Sokehs, Pohnpei
Sunday, August 25, 2013
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Spear Fishing in Pohnpei
It was back in the late '90's that I first attempted spear fishing in Pohnpei. When I first arrived in Pohnpei, I would take out my fishing rods and be fishing from the boat like a "menwai" or outsider, while all of my local friends would be fishing in their own indigenous fashion. We would all catch fish, yet the longer I lived in Pohnpei, the more I wanted to learn their culture, speak like them, live like them and even fish like them. Soon enough, my Pohnpein friends from Madolenihmw and I would often get into the "war" or hand-dug canoe and row out to the reef to "epiep" or hand line for the various reef fish. Then they showed me how to "laid en kesek" or spearfish. With our mask, snorkel and fins, we waded out from shore to the reef at night, with a sling spear in the right hand and a flashlight in the left hand. Someone would always carry the "ihr" or stringer tied around their waste as after we would spear fish, they would slide the fish onto the stringer and tow it behind them. This could prove to be dangerous as white-tip or black-tip reef sharks could sometimes smell the blood of the freshly speared fish and try to bite them. I had heard that every now and then the locals would be bitten by the sharks because of this. So from the very first time I attempted to spear fish with my Pohnpeian friends, I loved it and knew that it would be a way of life for me, as it was for them.
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There are two main types of spear fishing in Pohnpei: daytime spear fishing and night time spear fishing. These are two totally different types of fishing using different techniques as well as different types of spears.
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The local daytime spears are usually quite long and are hand crafted from wood along with a long metal rod and firing mechanisms including rubber hosing which is pulled back and latched onto a notch in the metal spear. A line is attached to the metal spear so that once fired, the spear can be easily retrieved by hand. I am still learning how to spear fish using this technique and am not really that good at it yet. In the daytime, most Pohnpeians use a weight belt in order for their bodies to sink while holding their breath. The diver then holds his breath and slowly swims down the reef to wait in a good spot as to not scare the fish away. Sometimes the diver is quite deep, while other times only needs to be ten to twenty feet deep. As the bigger reef fish come up to feed the diver waits for the right moment with his spear aimed and cocked. Once a fish is in his sights, the diver then releases the metal trigger, shooting the long metal spear through the fish. There is a metal piece on the tip of the spear which flips up to hold the fish onto the spear so that the fish cannot escape. This is the main technique for daytime spear fishing in Pohnpei. Other divers will be more aggressive in their daytime spear fishing by swimming stealth-fully after the fish. Some of my local friends free dive over one hundred feet. I have trained myself to dive deeper and deeper all the time by clearing my ears every ten feet or so. I can now dive to around forty feet deep. Daytime spear fishing can be done either inside or outside the barrier reef surrounding Pohnpei.
Local Pohnpeian daytime spear
A parrot fish that I caught daytime spear fishing at Nahlap
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The local nighttime spears are the Hawaiian sling spears which are various lengths and have three metal tips on the end of them. To fire these spears, the diver holds the rubber sling between the thumb and index finger while pulling the spear back to the desired tension. Then the diver releases his grip propelling the three tipped spear ahead of him with force. Like I mentioned earlier, nighttime spear fishing is an entirely different technique than daytime spearfishing. Most Pohnpeians will go spear fishing on a night when there is no moon, or the moon is not very bright. The reason that they do this is because many of the reef fish sleep at night when the moon is not bright. As the diver takes his flashlight in one hand and his spear in the other hand, he searches the rocks and the coral for reef fish that are sleeping or that are swimming lethargically. This technique takes time to learn as there are different species of fish that tend to hide in certain types of coral. Once the diver sees the fish that he wants to spear in the light of his underwater flashlight, he dives down with his spear cocked and easily spears the sleeping or lethargic fish. I am much better at nighttime spear fishing than I am at daytime spear fishing, but am still learning new things every time I go out.
Local Pohnpeian nighttime spears
Some reef fish that we caught while spear fishing
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I usually go spear fishing with my Pohnpeian friends every week or so. Sometimes we go from land, but I find that the best spear fishing happens when we can take a boat out to the various fishing spots in the lagoon of Pohnpei. There are different Pohnpeian names for each species of fish that I am learning. Reef fish are tasty. Some of them are good to eat sashimi-style or raw, while others are good to eat fried. We always eat fish with rice. I like to "kadu nan soyu," or take the meat of the fish and some rice and dip it in soy sauce. I like to go spear fishing in order to provide food for my immediate family as well as my Pohnpeian family. There is nothing like "mwengepene" or sharing a meal together with our Pohnpeian friends and family after a good spear fishing catch.
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Christian Young
Spear fishing from a boat near the barrier reef
Different species of reef fish that we caught while spear fishing
Sharing a meal of reef fish together that was caught to feed the MDMI students
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