Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
changeable and it was often not possible to anchor the project's research
boat of the outer reef of Quirimba to do survey dives. It was regularly not
possible to get the boat out onto the east coast of the island at all because
of strong winds and rough seas. Traditional sailing dhows were almost
certainly better suited to i shing in the shallow seagrass beds than boats
with outboard engines. There was thus no incentive to 'develop' i shing
techniques.
Social structure of the i shing l eet
The crews of seine net i shing boats were a mixture of ages, from young
boys of 12 or less to older men in their 50s and 60s. However, the majority
of i shers were young, aged between 15 and 25. Many young men came
to Quirimba as refugees from the i ghting around inland villages during
the war. Many came as children and i shing had been their only job, even
though it was not an option that was open to their parents in the inland
villages they came from. In some more developed i shing communities,
for example in the Seychelles (Wakeford et al., 1998) or in parts of the
Caribbean (J. Hawkins, pers. comm.), most of the i shers are from older
generations whereas the young men try to avoid i shing and attempt to
get better salaries for modern, cleaner jobs. In Quirimba there was clearly
no lucrative alternative to i shing so it remained the most common job
for young men. Some of the Quirimban i shers left i shing to work as
traders across the border from Mtwara in Tanzania to Moçimboa on the
Mozambican border, or as crew on boats that did this run, but this was
often temporary or seasonal work.
Older men were more likely to be trap i shers. Trap i shing was a skilled
method of i shing requiring an apprenticeship. It was dii cult to learn and
required a large investment in terms of learning the skills involved in making
and maintaining traps and setting them. If someone bought, assembled and
set some traps without guidance from an expert they could quite literally
catch nothing. In the i rst year of study there were signs that trap i shing was
in decline. The i shery was dominated by elderly men and very few young
men seemed to be going into the trap i shery. However, in 1997
marema
traps became available locally. Instead of i shers having to make a special
journey to the mainland to buy traps, they could buy them in Quirimba
village. There was a sudden increase in people buying traps, and even people
who did not have a boat to set them from started making traps.
The division of i sheries work between the sexes
Women never worked in the seagrass seine net or trap i sheries as i shers
but provided the main labour force in the processing of the i sh from the net
i shery. The idea of a woman involved in either of these two i sheries was
