During the period of developments in Australian responses to Indonesian fishing activity during the 1970s and 1980s, Bajo continued to operate both inside and outside the permitted zones. During that time surveillance patrols and repeated boardings of Indonesian perahu by Australian officials had little effect in deterring continued shark fishing operations in the prohibited offshore areas along the continental shelf. While shark was the main product sought after by the majority of Bajo perahu, at certain times they pursued other marine products including reef fish, trochus shell and turtle shell. However, the collection of valuable sedentary products such as trochus and turtle shell ceased with an increase in Australian surveillance and enforcement and eviction of fishermen from the northwest coast in the 1970s.
Bajo and Pepelan perceptions of the reasons for policy developments that resulted in their loss of access to certain fishing grounds during the 1970s show that Indonesian fishermen do not understand sophisticated Western principles concerning the need for border, customs and quarantine regimes, scientific notions of the need for resource management, or developments in international maritime law. The Bajo and other ethnic fisher groups in eastern Indonesia do not have a deliberate disregard for the law but, from their perspective, laws and regulations are meaningless if they restrict access to resources upon which their livelihood depends.
The recollections and personal experiences of men from Mola, Mantigola and Pepela who were part of the Bajo fishing fleets that accessed the Timor and Arafura seas in 1994 provide the evidence to support an argument that the official Australian perspective on the nature and extent of shark fishing is flawed. This group of 31 men, aged between 30 and 60 years, born in either Mantigola or Mola, were perahu owners and/or captains or senior crew members in 1994. The men were interviewed about when they first went sailing to the north Australian region, and particularly of their shark fishing activities during the 1970s. Many had first sailed to the Australian region in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A few of the older men had even sailed to offshore reefs and islands in the Timor Sea to catch reef fish in the 1950s and 1960s. For some of them, Australia has been the main destination for distant shore seasonal voyaging since they were old enough to sail. Bajo narratives also show that some of the Australian Government’s attempts to educate and inform fishermen have been misguided.
According to the Bajo, shark fin became the main product sought during the late 1960s and early 1970s when market prices in China and Southeast Asia rose in response to growing consumer demand. Twenty-eight men recall undertaking shark fishing voyages in the Timor and Arafura seas between 1969 and 1979, and for some, this was the first time they went sailing to Australia. Two of their accounts indicate the patterns and motivations for shark fishing at the time.
In 1970 we started fishing for shark because there was a price for it in Ujung Pandang. Between 1970 and 1975 we sold the fin to a trader in Ujung Pandang named Johnny Goh who had a shop near the harbour. Then in 1977, the boss started to buy the fin directly from Mola through Haji Djunaedy and some other haji in Mola. In those times we only needed a capital [perongkosan] of Rp 1–200 000 and the interest rate was only 2.5 per cent. In 1975, when the borders were still open, some Pepela people started to fish for shark and joined the Mola men. Before that Pepela people fished for trochus and trepang. We sold the fin in Mola until 1988–89 then we started to sell the fin in Pepela. It is better to sell the fin in Pepela because we can go out more times. If we have to sail to Ujung Pandang we can only go out once a season (Si Kaharra, Mola Selatan).
I first sailed to Australia in 1969. In the early 1970s we sold shark fin to traders in Ujung Pandang. This meant we could only sail once in a season. The price was Rp 1500 per kilogram for potong biasa [crude cut with some meat still attached]. When we arrived in Ujung Pandang, we dropped anchor and the traders would come to our perahu, ask what we had to sell, and give us coffee, sugar, and cigarettes. Later the boss would come out and buy the fin and pay us straight away. We still used shark rattles and handlines then. There were no borders and we caught a lot of shark, sometimes 400–600 kilograms, sometimes as much as 1 tonne. Usually, after selling the fin we obtained Rp 2–3 000 000 to share. The cost of the voyage was not much then, only about Rp 2–300 000 and each crew member only had to put in Rp 25 000 towards the cost of the voyage. In about 1974, Haji Djunaedy started providing the capital to cover the cost of the voyage, so we sold the shark to him in Mola, not in Ujung Pandang any more. This continued until the late 1980s and early 1990s. Then we started to sell the shark in Pepela. But during this time, some Bajo still sold the shark in Ujung Pandang or Bau Bau because the price of shark fin was always higher in Ujung Pandang (Si Nasir, Mola Selatan).
