Abstract
The matawfishers of Batanes, the ten small northernmost islands of the Philippine archipelago, engage in the seasonal capture of Flying fish (Exocoetidae) and Dorado (Coryphaena hippurus), known locally as the ‘fish of summer’ (among nu rayon), that enter the coastal waters in the summer months of March through May. Each fisher is identified by the ‘vanua’ or ‘port’ to which he belongs. The vanua is a specific spatial location, but also a particular organized group led by the fisher chosen to make the ‘first fishing trip’, to perform ritual and implement the rules of the group. In addition, the ritual schedule governs the use of other gears, thereby regulating fishing activities on traditional grounds. This has potential implications for the stocks of both migratory and demersal species, in terms of closed season, fishing quotas, protected areas, and control over gear use. Via the performance of seasonal rites, which also organize the fishers into a cooperative association with their ‘clean vanua’, the fish are coaxed to fulfill the fishers’ subsistence needs and the ancestral spirits (añitu) are called on to bring luck and forestall tragedy. Tension and creative negotiation exists between the values and practices of the vanuasinherited from the ancestors and the modern values and ideas that accompany newly introduced technologies and the market.
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Notes
- 1.
The Spanish administration lasted in Batanes for two centuries, from the arrival of Dominican missionaries, in 1686, to the Philippine Revolution, in 1898.
- 2.
Until motors were the introduced in the 1980s, these were rowed.
- 3.
In the 1990s, large numbers of Flying fish would be caught and the price would fall dramatically at the height of the season.
- 4.
This observation is based on the work being done in a boat builder’s workshop in Basco, in 1997, most of which was to convert rowing boats to accommodate inboard motors.
- 5.
According to comparisons of genetic markers the Yami of Lanyu are closer to the people of central Philippines than to the indigenous people of Taiwan (Datar 1999).
- 6.
A fourth potential model represented by the customary practices of equity sharing among participants in the fish corrals in Bolinao, Pangasinan, which were awarded as fishing concessions by local government, is no longer in operation (S. Rodriguez, personal communication), see (Rodriguez 1997).
- 7.
The barangay is the smallest unit of local government in the Philippine system.
- 8.
This act passed in 1997 recognizes entitlements of ‘indigenous peoples’ in the Philippines over ancestral domain ‘since time immemorial’, including their rights to decide on the development of natural resources. It is seen as a milestone but also controversial, even among indigenous peoples and advocates of indigenous people’s rights. (For a discussion of some dilemmas regarding the Tagbanua case, see Perez 2004.)
- 9.
However, there is competition with commercial fishers coming from Taiwan, who use more advanced technologies and large boats.
- 10.
People in Mahatao, Batan Island, orient themselves by at least four ‘sides’ of the island: valugan, dichud(meaning ‘at the back of’ Mt. Iraya, to the north of Batan Island), kajbo(‘down below’, south part of the island, where the Barangay of Imnajbu is found), and kadpidan(‘the other side’ or ‘the side crossed over to’, which is on the western side).
- 11.
Ritual practice died out for the vanua at Itbud (part of Uyugan) in the 1970s. Since that time the vanua has been modified by road construction, including removal of a venerated stone.
- 12.
The words spoken by the lead fisherman during the rites at the beginning of the season explicitly invite the fish to a particular vanua: ‘come to our vanua’, the fish are called, it is ‘the most beautiful vanua’ (see Mangahas, 2008a, b).
- 13.
The book is copied by hand in ordinary notebooks and consulted often.
- 14.
Related to this is that envy, resentment, arrogance, and non-cooperativeness are regarded as negative emotions and attitudes that also can affect fishing adversely.
- 15.
It seems that the quota was rarely attained, since I never saw more than seven Dorado caught during one fishing trip.
- 16.
Or practically half the year, from mid-October to mid-May, would be the off season, since diving is not usually done during the ‘winter’.
- 17.
Chanpa-n, facing Valugan Bay, is the largest vanuain terms of numbers of fishers, and the boats include traditional small tatayasas well as larger motorized boats. Mananioy Bay is the fishing ground for fishers from three vanuas (Manichit, Maratay, Diora).
- 18.
Municipal governments have this power under the Local Government Code of 1991 and the Fisheries Code of 1998 (Republic Act 8850).
- 19.
The first drift nets were introduced in 1987, and large catches were being made when I was in the field in the summer of 1992. At that time still relatively few motorized boats were using drift nets. However, drift net catches had declined significantly when I returned in 1997).
- 20.
These include ‘eggs’ (pya), ‘liver’ (atay), ‘stomach’ (vitnel), thinned flesh from the fillet (hathat), sindangor a strip of dark flesh from the center of the fillet, ‘ear’ (tadiña), and ‘bones’. Such pieces are the daily fare of the mataws and their households during the fishing season. They are also sent to share partners and given to friends. If not consumed, all can also be dried, except the fresh hathat, which is usually consumed raw as lataven(ceviche) immediately after fishing.
- 21.
Other traditional injunctions are that the fish cannot be put in a bag or a box (the only way of carrying Dorado is by a bamboo pole balanced on the shoulder). Neither can it be put in a bottle, sent by airplane, or loaded on any vehicle with wheels until the season is over, lest the fish become ‘offended’ and go away.
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Acknowledgements
Research in Batanes in October-November 1991 and in the summer of 1992 was supported by a research grant from the Center for Integrative and Development Studies, University of the Philippines, Diliman. A pre-doctoral grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research supported fieldwork in Batanes in the Summer of 1997.
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Mangahas, M.F. (2010). Seasonal Ritual and the Regulation of Fishing in Batanes Province, Philippines. In: Ruddle, K., Satria, A. (eds) Managing Coastal and Inland Waters. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9555-8_4
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