Mackerel fishing in Amed - Bali

As I explained in my story 'Amed', Amed is a fairly remote, arid coastal region of poor fishing/ farming communites in the far northeast coast of Bali. The entire area is collectively referred to as Amed but, in fact, it actually consists of a series of small beachside fishing villages, each with it's own name and identity. There's Amed, Jemeluk, Bunutan, Lipah, LeeAn, Salang, among others. These communities are separated by hills stretching along the coast. The single coastal road winds up over the headlands then down into a small beach-fringed cove then up over the next headlands and down into the next village.

Aside from some low-key tourism which has been developing gradually since the mid-80s (boutique resorts, dive shops and scattered shops) Amed still revolves around fishing and farming. Most locals here are fishermen/ farmers. They live down along the coast and up along the scrubby hillsides in small primitive shacks and houses. They are astoundingly poor. In fact, the area, aside from tourism, is quite poverty striken.

The poverty seems to be due to the unusual arid climate, the very short growing season and, as if that's not enough, an equally short fishing season. The high season for mackerel fishing is roughly 3 months- October to December. During those months each fisherman can take in 100-300 mackerel per day. But the remaining 9 months of the year the fishing catch is extremely sporadic. One day can bring 30 fish, the next day a mere 1-2 fish only! Each day's catch also varies greatly from fisherman to fisherman. One man may catch 2, another 20. There's a lot of competition for the mackerel: each of 10+ villages has 100- 300 fishermen out to get his catch. That's about 1000- 3000 boats, twice/ day, out trying to catch the fish! Who gets lucky and who doesn't seems to be the luck of the draw.

The fishing boats, called 'jukung', are colorful wooden outriggers with 'arms' on either side for stability. The hulls are deep but extremely narrow- just wide enough to fit one slim seated person. The hulls are actually dug-outs: hollowed-out trees! The arms are made of bamboo and wood, slashed together with ropes. Jukung are sailing boats, single-masted with triangular sails made of heavy, colorful plastic. Each jukung has a differently patterned sail, so it's easy to identify each boat once you know the sails. The hulls are painted mainly white with colorful accents in green, red, blue, yellow. Some jukung have names which are painted on each side of the bow. Traditional jukung also have eyes molded on their fronts and 2 long wood poles jutting forward to form a 'barracuda mouth'! At Lipah beach very few jukung have eyes and barracuda mouths. A local fisherman explained that the beach no longer has enough room for the long 'barracuda mouths' as there are so many boats parked. The long mouths were getting broken as boats shifted around on the beach during heavy winds or seas. I'm told one boat costs about 3 million rp (about $330 US) to build. A few locals still can build jukung, which takes about 2-3 weeks.

As for the fishing itself: The fishing day starts very early- about 5:30am- with a serious exercise regime. Since thejukung are parked on the beach, the fishermen have to CARRY them into/ out of the sea! It takes 4-8 men to carry one jukung. The distance isn't far, but the mens' superbly muscled, lean bodies testify to the heavy strain of carrying the solid wood boats. First, several men lift a boat and carry it to the water's edge. They set it down then push it off. One fisherman, jumping aboard, quickly sets to unfurling his single triangular sail. He has an oar if he needs to paddle briefly. Each jukung also has an engine for times when there's no wind, though the engines are often stored together in a simple thatched pavillion and only taken out when needed. From the coast the men sail out about 1- 1 1/2 hours then return, arriving back usually between 7- 7:30am.

Meanwhile, a crowd of locals gathers at the beach, awaiting their return. The fishermen's wives wait at the beach with big plastic buckets for carrying back the day's catch of mackerel. Local fishermen who haven't gone out that morning wait there to buy fish from their friends and to help carry the jukung out of the sea. It's quite a tight-knit community, with all the fishermen helping eachother out.

As the boats return, men wander over to help lift the jukung up past the tide line. Depending on the sea conditions, that could be a leisurely lift or a hurried, urgent removal from strong waves. Generally, just 2 men can manage to get the jukung up past the tide line. From there, 4-8 men are needed to return the jukung to its 'parking place' high up on the beach.

Once the jukung land, things wrap up pretty quickly. The fishermen quickly fold up their sails and tie them down. The wives have already reached their husbands' boats and begin loading the mackerel into their buckets. Friends who've come to buy fish quickly pick through the catch to make their selection and pay. The men methodically carry each jukung up to its parking place. Once that happens the beach is deserted surprisingly quickly! Suddenly, the colorful jukung are back in place and the beach is empty!!

This whole process is usually repeated again in late afternoon between 4pm 6:30pm, since the fishermen generally go out twice/ day. But each fisherman chooses whether to go out or not- once, twice, or not at . His decision is based on whether he thinks it's worth the effort or not, on the sea and wind conditions, how badly he needs money, and how tired he is that day.

As for the day's catch, if any, some fish are kept to feed the family and the excess is sold. They may be sold to local friends, sold roadside to passersby, or sold to the fish markets (for big catches) in Amlapura city, about one hour from Amed.

And how much money can the Amed fishermen make for their efforts? In the long 9-month off-season, each fish will bring about 2000rp ( about 9000rp/ $US)- less than 25 cents. During high season, this price could bring in a heafty salary for a Balinese: 2000 rp x 100 fish = 200,000rp/ day (about $20 US) Up to 300 fish/ day could bring in 600,000rp/ day. In a month, this would be an excellent salary! Quite unfortunately, during high season fish prices drop down to about 300rp/ fish!! So that 100 fish/day catch now only brings in 30,000rp- only a fraction of it's low-season value.

The fishermen suppliment their income by farming the scrubby Amed hillsides. They keep farm animals, including pigs, cows and chickens, which they sell and/or eat. The short growing season coincides with the rainy season, roughly Dec. through Feb. During that time they can grow only corn, peanuts and beans, all of which they eat and sell. Other vegetables, rice, tofu and other foods they must buy at market.

Some fishermen are able to earn money with their jukung via tourism in addtion to fishing. They are hired by dive shops for boat diving. They take tourists out on their fishing trips, for snorkeling adventures; and they sometimes porter travellers over to Lombok's Gili islands, a 2-3 hour trip on open seas. The local women can earn money through tourism by giving excellent massages and/or carrying diving tanks.

For observers, like myself, the Amed fishing life is a charming attraction. Fist of all, there's the amazing sight of watching a sea full of colorful triangular sails drifting on the vast ocean at sunrise and sunset, watching them slowly grow bigger and bigger as they return to shore! It's equally intriquing to watch the arrival of the jukung, the packing up of sails, the carrying of boats, the gathering and selling/buying of the catch and women carrying their buckets on their heads back to home. Finally, as already mentioned, when the jukung are not out to sea, they are 'parked' along the beaches, adding colorful 'decoration' to the gray-sand beaches. The jukung are so numerous that most beaches are packed with boats from one end of the bay to the other! Lipah beach, my 'home', has about 100 jukung parked along its 500M/ 300 yd beach. The other villages have about 100-300 jukung each I'm told. So, fishing and the colorful jukung are an integral part of daily life in Amed.

2008  by LASH (S. Augsburger)

Source : http://www.lashworldtour.com/pages/BALI/MACKEREL%20FISHING.html