Siquijor Traditional Fishing: Ancient Methods and Coastal Heritage

Long before Siquijor became known to international travelers as a mystical island destination, it was a fishing island. The rhythms of daily life in every coastal barangay were set by tides, moon phases, and the seasonal movements of fish. While tourism and modernization have transformed much of the island’s economy, traditional fishing methods persist in Siquijor with a resilience that speaks to their deep cultural roots.

Understanding these practices offers visitors a window into an older Siquijor, one where survival depended on intimate knowledge of the sea and where community cooperation was not a virtue but a necessity.

A Fishing Island by Nature

Siquijor’s geography predestines it for fishing. The island spans roughly 340 square kilometers of land, but the surrounding municipal waters extend far beyond that footprint. Shallow reef flats, seagrass meadows, and deep channel waters between Siquijor, Bohol, and Mindanao create a mosaic of marine habitats that support diverse fish populations.

The island’s six coastal municipalities, Siquijor, Larena, Enrique Villanueva, Maria, Lazi, and San Juan, all maintain fishing communities, though the concentration of active fishermen varies. Larena and Lazi historically supported the largest fleets, while the reef-rich waters off San Juan and Maria provided particularly productive fishing grounds.

According to provincial fisheries records, several thousand registered fisherfolk operate around the island, though many part-time and subsistence fishers go uncounted in official statistics. Fishing remains the primary livelihood for a significant portion of coastal households, particularly in barangays distant from the tourism centers.

Handline Fishing: The Foundation

The most fundamental and widespread fishing method in Siquijor is handline fishing, known locally as kawil or pasol. At its simplest, this involves a single line with a hook, sinker, and bait, deployed from a small outrigger canoe called a bangka. The technique requires patience, skill in reading water conditions, and knowledge of specific fishing spots passed down through families.

Handline fishers target a range of species depending on season and location. Reef-associated species like grouper, snapper, and emperor fish are common catches near coral areas. Pelagic species including tuna, mackerel, and wahoo are targeted in deeper waters between islands, particularly during the northeast monsoon months when these fish move through the Bohol Sea channels.

The equipment is remarkably simple but highly refined. Experienced fishers adjust line thickness, hook size, sinker weight, and bait type for specific target species and conditions. Some use multiple hooks at different depths to cover more of the water column. Night fishing with handlines, using kerosene lanterns or LED lights to attract baitfish, remains common and productive.

What distinguishes Siquijor’s handline tradition is its continued dominance. Unlike many Philippine fishing communities that have transitioned heavily to nets and mechanized methods, a substantial portion of Siquijor’s catch still comes from individual handline fishers in small bangka. This is partly due to the island’s reef-dominated waters, where nets risk entanglement and damage to coral, and partly due to economic constraints that make mechanization inaccessible to many fishers.

Baklad: The Art of Fish Corrals

One of Siquijor’s most distinctive traditional fishing structures is the baklad, a fish corral built from bamboo stakes driven into shallow sandy or muddy bottoms near the shore. These semi-permanent traps consist of walls of closely spaced bamboo that guide fish through a series of increasingly narrow chambers from which they cannot easily escape.

Building a baklad requires substantial knowledge of local fish behavior, tidal patterns, and bottom topography. The entrance must be positioned to intercept fish as they move along predictable routes, typically parallel to the shoreline during tidal changes. The interior chambers are designed with one-way funnels that allow fish to enter but confuse their attempts to exit.

Baklad construction is labor-intensive, involving the harvesting and preparation of hundreds of bamboo poles, their transport to the site, and careful placement in patterns refined over generations. Traditionally, this was a communal activity, with extended families or neighborhood groups pooling labor. The catch would then be shared among contributors according to established local customs.

In Siquijor today, functional baklad are still maintained in several areas, particularly along the coasts of Lazi and Enrique Villanueva. While their numbers have declined from the dozens that once lined certain stretches of coast, those that remain are tended with care and continue to produce catches that supplement household food supply.