During the east monsoon (from April to November) Bajo departed from Mola and Mantigola in their perahu lambo and sailed to Pepela where they would take on extra supplies and wait for suitable wind conditions to sail south to fish around the reefs and islands in the Timor Sea and along the shallow waters of the continental shelf off the northwest coast of the Australian mainland. These shallow waters are known as air putih (white waters) and are considered to be very productive shark fishing grounds. They stretch from northwest of Cape Leveque and around Adele Island across to Holothuria Banks, and to the northeast and east of Ashmore Reef along the Sahul Banks (see Map 6-1). In order to reach fishing grounds along the Kimberley coast, perahu would navigate by means of beacons located on some of the islands in the Timor Sea or on the mainland along the Kimberley coast. At the end of a fishing expedition they sometimes travelled back through Pepela to replenish supplies or exchange dried strips of salted shark meat (balur) for lontar palm sugar (gula air) before sailing to Mola or Mantigola or to other towns or cities in eastern Indonesia to sell the catch.
During the west monsoon, especially during periods of light wind conditions in February and March, shark fishing expeditions focused on the eastern part of the Timor Sea and western part of the Arafura Sea. Although voyages at this time of year were never as regular or frequent as during the east monsoon, the end of the west monsoon is ideal for fishing. This period of light variable winds and smooth seas, known as the doldrums in English literature, is often interrupted by short intermittent squalls and possible cyclonic activity, and during these periods perahu would make for sheltered islands for protection.
During the west monsoon, vessels departing from Mola first sailed to one of the islands located off the eastern tip of Timor or to Selaru Island in the southern Tanimbar group. From here they would sail south, drifting and fishing along the Sahul Banks and shallow waters of the continental shelf lying to the north of Bathurst Island. Some also went from the Tukang Besi Islands to Dobo in the Aru Islands and from there sailed south to fish the waters north of the Gulf of Carpentaria (see Map 6-1). The boats would then travel back through the Banda Sea with the first of the southeast monsoon winds, usually in April. Bajo perahu apprehended and taken to Darwin in 1985 and 1992 were caught during shark fishing voyages in the Arafura Sea at the end of the west monsoon.
Occasionally some vessels also sailed to Pepela during the west monsoon and from there undertook short voyages, depending on the wind conditions, to fish around the reefs and islands in the Timor Sea. Three Bajo perahu apprehended off the Kimberley coast in 1975 and two apprehended and taken to Broome in March 1990 had followed this pattern. The distance between fishing grounds and trade centres, and the dependence on prevailing wind conditions, meant that until the late 1980s perahu would normally sail and fish just once during the east or west monsoon seasons. The duration of time spent fishing was variable and depended on both supplies and weather conditions. A trip could be between three to eight weeks, with longer periods spent fishing during the calmer months of the east monsoon.
Voyages were financed by complex credit arrangements. Financial capital, including the cost of provisioning vessels with firewood, water, rice and money for the families during the men’s absence, was usually obtained in Mola or Mantigola. The capital came from the fishermen themselves, their extended family, moneylenders or village traders in marine products. The cost of a typical shark fishing expedition was around Rp 1–300 000, depending on the number of crew. Upon return, the shark fin was sold to traders in Mola, Ujung Pandang or Bau Bau, or sometimes to traders in Kupang, Ambon or Dobo, depending on the time of year. The cost of the voyage and provisions was taken out of the money made from the sale of the fin. The remainder was divided between the perahu owner and crew, with the owner of the perahu receiving three shares and each crew member one share.
It is difficult to ascertain specific prices for shark fin since they depended on the quality and type of fin and where it was sold. While Si Nasir stated that the price of shark fin was Rp 1500/kg in Ujung Pandang in the early 1970s, Si Goseng, a Bajo man living permanently in Pepela since the late 1980s, said that he received Rp 600/kg in 1971, but by 1974 the price had risen to Rp 1200/kg, and in 1987 he received Rp 15 000/kg. Si Sabaruddin stated that in 1979 he and his crew received Rp 25 000/kg in Mola. Si Acing, who went shark fishing for the first time in 1970, said that after a shark fishing trip in 1979, where he and his crew caught 400 kg of shark fin, they sold the catch in Ambon at Rp 6500/kg. Usman, the captain of the Usaha Selamat who was apprehended in 1985, stated in the Record of Interview that he expected to receive Rp 3500/kg for shark fin in Mola. These diverse responses, although dependent on a range of variables, indicate a gradual rise in the price of shark fin over time.
Between the 1960s and the 1980s, fishermen from Pepela also fished in the Timor Sea and off the northwest coast, but generally kept to the islands and reefs where they concentrated on collecting sedentary marine products and reef fish. Interaction between Bajo and Pepela fishermen meant that some Pepela fishermen adopted the Bajo shark fishing techniques using handlines and rattles. They also engaged in shark fishing around the reefs and islands in the permitted areas around Ashmore Reef (Russell and Vail 1988).
