1. Explosives and Poisons — Dynamite is tie most coiainon 

 explosive used in fishing. Large siims of money have been involved 

 in illegal transactions in explosives and in addition, loss of nuiuji 

 life is often incurred in its use. Many persons have been apprehended 

 by law enforcement agencies emd prosecuted for poirsuing this illegal 

 venture. Before the last global war, when dynamite was very diffi- 

 cult to obtain, various illegal methods of proeareioent were resorted 

 to by these violators of the fishery laws. 



In dynamiting on a small scale, only a small dugout is 

 used, and the catch is collected by diving and either scooping the 

 fish with a small dip net or simply picking them up with the hand. 

 Some of the larger operators use fast sailing bancas and the catch 

 is collected by the use of scoop nets or other similar gear. Some 

 types of gear used in this connection also serve the added purpose 

 of camouflaging the illegal operation. In the wake of the last war 

 the dynamiting of fish assumed very large proportions, dvie to the 

 abundance of left-over stocks of the many kinds of explosives for 

 warfare. 



Pish poisoning is the other illegal method of fishing 

 employed on reefs. The common fish poisons are mostly of plant 

 origin, although some of the criminally inclined use minerals such 

 as arsenic and cyanide, chemicals not only harmful to fish but which 

 also kill other animals including man. 



2. Diving and Spearing — Not a small amount of the supply 

 of ooral reef species are brought in by divers who spear the fish 

 among the reefs. This is an especially common method used ty the 

 fishermen from Bohol and the Moros, who are probably the best Filipino 

 divers. These people literally live in the sea. i"tany of them can 

 stay the whole day swimming ,, diving, and spearing fish to the extent 

 that they even forego taking time out on land for their meals which 

 they manage to eat while in the water. 



The gear used consists of two main parts - diving goggles 

 and the spear gun, both home-mad«. (fig. 1). The pair of goggles, 

 smaller in size than the factory-made swimming spectacles, have 

 wooden frames, carved by hand, which hold pieces of ordinary cir- 

 cular glass. A pair of framed glasses are joined to each other by 

 a piece of rubber band adjusted to fit the ridge of the nose. The 

 goggles are secured either by other pieces of rubber bends behind 

 both ears, or are simply slipped over the head 1y a single piece 

 of elastic. The spear gun has a wooden butt and barrel, the latter 

 having a groove into which a well-tempered iron barbed blade or 

 spear is slipped. The gun works on the principle of the bow and 

 arrow. The energy is supplied by a stretched one-half-inch rubber 

 band to which the bltint portion of the spear is fitted suad which is 

 released by means of a triggerlike device. 



Before diving, the fisherman prepares his gear with the 

 spear secured ready for action. When underwater, he aims the gun 

 at the object of his search and by releasing the trigger lets go 

 the STjeor with great accuracy. Some Jolo fishermen can take two 

 big-sized cavallas with a single shot. 