The ecological profile of baklad fishing is generally favorable. The structures are selective in the size of fish they capture, allowing juveniles to pass through gaps in the bamboo. They are passive, requiring no fuel or active effort once installed. And when eventually abandoned, the bamboo decomposes naturally without leaving persistent debris.

Panubli: Gleaning the Reef Flats

Not all fishing in Siquijor involves boats or deep water. Panubli, the practice of gleaning, harvesting shellfish, sea cucumbers, small octopus, and other marine invertebrates from intertidal and shallow reef flat areas during low tide, has been practiced for centuries and continues today.

This activity is predominantly undertaken by women and children, making it one of the most important yet least recognized contributions to household food security. Gleaners work the reef flats during spring low tides, wading through ankle to knee-deep water with baskets and simple tools, collecting a variety of edible species.

Common gleaning targets include various species of sea snails, clams, sea urchins, and small crabs. In good conditions, a few hours of gleaning can produce a substantial contribution to a family meal. The practice requires detailed knowledge of which species are edible, where they concentrate during different tidal conditions, and how to harvest them without damaging the reef substrate.

Gleaning is increasingly recognized by fisheries researchers as a critical but underreported component of coastal food systems. In Siquijor, as elsewhere in the Philippines, it provides protein and nutrition to communities during periods when boat fishing is impractical due to rough seas or poor weather.

Lambo: Night Fishing with Light

A traditional method that creates one of Siquijor’s most atmospheric coastal scenes is lambo, or light-attraction fishing. Historically, fishers used bamboo torches or kerosene lanterns suspended over the water from outrigger canoes to attract fish and squid to the surface. The light draws plankton, which attracts baitfish, which in turn draws larger predatory species within reach of handlines, scoopnets, or spears.

On calm nights, particularly during new moon phases when ambient light is minimal, the scattered points of light from lambo fishers create a distinctive pattern across Siquijor’s coastal waters. This scene has become iconic enough to feature in tourism promotional materials, though the practice itself is purely utilitarian.

Modern lambo operations increasingly use battery-powered LED lights, which are brighter, longer-lasting, and less hazardous than open flames on wooden boats. The basic principle remains unchanged, and the method continues to be particularly effective for squid, which respond strongly to light attraction.

Night fishing in general occupies an important place in Siquijor’s fishing calendar. Many species are more active and accessible at night, and the calmer conditions typical of nighttime, especially during the dry season, make small-boat operations safer and more productive.

Pukot and Laya: Net Fishing Traditions

While handline fishing dominates, net fishing has a long history in Siquijor. Traditional gill nets, called pukot, are set in areas where fish are known to travel, typically near reef edges or in channels between reef formations. The nets are deployed in the evening and retrieved at dawn, capturing fish that swim into the nearly invisible mesh during their nighttime movements.

Laya, or cast nets, require a different skill set. The circular weighted net is thrown by hand to cover a school of fish spotted in shallow water. Effective casting requires practice and timing, and skilled laya fishers can deploy the net with impressive accuracy. This method is used primarily for small schooling species in nearshore waters and is often a supplementary rather than primary fishing method.

Both net types have faced increased regulation as awareness of their impact on marine ecosystems has grown. Mesh size restrictions aim to prevent the capture of juvenile fish, and certain areas near marine sanctuaries prohibit net fishing entirely. These regulations, while sometimes contentious among fishing communities, reflect a growing understanding that sustainable harvest requires restraint.

Pangayaw: Deep Water Expeditions

Historically, the most ambitious fishing activity from Siquijor involved multi-day deep water expeditions called pangayaw, where groups of fishers would venture into the deep channels between Siquijor, Mindanao, and Bohol to target large pelagic species. These trips required careful planning, cooperation among crew members, and willingness to spend several nights at sea in small outrigger boats.

While true multi-day expeditions have become less common as motorized transport allows faster access to deep water grounds, the tradition of cooperative pelagic fishing persists. Groups of fishers from the same barangay often coordinate their efforts during peak tuna season, sharing information about productive areas and sometimes pooling catches for market sale.

