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.