Economic Structure of Fishing Villages in the Philippines

この論文は国立情報学研究所の学術雑誌公開支援事業により電子化されました。The focus of this paper is to show the economic structure of fishing communities in the Philippines. It is based on fieldwork conducted in the fishing villages of Mercedes, Bicol region, from May to June 1988. In these villages, most fishing boats are from three to seven meters in length, half of them are motorized, locally called "motor, " and others are non-motorized, "paraw." An owner usually has only one boat, and many fishermen work on another man's motor on a share-rent basis by which the catch is divided equally among those who provide the motor, the fishing-net and the labor. Some laborers on paraw work on the different share-rent. The income of a motor-owner who employs one laborer is thus three times more than that of an employee or a paraw-fisherman, because an employee must pay a fee for the use of a motor and a fishing-net under this system, and the productivity of a paraw is very low. Motor-owners do not fish at the same place and at the same time as paraw-fishermen, and their family members refrain from collecting seaweed. This means that motor-owners share job opportunities with paraw-fishermen and employees and they voluntarily control their own fishing in order to share work. The income of an employee or a paraw-fisherman is expected to be low and unstable, so they organize communities for subsistence security. On the other hand, motor-owners sell the catch of paraw-fishermen and employees on commission to dealers in the market of Mercedes, though anyone can take his catch to the market free of charge by motor. People except motor-owners buy food and other things at the small store in their own village, even if the price■ wenty percent higher than in the market of Mercedes. Thus they jointly contribute to preserving cash income within the community, and this behavior is connected with subsistence security