The knowledge systems embedded in these expeditions are remarkable. Experienced fishers navigate by stars, wave patterns, and the behavior of seabirds to locate productive fishing areas far from visible landmarks. They read water color, temperature changes, and current patterns to identify subsurface features where fish concentrate. This accumulated environmental knowledge represents an irreplaceable cultural resource.

The Fishing Calendar

Traditional fishing in Siquijor follows a calendar shaped by weather patterns, lunar cycles, and seasonal fish movements. The dry season months from approximately February through May are generally considered the most productive and safest period for fishing. Calm seas allow small bangka to operate safely, and visibility in the water improves fish-finding success.

The lunar cycle directly influences fishing strategy. The days around the new moon are preferred for night fishing with lights, as the darkness maximizes the attraction effect. Full moon periods are better for net fishing, as fish tend to be more active and wide-ranging in bright moonlight. Handline fishing productivity varies less with moon phase but still follows patterns that experienced fishers track carefully.

Seasonal species movements create focused fishing periods. Tuna runs through the deep channels peak during specific months, triggering intensive effort from communities that depend on this high-value catch. Squid abundance fluctuates seasonally, with peak months varying by location around the island.

February, falling in the heart of the dry season, represents an excellent time to observe traditional fishing activities. Weather conditions are favorable, fishing effort is high, and the morning fish markets in Siquijor town and Lazi display the full diversity of the island’s marine harvest.

Threats to Traditional Fishing

Several pressures threaten the continuation of Siquijor’s traditional fishing practices. Declining fish stocks from both local overharvesting and regional factors reduce the economic viability of small-scale fishing, pushing younger generations toward tourism employment or migration. Climate change affects fish distribution patterns and coral reef health, undermining the ecological foundation that supports traditional methods.

The loss of traditional ecological knowledge as elder fishers pass away without transmitting their expertise to younger practitioners represents perhaps the most irreversible threat. The navigation skills, species behavior knowledge, and weather-reading abilities accumulated over generations cannot be recreated from textbooks or scientific surveys.

Marine protected areas, while essential for ecosystem recovery, sometimes create tension with fishing communities that lose access to traditional grounds. Effective sanctuary management programs in Siquijor have addressed this through inclusive governance structures that give fishers meaningful participation in decisions affecting their livelihoods.

Experiencing Fishing Culture as a Visitor

Travelers interested in Siquijor’s fishing heritage have several ways to engage with it respectfully. The morning fish markets, particularly in Siquijor town and Lazi, offer the most accessible window into the industry. Arriving early, around 6:00 to 7:00 in the morning, allows visitors to see the day’s catch being landed, sorted, and sold.

Some coastal communities welcome visitors to join dawn fishing trips. These are typically informal arrangements made through guesthouse owners or local contacts rather than organized tour products. Expect to sit in a small bangka, observe handline technique, and possibly try your hand at it under guidance. Bring sun protection and a willingness to sit quietly.

The barangay of Candanay Sur in Siquijor municipality and several coastal communities in Lazi are particularly accessible for visitors interested in observing traditional fishing activities. Respectful inquiry through local contacts or municipal tourism staff can open doors that formal tour bookings cannot.

Preserving the Heritage

Efforts to document and preserve Siquijor’s fishing traditions are gaining momentum. The provincial government, in partnership with academic institutions, has begun recording oral histories from elder fishers, cataloging traditional methods and the ecological knowledge systems that support them.

Community-based tourism initiatives that incorporate fishing experiences represent a promising path for economic sustainability. When traditional fishing knowledge can generate tourism income, it gains economic value that supports its continuation rather than competing with it.

The challenge is ensuring that tourism engagement remains authentic rather than performative. Visitors who sit in a real fishing bangka at dawn and experience the actual rhythm of the work come away with genuine understanding. Staged demonstrations lose the essential context that makes these practices meaningful.

Siquijor’s traditional fishing heritage is not a museum exhibit. It is a living practice that continues to feed families, shape community life, and maintain connections between the island’s people and the sea that surrounds them. For visitors willing to look beyond the beaches and waterfalls, it offers one of the most authentic and compelling dimensions of Siquijor’s cultural identity.