Chapter 17 - Shallow and Deep Sea Fishing in Carles & Estancia

It was my dream to pursue my 2nd year high school. Getting a high school education was not easy. High school education was very, very hard. I finished my first year at Balasan high school.

My parents were able to pay my tuition fees at that time. I was not able to enroll in 2nd- year high school anymore. Lack of money for tuition and other school needs were the reasons. I tried hard to find a way to continue my studies. Getting a high school education was a dream. Too many young people in our town, getting high school education was an impossible dream.

Why an impossible dream? During my high school years, only 7 per a cent of Filipinos finished four years high school. Only 3 per cent finished a four years college education. Fifty four per cent finished grade 1 to grade 6. Some older people and kids, about 35 per cent never entered a school. That was the tragedy of our educational system during that time. The poor had a very, very hard time to get even an elementary education. And getting high school education was nearly impossible!

This was caused gravely by the country’s feudal system where the vast tracts of lands given by God for all Filipinos were taken, owned and controlled by few rich and powerful landowners and elites. They saw the vast tracts of land could be titled and registered in their names and their families because they know the law. The great majority of Filipinos, about 70 per cent were poor, uneducated and landless.

After I finished my first year high in Balasan I did not have a chance of enrolling in second year high. I asked my uncle, a fisherman to teach me fishing in shallow water. Uncle Ricardo Carvajal had a small boat that could carry only two persons. I joined him fishing in shallow water catching fish by hook, line and sinker. We fished just 3 kilometers from the shore. We row the boat 3 kilometers to where the fish were. We fish during the nights and rode back home in the morning. We had a kerosene light to enable us to attract small fish that we used as baits in fishing bigger fish. We used “lopoy”, small fish as baits.

We left home at 5:00 p.m. to the sea. We fish the whole night from 6:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.. Fishing with hooks, line and sinkers was hard, specially because it was cold at night. The first night, I got 25 pieces of "Liwit", a fish that is white, long, wide body and slim. My uncle got about 40 pieces of "Liwit". It was not a bad experience for a young fisherman on his first trip to the sea. Two or 3 pieces of “liwit” was 1 kilo. One kilo “liwit’ was sold at P0,50 centavos.

My uncle got 8 pieces of "liwit" as share for the use of his small boat. He give me 15 pieces as my share. I brought home all my share that morning. I gave mother all the fish. She was happy that I had brought her some "liwit" for our viand. I continued to fish with my uncle Ricardo. I worked with him for 6 months until I learned most of the intricacies of shallow fishing in his small boat.

From my earnings, I bought some clothing. I also bought two pairs of shoes. I gave also a pair of pants to my brother and my sister, Elvira.

Then, I decided to go with my other uncle, Estelito Bernal, who was quite a big fisherman. He owned a fishing boat, known as "Largarete". The boat was big. It was run by 10 horse power motor. It has two "lambats" or fishing nets used to catch the fish. It has 1,000 megawatts lights, so the lights when used could attract the fish 1000 meters away. It was run by a generator. Four to 5 persons were working in the Largarete every night.

Largarete was a unique way of fishing. It caught fishes called tabagak. The fishing nets was 500 meters long and 100 meters deep. It lies in the waters about 1,000 meters deep. The upper part of the fishing nets was pulled-up by "floaters" made of plastics bottles. The lower part were attached with "lead sinkers. The upper part of the fishing nets was on the water level. The lower end of fishing net had lead sinkers 200 meters down the water.

The fishing net stood 100 meters deep. Several thousands of fish, called "Tabagak", whose scientific name is Sandinella Timbriata, was caught when its head stuck in the fishing nets. We took them from the nets one by one. It was a tedious job but enjoyable when lots of fish were caught during the nights.

The 1000 mega watts light bulb attached to the front of our fishing boat was strong. Thousands of tabagak came near our fishing boat. Then, a dynamite that will not kill the fishes was used. It will injure them, partly blind some, broke the bones and paralyze others. Then, a 500 watts light bulb with "sinker" was put down under the water, about 2 meters deep. The fish partly paralyzed will just move around the perimeter of 100 meters. As they move around, they are caught by our fishing nets that stood 100 meters deep under the water and 500 meters long from both sides of the boat.

The "tabagaks" we caught were later dried and sent to Manila by my uncle. He has a Chinese friend in Manila, a big dealer of dried fish who sold tabagaks to dealers all over Metro Manila and Luzon.

After working in "Largarete" fishing for 1 year, I decided to leave. I will try another fishing system practiced in Estancia, Iloilo. Estancia was called that time, “Akaska of the Philippines.” With my other uncle, Ricarte Aligan, I tried "basnig" deep sea fishing systems in Estancia, Iloilo.

"Basnigs" was a big fishing enterprise. About 20 "basnigans" were operating in Estancia during that time. Basnig caught all kind of fishes, small, big and biggest fishes through the night of fishing.

Basnig fishing boats were big-- about 3 meters wide. It was 2 meters deep. 40 meters long, from the prow (front) to the ulin, (back) or the end of the boat. The boat is powered with a Gray Marine Engine, a powerful machine. It had 25 fishermen working in the boat. I was one of the 25 who joined basnig that time. Basnigs operated during the dark nights of the month, about 22 days every month. Full moon was non-working days in basnig. We cleaned the boat and repaired it for maximum efficiency for the coming dark and moonless nights.

We have 25 fisherfolks working in basnig. There was the captain, my uncle who was the head of basnig. He earned 5 times income than the least of us, like me. He had also a commission for every case of fish caught every night. The 2nd leader in the fishing boat is the engine operator. He operated the engine of the boat and made it work efficiently. He made sure all the lightings were in good conditions every night. The engine operator earned 3 times more than the ordinary fisher. There was the timonil. He was the driver of the fishing boat. He set at the back end of the boat and had to follow the directions of the Capitan while the boat was moving to its destination. He got 3 shares of the income.

There was the limasero. His job was to take out the water that enters the fishing boat. Every time there was water inside the limasiro would get the water out. He got 2 shares of earnings. Then there were 4 team leaders. They are the 4 persons, who were always situated at the extreme end of the boat. They were strong men, as they carry the heavy weight of the nets, being pulled up from below until the net reached the surface. They get 1 1/2 share.

Another person of importance in basnig, was the "tirador". He carried the dynamites that will be thrown to the fishes when they were around the lights. He was my relative. He asked me to carry his bag of dynamites every day. I did not know that I could be taken in custody and imprisoned for bringing a bundle of dynamites in the seashore.

My uncle assigned me at the center of the boat. I have to help pull up the nets from the water. The nets thrown to the water when there were many fishes around. It was allowed to lie down under the waters, 100 meters deep. When the Capitan saw that there were already many fishes under, he ordered the "tirador" to throw dynamites into the sea near the moving fishes.

It was not powerful dynamite. It was used only to disable fishes. When the floodlights were off, a small light was put down deep into the water. The fishes just move around. By this time, the fishing net that was down, deep in the water was pulled out and fishes were caught by the fishing net about 100 meters wide around in the water.

Basnig was one of the modern fishing methods by big fishing businessmen during that time in Estancia, Iloilo Some years later, basnig was also eliminated and other methods of more modern fishing were used to catch fish.

After nearly 3 years in fishing, I decided to find another way to start my high school studies again. I could not finish high school by working as a fisherman. Fishing was a full time job and one must always be on the sea.