surface in stunning concentrations . You have to see it , Ahmad told his little brother . You 've never seen anything like this .
Editor 's note : This is an excerpt from `` Zeitoun '' by Dave Eggers , a nonfiction account of a Syrian-American immigrant and his extraordinary experience during Hurricane Katrina . Eggers is the author of five other books , including `` What Is the What , '' a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award . Eggers is the founder and editor of McSweeney 's , an independent publishing house based in San Francisco . Dave Eggers writes that Abdulrahman Zeitoun dreamed of fishing on the Syrian coast as Katrina approached . -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- FRIDAY , AUGUST 26 , 2005 On moonless nights the men and boys of Jableh , a dusty fishing town on the coast of Syria , would gather their lanterns and set out in their quietest boats . Five or six small craft , two or three fishermen in each . A mile out , they would arrange the boats in a circle on the black sea , drop their nets , and , holding their lanterns over the water , they would approximate the moon . The fish , sardines , would begin gathering soon after , a slow mass