Continued:

The fishermen does in general not own the net. The system is
complicated: a local shell dealer will own up to 50 nets. It is an
expensive enterprise: 50 nets require 25 small boats and 25
fishermen. Each fishermen gets paid on a daily base, but the owner of
nets and boats gets priority over the "good" pieces: he can buy at a
special cheap rate the shells caught by "his" fishermen and with
"his" material. If he declines, then the fishermen is free to go
selling elsewhere. When the owner buys, the paid daily wage is also
reduced from the price. So, all in all, it is the hunt for the
expensive shell which will pay back owner's investment  and the wage
of the fishermen. If it is windy and the buoys are 3 m deep and the
fishermen do not go out for 2 weeks (but they get paid every day), it
is an expensive and risky enterprise.

Today there are few tangle nets around: none in the Camotes, none
around Mactan. Prices of shells are too low in general to keep it
rewarding. The gasoline price - which is the only daily cost in
searching shells - raised in one year from 16 peso to 36 peso: too
much for either shell or "fish" fishermen. I met people staying away
on the sea for one week on a small boat because they cannot afford
any more to move the boat home every day. A sad economical truth.

There are quite some lost nets on the sea bottom. One will encounter
them on the tips of Islands where currents are high and lost floating
nets for fish can be seen by the dozens clinging on the slopes. I
have never seen an animal entangled, but took a lot of photos of fish
sleeping in these nets. Sometimes we use them to keep ourselves on
the bottom when currents are too high. I pulled up old nets but there
were not many shells in them. Merely encrusted corals. The water is
very clear here and the fish very clever. I do not see why a turtle
should put himself into a net on the bottom. Even to catch fish they
only go into the nets here when frightened. As the locals say: our
fishes are clever.

Do not hesitate to ask more: there are too many myths around about
the "Philippines" and this active shell world here.

A last statement: on Mactan where shelling and tangle netting is a
hard game we have probably the highest concentration of scientific
language mixed with popular language. When you ask an average
Philippino here: "when did you get your last mappa" he will answer
you right away. In the hot spot for shells most people know several
hundred Latin species names. Interesting to make an ethnographic
study of this.
Exceptional shells are remembered: last week a fishermen sold a small
left handed Melo melo to another Philippino dealer (900 $ at the
source !). My boatmen were talking about the story and remembered a
large one from 4 years ago which sold 3000 $ etc.. etc...   it is to
regret that in shell shows most collectors do not have the same
appreciation of what they see. But this is also understandable
because faced to the sea the rarity is hard to find, while the rarity
almost looks banal on tables of shell shows or on the net.

We should all thank the courageous fishermen and divers out there for
hours every day on an often not so friendly sea.

Mabuhay from Mactan island, the Philippines.

Guido T. Poppe

Conchology, Inc.
Cebu Light Industrial Park,
Basak, Lapu-Lapu City,
Cebu, Philippines 6015

Phone #: +63 32 495 9990
Fax #: +63 32 495 9991

Websites: www.conchology.be
                   www.poppe-images.com
                   www.mambele.be

Email: [log in to unmask]

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