Whale shark hunting

Transcription

Whale shark hunting

Their boats are sacred and alive. Their
prey is gigantic and dangerous. They
are the sea hunters of Lamalera, an
isolated village on the tiny island of
Lembata, lost in east Indonesia.
Sea Hunters of Lamalera.
Photos and text ©Jean Robert/Lightmediation
Contact - Thierry Tinacci Lightmediation Photo Agency +33 (0)6 61 80 57 21 [email protected]
706-05: Lamelera 's fishermen harpooned a whale shark (the biggest fish in the ocean). Lembata island. West of Nusa Tengarra islands. Indonesia.
Whale shark hunting / 706-01: The harpooner's eyes are fixed on the prey as if willing it to come closer.
His hands grip the bamboo, he raises the pole that is so long it bends and flexes in the air. He takes aim
706-33: The whalers' day starts before sunrise. The home made harpoons are too light to penetrate the whale's hide, so the harpooner must literally press them home. Leaping from the prow "like a flag attached to the
long pole and trailing behind it," he stabs the whale or the fish, tumbles from its back and scurries back to the boat. Age-old beliefs remain strong in Lamalera. - the success or failure of the hunt depends, the villagers
believe, on the whims of ancestral spirits
Whale shark hunting / 706-05: Lamelera 's fishermen harpooned a whale shark (the biggest fish in the
ocean). Lembata island. West of Nusa Tengarra islands. Indonesia. / Indonesia /
Whale shark hunting / 706-06: The whale shark is too big. The fishermen must cut the body in order to
bring it back to te village. Lembata island. Indonesia / Indonesia /
706-40: The harpooner's eyes are fixed on the prey as if willing it to come closer. His hands grip the
bamboo, he raises the pole that is so long it bends and flexes in the air. He takes aim and hurls this body
706-17: The whale shark is too big. The fishermen must cut the body in order to bring it back to te village.
Lembata island. Indonesia
Whale shark hunting / 706-09: One fisherman is trying to take off the hand-forged harpoon. He has to be
fast because the blood of the body attires sharks. Lembata island. / Indonesia /
Whale shark hunting / 706-12: Lamelera 's fishermen harpooned a whale shark (the biggest fish in the
706-14: The whale shark is too big. The fishermen must cut the body in order to bring it back to te village. Lembata island. Indonesia
Whale shark hunting / 706-13: Lamelera 's whalers hunting the whale shark (the biggest fish in the ocean).
Lembata island. West of Nusa Tengarra islands. Indonesia. / Indonesia /
706-04: The harpooner's eyes are fixed on the prey as if willing it to come closer. His hands grip the bamboo, he raises the pole that is so long it bends and flexes in the air. He takes aim and hurls this body along with
the harpoon into the water
Whale shark hunting / 706-18: The person who first saw the whale shark gets the meat around the eyes.
The harpooner takes part of the tail. The headman of the collective that owns the pelendang receives his
706-37: Fishermen head out at dawn to hunt. Lembata island. West of Nusa Tengarra islands. Indonesia.
Whale shark hunting / 706-22: The women wash sand from the red meat in the surf and carry it home,
where it will be hung on wooden racks in the sun to dry. The racks contain different kinds of meat in
706-38: Lamelera 's whalers hunting the whale shark (the biggest fish in the ocean). Lembata island. West of Nusa Tengarra islands. Indonesia.
Whale shark hunting / 706-25: The pelendangs are made entirely of wood by local master carpenters.It is
12 meters long, weighs well over a tonne and is pieced together like a joined puzzle / Indonesia /
Whale shark hunting / 706-28: Lamelera 's whalers are catholic. Two pedanlangs are sailing in front of the
church of Lamalera. Lembata island. West of Nusa Tengarra islands. Indonesia. / Indonesia /
706-44: There are no piers, no docks, so getting the boats into the sea remains an arduous task. They are
launched each day in the hunting season form May to October
706-23: The women wash sand from the red meat in the surf and carry it home, where it will be hung on
wooden racks in the sun to dry. The racks contain different kinds of meat in various stages of drying.
12 meters long, weighs well over a tonne and is pieced together like a joined puzzle.Lamelera 's whalers
Whale shark hunting / 706-31: The whalers' day starts before sunrise. The home made harpoons are too
light to penetrate the whale's hide, so the harpooner must literally press them home. Leaping from the
706-19: The person who first saw the whale shark gets the meat around the eyes. The harpooner takes part of the tail. The headman of the collective that owns the pelendang receives his rightful share, as does the boat
