The Involvement of Fishers of Xiao Liuqiu in the Southeast Asia Tuna Fishery, 1945 - 1980
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The involvement of fishers of xiao liuqiu in the southeast asia tuna fishery, 1945 - 1980 Ta-Yuan Chen Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University, Australia [email protected] Abstract During the period from 1945 to 1980, numerous Xiao Liuqiu fishers mi- grated to the main Taiwanese fishing harbour of Kaohsiung for economic rea- sons. With the help of Kaohsiung’s port infrastructure and well-equipped tuna long liners, Xiao Liuqiu fishers expanded the reach of their fishing activity in a fan-shaped pattern. Some fished the waters off Hainan Island, some others fished in the waters off the western coast of Luzon. They established regional fisheries businesses that were characterised by hometown ties and conservative business strategies. In order to protect their employment opportunities and business in- terests in the metropolitan environment of Kaohsiung, the Xiao Liuqiu people formed a discreet, closed corporate fishing community. Their conservative nature effectively helped them avoid some economic risks. However, it has also limited their initiative for further growth and development in global-scale fisheries. Figure 1: Geographic Location of Kaohsiung and Southeast Asia Introduction Taiwanese offshore tuna fishing fleets have played a very active role in the waters of Southeast Asia since the Japanese colonial period (1895 – 1945). Between 1945 and 1980 fishers from various parts of Taiwan used Kaohsiung, the island’s largest port city, as their supply base, and sailed directly southward, developing their long distance fishing grounds in a fan-shaped pattern; the eastern boundary of their grounds was the Philippines, while the westernmost edge was situated opposite the province of Hainan, China. The revenue that offshore fishers created from their tuna fisheries in the waters of Southeast Asia not only made considerable contributions to the development of Kaohsiung’s economy, but also greatly im- 51 Mast_2 2008_2.indd 51 10-12-2008 16:58:28 proved the financial condition of local households from the early years of post-war era when they had suffered considerable economic hardship (see figure 1). Several groups worked in the various sectors of Kaohsiung’s fishing indus- try after the end of the Second World War. ��������������������������������������Besides Kaohsiung locals, migrant Pen- ghuan, mainland Chinese, and Xiao Liuqiu fishers all substantially contributed to the development of Kaohsiung’s fishing industry. People from the island of Xiao Liuqiu have played a particularly important role in offshore tuna fisheries (Chen 2007:322-323). Xiao Liuqiu fishers, as new migrants with limited financial means and relatively weak personal connections, competed against local fishers. Despite these disadvantages, they eventually played a crucial role in Taiwan’s offshore tuna fisheries. This entrepreneurial success of the Xiao Liuqiu migrant fishers to Kaohsiung makes their case particularly interesting. Their onshore business strategies and fishing activities at sea should be viewed as an important topic in the maritime history of Taiwan. However, little attention has been paid to this important area of investigation. The purpose of this paper is to outline the migration of fishers of Xiao Liuqiu from their home island to Kaohsiung and the subsequent expansion of their fishing activities in the waters of Southeast Asia, and to analyse the culture and business strategies of Kaohsiung’s Xiao Liuqiu fishing communities through an ethno-historical approach. The difficult living conditions in Xiao Liuqiu Island drove numerous fishers and their families to migrate to Kaohsiung during the post-war years. Xiao Liuqiu vessel owners formed a self-contained business net- work based on hometown ties and built numerous well-equipped offshore tuna longliners in post-war Kaohsiung. This conservative business strategy not only enabled fishermen to fish in the waters of Southeast Asia, but also helped vessel owners minimise the potential economic risks of their small fishing enterprises. I limit the temporal range of my study to the period between 1945 and 1980, years which marked two significant moments in regional time. In 1945, Japanese colonialism in Taiwan ended and Xiao Liuqiu fishers started to migrate to Ka- ohsiung on a large scale. In the 1980s, numerous job opportunities, which were created by onshore economic activities in the metropolitan areas, particularly Tai- pei and Kaohsiung, encouraged young people to leave the fishing industry. As a result, the culture and image of Taiwan’s fishing communities rapidly changed. This study used two methodological approaches: oral history and anthropo- logical fieldwork.A number of older Xiao Liuqiu fishers still reside in Kaohsiung’s port area. However, most of them are illiterate and unable to write down their past and present ways of life. As a result, the literature relating to their lives and histories is extremely limited. In order to collect