Philippine municipal fishery resource, production and research: a social profile
1987
Polo, J.B. (Ateneo de Manila Univ., Quezon City (Philippines). Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology)
The undeniable wealth of resources enriching Philippine waters and shores has always been observed and reported. Yet an equally undeniable and certainly distressing social paradox - the widespread poverty of the various communities of small fisherfolks - has been given less serious thought. Despite several empirical surveys of fishery households, gears, labor output, and income, the present state of fishery research only underscores the compelling need for a more comprehensive and meaningful investigation into the appalling poverty of Filipino small fishers - the direct producers involved in a reportedly profitable fishing industry. This essay ventures to explore such an imperative. On a theoretical plane, it foregrounds a socioeconomic reality beyond the visible logic operative in fishing communities; an underlying logic through which men, women and their households can be viewed. On an empirical level, it renders a contradiction inherent in the gradual transformation of Philippine coastal communities to fishery markets, in a present cohabitation of fishery tradition and commerce, in the fishery relations between local fisherfolks and foreign sea investors.
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