maker, the sial maker, the harpoon maker and the crew. Other portions are given to the families and relatives of the crew and what remains can be obtained by non-family members who have tobacco, cakes and a wine
(tuak) made from distilled palm, to trade.
706-45: There are no piers, no docks, so getting the boats into the sea remains an arduous task. They are launched each day in the hunting season form May to October
Whale shark hunting / 706-37: Fishermen head out at dawn to hunt. Lembata island. West of Nusa
Tengarra islands. Indonesia. / Indonesia /
706-10: One fisherman is trying to take off the hand-forged harpoon. He has to be fast because the blood of the body attires sharks. Lembata island.
Whale shark hunting / 706-43: Lamelera 's whalers hunting the whale shark (the biggest fish in the
Whale shark hunting / 706-44: There are no piers, no docks, so getting the boats into the sea remains an
arduous task. They are launched each day in the hunting season form May to October / Indonesia /
706-18: The person who first saw the whale shark gets the meat around the eyes. The harpooner takes part of the tail. The headman of the collective that owns the pelendang receives his rightful share, as does the boat
maker, the sial maker, the harpoon maker and the crew. Other portions are given to the families and relatives of the crew and what remains can be obtained by non-family members who have tobacco, cakes and a wine
(tuak) made from distilled palm, to trade.
Whale shark hunting / 706-50: At an entrance to the beach at Lamalera two columns are topped with
sperm whale vertebrae while ribs are used to make a low wall / Indonesia /
Whale shark hunting / 706-51: At an entrance to the beach at Lamalera two columns are topped with
sperm whale vertebrae while ribs are used to make a low wall / Indonesia /
Whale shark hunting / 706-52: Monument and statue of the dutch priest who stayed nerarly all his life in
Lembata Island. Lembata island. West of Nusa Tengarra islands. Indonesia. / Indonesia /
Sea Hunters of
Lamalera.
Their boats are sacred and alive. Their
prey is gigantic and dangerous. They are
the sea hunters of Lamalera, an isolated
village on the tiny island of Lembata, lost
in east Indonesia.
Kambo, the look-out has spotted a big
prey and screams "Io Bodoh ! Io Bodoh".
Half a mile ahead the boat, a whale
shark - the biggest fish in the wolrd - is
swimming slowly. Its' a big one, 30 feet at
least !
the crew rows the clan's
"pedelang" with all their strength under a
fierce sun shouting an ancient rhythmic
chant, "Hilabe, hilabe, hela, hela/hilabe,
hela, hela..' at every stroke.
Bapa Ficus eyes are fixed on the whale
shark as if willing it to come closer. He is
the best 'lamafar'
or harpooner of
Lamalera, a village nested on the
southern coast of the island of Lembata.
His hands grip the bamboo, he raises the
pole that is so long it bends and flexes in
the air. He stands up on a narrow,
five-foot-long, bamboo-and-plank platform.
From this precarious place Bapa takes
aim and hurls this body along with the
harpoon into the water and stabs the
whale shark on the head. The giant fish
rears up and dives deep. The harpooner
swims back to the boat and is pulled
aboard. During the turn back of the
pedelang, the shark comes back to the
surface and Bapa jump again on the back
of the shark.The red blood gush out of the
shark. Clutched to the fin, Bap stable the
monster to death. Last beatings of the
giant tail... The shark is dead already. The
butchery work can begin. Tey cut in pieces
the giant body to pull in on the boat.The
sail is raised and the pedelang steers a
course for the village.
Lost on the Nusa Tenggara archipelago
in eastern Indonesia, the sea hunters of
Lamalera are the last men on earth to
harpoon giants sharks and wales from
small wooden boats.
The 2000 people population of the village
have very little productive land and
depends highly of the 150 or so hunters to
survive. 15 pedelangs, their traditional
boats are housed under thatch roofed
sheds on the black sand of the beach. The
boats are made by ata mola, highly skilled
craftsmen from the village's nineteen
clans.
The pedelang is heavy and sturdy. Thirty
feet long, six feet wide in the beam,
tapered at both bow and stern. Its huge
rectangular sail is woven from the leaves
of gebang palm and suspended from a
long bipod bamboo mast. Two outriggers
give the vessel great stability. Weather
permitting, the fleet sails at dawn every
day except Sunday from May to Ocotber. .
On a slipway of hardwood logs, the heavy
boat is slid from its shelter at the back of
the beach down to the pounding surf
where the crew calmly waits for the
highest wave. With one mighty shove from
them, the boat rides out. The men quickly
slide aboard,. They pole out beyond the
breakers, settle on the thwarts, then row
with all their strength.
The hunt is hard work. The crews are out
all day beneath the burning sun--and often
