SPEAR fishing is one of the main components of inshore fishing in Micronesia and the rest of the Pacific region.
In a thesis written in 2006 by Yoshitaka Ota of the University of Washington Seattle, he noted that a “unique aspect of contemporary Palauan fishing is that, although no longer their main source of subsistence, people continue to proclaim fishing’s ‘cultural’ significance in maintaining ‘custom.’ ”
He wrote that in Palau, fishing for islanders underscores the “value of maintaining their kin-based sociality and creates a meeting point between their nature and the culture.”
This is also true in the other islands of Micronesia and the Pacific.
However, according to the ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies, “fish are not as dumb as people sometimes think. Marine scientists have found that fish that are regularly hunted with spearguns are much more wary and keep their distance from fishers.”
The ARC Centre found that “fish in areas that were fished regularly were warier and stayed further away — just far enough that it would be difficult to hit them with the spear gun technology used locally.”
But “when an area was closed, the fish appeared to recover their confidence, allowing divers to approach much closer — within speargun range when the area was reopened for fishing.”
The CNMI has seven Marine Protected Areas. For more information, go to https://dcrm.gov.mp/our-programs/marine-monitoring-program/marine-protected-areas/