During the early 1970s, as well as shark fishing, some Bajo from Mola and Mantigola embarked on voyages to the Kimberley region along the northwest coast to harvest trochus shell and turtle shell. In the late 1960s the price of trochus began to rise due to a depletion of stocks in Indonesia and other parts of the world and to growing demand from button and paint manufacturers (Campbell and Wilson 1993: 43). During the years from 1971 to 1975, a number of perahu from Mola embarked on voyages to collect trochus shell at Yampi Sound, King Sound, Adele Island and Cape Leveque. [1] Their crews recall encounters with Australian naval patrol ships, having their perahu boarded and searched, being questioned, told to return to Indonesia, and even having their catch of trochus dumped overboard. For the Bajo, this period marked the beginning of increasing contact with Australian authorities.
I met a patrol ship at Yampi, but they did not apprehend us, only ordered us to return home. There, I was looking for trochus. At that time, during the 1970s, there were hundreds of perahu, many of them went too close to the coast. They were spotted by aircraft. In 1975, there were lots of patrol boats. I remember one Bajo being hit on the shoulder by one of the officers (Si Badolla, Mola Selatan).
Si Ntole (from Mola Selatan) and his crew were fishing for shark fin in the Timor Sea in 1974 but during strong winds the unmotorised perahu was blown off course. The boat ended up at a reef further east near the Australian coast and there the crew discovered a large population of hawksbill turtles. Taking the opportunity over a few days, the crew captured a large number of turtles, the shell was sold in Mola, and the crew made a large profit. Word of Si Ntole’s success spread throughout the village. After obtaining directions on the location of the reef from the original crew, a number of boats left Mola in August that year. One was a perahu lambo owned by Si Usman from Mola Utara, and another was a motorised perahu owned by Haji Djunaedy from Mola Selatan. After calling in at Pepela, both perahu encountered strong winds while sailing south. Haji Djunaedy and his crew turned back. Si Usman and his crew, unperturbed by the weather, kept going but ended up at King Sound from where they slowly sailed east before finally locating the reef. Over one week they collected one tonne of turtle shell, then sailed to Ujung Pandang and sold it, making a small fortune. This enabled Si Usman to buy a motorised perahu and a few years later make the haj to Mecca. Haji Djunaedy, after waiting for the wind to die down, set off again from Pepela, located the reef and also collected a substantial amount of turtle shell. [2] The reef in question is Holothuria Reef, now known to the Bajo as Sapa Ntole (Ntole’s Reef).
Another area where turtles were collected was a large reef located in Yampi Sound. According to Si Kariman, the reef was first ‘discovered’ by Si Darisa, from Mola Selatan, who named the reef Karang Bebek (Duck Reef) because the shape resembles that of a duck.
When I visited Karang Bebek in the 1970s we caught a lot of turtle and filled the entire perahu with shell. We also met orang Marege [Aboriginal people] at the reef and we gave them some turtle meat. They were also catching turtles but not using the same method as us (Si Kariman, Mola Selatan).
With the increase in Australian surveillance and enforcement measures from 1974 onwards, including Operation Trochus in 1975 and 1976, trochus and turtle shell harvesting by Bajo along the Kimberley coast appears to have largely ceased. However, this only meant that shark fishing in the permitted areas and along the Sahul Shelf became more important.
Source: Broome Historical Museum (photograph courtesy of Malcolm Douglas).
[1] Si Kaharra collected trochus in 1972 at Cape Leveque. Si Nasir visited Yampi Sound and Adele Island to collect trochus in 1971. Others, including Si Badolla, Si Usman, Si Kati, Si Hasim, Si Goseng and Si Nurdin, also speak of trochus collecting in the period 1972–76. Most men recall collecting trochus only once or twice during a trip while they continued to fish for shark as well. A perahu could undertake a voyage to King Sound to collect trochus shell and, on its return journey north, might fish for shark fin for a few days.
[2] The Broome Historical Museum contains two interesting photographs taken from this period. One is in a file entitled ‘Indonesian Illegal Fishing’ and the other is framed and hanging in the front room of the museum. The first photograph is captioned ‘Malcolm Douglas with Indonesian fishermen from four boats off our shores in 1974’. Malcolm Douglas is a local Broome resident who runs the crocodile farm at Cable Beach. The photograph shows Douglas in the foreground leaning on a dugout canoe with at least six other canoes in the background containing 14 fishermen. One of the fishermen is wearing a hat typically made and worn by Bajo people. The other photograph (Plate 6-1) is a close-up of a man sitting in a canoe. It was taken at a location off the top end of Montgomery Reef (east of Koolum Island) in the Kimberley region. The caption reads ‘Indonesian fishermen located by Malcolm Douglas 1974’. The man in the photograph is easily recognised as La Toke, from Mola Selatan, who was a crew member on the perahu owned by Haji Djunaedy. La Toke was also a crew member on the Sumber Bahagia in 1994.