return with nothing to show for their day at
sea. Lamalerans hunt several species of
sharks, including the great white but most
often the large whale shark . They also go
after sunfish, marlin, and dorado, as well
as manta rays (these can weigh up to one
and a half tons). The hunt is hard work.
The crews are out all day beneath the
burning sun--and often return with nothing
to show for their day at sea. Lamalerans
hunt several species of sharks, including
the great white but most often the large
whale shark . They also go after sunfish,
marlin, and dorado, as well as manta rays
(these can weigh up to one and a half
tons).
The flesh of sharhs and cetaceans is cut
into strips and sun dried in the village.
Every saturday morning, women carry
baskets of dried fish on their heads. They
head to village called Wulandoni for a
barter marke. One strip of dried fish or
meat is equivalent to twelve ears of maize,
twelve bananas, twelve pieces of dried
sweet potatoes or twelve sections of sugar
cane.
Commercial whaling is banned throughout
much of the world, but subsistence
whaling is permitted by International
Whaling Commission regulations in
Alaska, the USA, the USSR and
Greenland. Indonesia is not, however, a
signatory to the IWC.
The hunting is really dangerous. The tail
flukes of a whale can smash the timbers of
the boats. Harpooners have been
drowned by manta ray and killed. But the
attraction of these giants of the oceans is
their size.
In march 1994, two peledang harpooned
a strong sperm whale that dragged them
for 3 days to the open sea near Timor
island. In the end one of the boat was
destroyed, the crew was rescued two
weeks later by an australian boat. And the
crew's meber survive eating the sail !
Age-old beliefs remain strong in Lamalera
- the success or failure of the hunt
depends, the villagers believe, on the
whims of ancestral spirits. These animistic
beliefs and spirituality of hunted animals
exist in syncretic harmony with devout
Catholicism. Jesuit missionaries began
visiting the village in the 1800s, and a
permanent
Catholic
mission
was
established there in 1913.
Pedg are considered alive. When a boat
dies- in a storm or smashed by a furious
whale - the villagers mourn for two months
while a replacement is built. It is said that
the lamaleran people came from an island
of Sulawesi destroyed centuries ago by a
tidal wave. One of the clan survived and
was brought on the back of a blue whale
(a baleen whale)After a long journey,, they
landed on the harsh, volcanic coast of
Lembata, where they built a village above
a crescent beach facing Sawu Sea. Until
now, the blue whales are considered
sacred and it is forbidden to hunt them...
Captions
706-01: The harpooner's eyes are fixed on the prey as if willing it to come
closer. His hands grip the bamboo, he raises the pole that is so long it
bends and flexes in the air. He takes aim and hurls this body along with the
harpoon into the water
706-18: The person who first saw the whale shark gets the meat around the
eyes. The harpooner takes part of the tail. The headman of the collective
that owns the pelendang receives his rightful share, as does the boat maker,
the sial maker, the harpoon maker and the crew. Other portions are given to
the families and relatives of the crew and what remains can be obtained by
non-family members who have tobacco, cakes and a wine (tuak) made from
distilled palm, to trade.
706-22: The women wash sand from the red meat in the surf and carry it
home, where it will be hung on wooden racks in the sun to dry. The racks
contain different kinds of meat in various stages of drying. Beneath the
blubber of a sperm whale, tin drip channels are positioned to funnel the oil
into bamboo receptacles. This oil will be used to light the lamps in the
village, though kerosene is increasingly used.
706-25: The pelendangs are made entirely of wood by local master
carpenters.It is 12 meters long, weighs well over a tonne and is pieced
together like a joined puzzle
706-31: The whalers' day starts before sunrise. The home made harpoons
are too light to penetrate the whale's hide, so the harpooner must literally
press them home. Leaping from the prow "like a flag attached to the long
pole and trailing behind it," he stabs the whale or the fish, tumbles from its
back and scurries back to the boat. Age-old beliefs remain strong in
Lamalera. - the success or failure of the hunt depends, the villagers believe,
on the whims of ancestral spirits
706-40: The harpooner's eyes are fixed on the prey as if willing it to come
closer. His hands grip the bamboo, he raises the pole that is so long it bends
and flexes in the air. He takes aim and hurls this body along with the
harpoon into the water

Whale shark hunting

Transcription

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