oral histories and to experience, vicariously, the rhythm of their lives, I lived in Kaohsiung fishing communities and interviewed old Xiao Liuqiu fishers from December 2001 to July 20021. The Geographic Location of Xiao Liuqiu and the Livelihood of Its People Xiao Liuqiu, an island adjacent to the southwestern part of Taiwan, is located at 120.21°E and 22.19°N (See Figure 2). It is eighteen miles south of Kaohsiung, the 52 Mast_2 2008_2.indd 52 10-12-2008 16:58:28 centre of Taiwan’s fishing industry and the largest city in the southern part of Tai- wan.2 The island is tiny, only 6.8 square kilometres in area. From the northeast to southwest is about 4.1 kilometres long; and from the northwest to southeast is just two kilometres long. The terrain is hilly, and being covered with limestone and coral deposits, is poorly suited to agriculture. Moreover, there is no permanent river (Chen 2000:201).3 Figure 2: Geographic Location of Siao Liouciou Island (See the red dot) Islanders experienced some difficulties in their livelihood due to the lack of electricity and water supply. Before 1980, electricity was supplied to Xiao Liuqiu households for only several hours a day. In 1980, larger marine electric cables were installed between the island and the mainland, overcoming this problem. The lack of water also brought a great inconvenience to the daily lives of Xiao Liuqiu islanders. Groundwater was considered the most important water source in Xiao Liuqiu. Nowadays, only four schools have been established in this tiny island: three primary schools and one junior high school. Those who want to continue their study have to leave their hometown. In the period of concern here, educational facilities were even scarcer and, as a result, the education level of Xiao Liuqiu islanders was below the national average in the early post-war years.4 The hostile conditions for onshore agricultural activities drove the major- ity of Xiao Liuqiu households to make a living at sea. A survey conducted in 1956 showed that ninety percent of Xiao Liuqiu families engaged in the various sec- tors of fishing activities.5 The Japan Current flows northward through the Taiwan Strait and throughout the year, bringing stocks of migratory fish including mack- erel, bonito, and tuna. The Littoral Current flows by the coast of China and moves southward through the Taiwan Strait (See Figure 3). It also provides fishers with rich marine resources, such as pomfret, eel, porgy, yellow croaker, and cutlass fish (Anonymous 1974:66-67).6 The fishing techniques of Xiao Liuqiu islanders were improved by the Japa- nese fishing authorities during the colonial period.The first Fisheries Association of Xiao Liuqiu Island was established with the help of the Japanese fishing au- thorities in 1925. Through this Fisheries Association, modern fishing techniques, especially longline fishing, were introduced to Xiao Liuqiu in a planned way. The first fishing port of Xiao Liuqiu was built at Baishawei in 1936. This so-called fishing port, in fact, was a small harbour which only enabled fishing boats to take 53 Mast_2 2008_2.indd 53 10-12-2008 16:58:28 refuge in rough weather conditions. It was successively renovated in 1956 and 1958.7 However, the renovation of Baishawei Harbour, was not sufficient incentive for the local fishers to stay at Xiao Liuqiu and fish in its nearby waters, and a con- siderable number of Xiao Liuqiu fishers migrated to Kaohsiung in the decades after 1945. Figure 3: Littoral Current Flows and Japan Current The Migration of Xiao Liuqiu Fishers Kaohsiung, the industrial centre of Taiwan, had also functioned as the centre of Taiwan’s distant water fishing industry since the colonial period.The construction of Kaohsiung’s first modern fishing port, the Shōsento Fishing Harbour, started as early as 1926 (Jhang and Syu 1998:10-15; Tagame 1930:2-10).8 The building of onshore fisheries-related infrastructure enabled fishing vessels to exploit marine resources in the fishing grounds of Southeast Asia, which as a result attracted many Japanese fishing vessels to use Shōsento as their forward supply base. Fish- ers from various parts of Taiwan left their hometowns and moved to Kaohsiung for better employment opportunities. Some of them came from Xiao Liuqiu, al- though the number of Xiao Liuqiu fishing migrants were not very numerous in the pre-war era. Governments in Southeast Asia ‘devoted a great deal of their energies to re- storing fisheries in the post-war years’ (Butcher 2004:169). From the late-1950s to the early 1970s, fishers conducted intensive fishing in Southeast Asia; fish catches in the region, as a result, skyrocketed. The intensive fishing during this period to time has been described as ‘the Great Fish Race’ (Butcher 2004:169-170). Gushan Fishing Port (Shōsento’s new name) was rebuilt by Taiwanese authorities in order to give Taiwanese fishers a better position in this Great Fish Race. The construc- tion of Gushan Fishing Port attracted several groups, namely mainland Chinese, Penghuans and Xiao Liuqiu, from various parts of Taiwan to work in Kaohsiung’s fishing industry.