Subsistence and Globalization

Subsistence

A Bajau Fisherman Spearfishing

The Bajau's main source of food is the sea; they get by by fishing. A child learns to swim around 2-3 years old, learns to paddle a boat at five and begins diving at six. The children have their eardrums popped in order to get them used to the underwater pressure of diving deep. However, there are many more advanced Asian cultures who are taking up the fish around them. With so much traffic in their fishing area, it becomes difficult for the people to capture food. The other Asian areas, such as Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, parts of Indonesia and Korea, force the Bajau to go out farther into the ocean to fish as the others take over because their coral reefs have already been depleted. Other areas like Taiwan come into their territory with illegal boats and may even try bomb fishing. Bomb fishing is the use of dynamite and/or cyanide to create a bomb which is thrown in to the ocean and kills multiple fish at once. The traditional way of hunting is net fishing, spear gun fishing, hook fishing and diving for pearls and sea cucumbers. Some Bajau break tradition and fish bomb, but it is very dangerous and illegal and potentially fatal.

Bajau Creating a homemade fishing bomb

The Bajau People (interview)








 

To spread the word about the dangers of fish bombing and to stop the overfishing and to handle other problems, a radio broadcast is sent out. They use technology in order to communicate with one another on serious issues.

Sources:
Christian Reichel/ Ranty Islam
     2013 We're No Longer Able to Understand Our World http://www.dw.de/were-no-longer-able-to-understand-our-world/a-16730817 accessed April 17, 2013

Marianne Kearney
     2009 Indonesia's Sea Gypsies Struggle to Survive http://www.voanews.com/content/a-13-2007-12-27-voa11/402414.html accessed April 17, 2013
Kaye, Melati and Orland, Brian
     2012Indonesia's Last Nomadic Sea Gypsies http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/10/20121027184859926.html accessed April 17, 2013
The Aquatic Ape
     2013 Speargun Fishing in Phillipines- an Ecological Living http://theaquaticape.org/# accesed April 17, 2013

Pictures (in order):
http://www.shockmansion.com/wp-content/myimages/2011/01/tn_Untitled-24.jpg