Simeon Eberdong, Fisherman Profile
Iyechadrateluang Simeon Eberdong
I want to encourage fishermen to look into other means of revenue especially now that tourism is highly affected by COVID19. I hope our local schools can teach young fishermen how to fish, not just for subsistence or recreational purposes but to fish professionally. Teach them to join purse seine, and travel around countries to receive trainings for such fishing methods because they do exist. These are the kinds of things young people of Palau should invest their time in if they wish to become more than just a typical fisherman.
Fishing is just like all other kinds of professions. Just like all other professions, when you graduate with all the degrees for a certain career, it is the same with fishing. All the hard work and effort I put in growing up as a young fisherman with my father made me want to become better at what I do as a fisherman. So now I can say that I am a professional fisherman, I know what I do and I am good at it. Just like you, the ocean is my office. The public may have a negative view of us, fishermen, that we are not careful about the ocean and the preservation of its resources. But let me tell you, I am not careless of my office space, I spend most of my time here and I want to keep it safe so I can continue coming.
In the past, fishermen were usually secretive of their fishing techniques and fishing grounds but these days it does not work that way. Now it is scary because these expert techniques may be lost if not shared. This explains why I share all my fishing knowledge to anyone who is interested.
Fisher’s Profile
Iyechadrateluang Simeon Eberdong is a full-time fisherman. He is a chief of Ngeruluobel, Airai. He fishes various kinds of fisheries methods depending on the demand of fish, then he goes out to look for the requested fish. He is capable of various kinds of fishing techniques. Start at the mangrove area to the nearshore. I am from Koror and Airai so I normally fish within the territory of both states.
Pathway to Fishing
Iyechadrateluang started fishing when he was a kid as a son of Eberdong Rubasch, who was a full-time fisher, He was obechad of Koror. He started fishing with his dad as a kid. He was a fisherman as a young adult until he graduated at Emmaus High School in 1974. He ventured into purse seine in 1979 during a time where the fishery was managed and owned by a company known as Van Camp. He joined the company until 1989. He took over his father’s fishing vessel and started managing his small scale commercial fishing company supplying the Palau Federation of Fishing Association.
Sustainability
I follow fishing regulations and I try to educate and encourage fishermen to venture into offshore fishing. With my previous experience as a purse seiner, I know that offshore fish stocks are highly migratory and the stocks are healthy for fishing. If we, fishermen, are not taking advantage of the resource, we are underutilizing a high value resource. I try to encourage people to reduce fishing pressure on the nearshore stocks and to allow the stocks to naturally replenish.
Fishing then and now
I have seen a lot of change especially with the younger generation of fishermen. They have to learn to depend on the fishery as a source of income and to recognize the importance of the fishery to our national food security. Iyechadrateluang has experienced decline with the nearshore stocks which he believes have depleted due to the rate of harvest exceeding the rate of the stock to replenish itself. However, he sees an opportunity to fish offshore where he believes there are more high-value market species.
Last words
I collect data when I fish at the FADs almost everyday. Collecting data at the FAD is important because it teaches me the behavior of the fish and helps me to know what is the best time to fish for different species. Now I have a little bit of an idea about the productivity of the FADs depending on the current and position of the FADs, it helps me to fish efficiently. I fish based on data and what information it can provide me. It tells me when the fish are schooling and when they are scattered, when the mating and reproducing seasons are, etc. For instance, gamers want to fish around full moon because the fish are aggressive, but if you want to sell high quality fish, full moon is not a good time to fish because it is the reproduction season so the meat is not fatty and usually tough.