Hukay

Place Names, Seascape and Cartography of Marine Rightsfish.33Batasan, however, is also to a significant degree a village of wagelabourers employed in jobs found outside the island. Wage labourers areworking in growth areas in the Visayas and Mindanao, although somealso work in Metro Manila and urban centres in Luzon; they work infactories, market stalls, department stores, construction and transportservices, export processing zones, and various seasonal or odd jobs (e.g.,as porters, drivers, errand persons). Batasan women who work away fromthe island are mainly employed as househelpers. Entrepreneurs aregenerally traders of various marine resources found on the island’s reefs,and trading is a significant economic activity on the island.Field observations, interviews, focused group discussions,validation workshops and resource mappings during preliminary trips tothe site (summers of 2002 and 2003) and my fieldwork from 2004 to 2005,using the same methods, provided insights on the different issues that Idiscuss in this study. 7 In 2002, six key informants from the villageidentified historically and economically significant marine spots inBatasan. In 2003 and 2004, the same informants accompanied me to theseplaces, which I marked on my GPS unit for mapping purposes. Figures 2and 3 identify named places and distinctive directional orientations ofBatasan, respectively. 8Geo-ecological markers: Mapping places and encoding local ecologicalknowledgeIn general, places in Batasan with historic or economic significancemight be named (Figure 2) by islanders themselves, yet not be the objectof strong individual claims of rights. They named many of these placesbased on their features, characteristics or utility. Names are oftenreflections of resource potential. These names indicate islanders’knowledge of their marine environment, as informed by their constantuse of these places. This ecological knowledge forms one of the bases ofthe choice of extraction sites by villagers and the location of theirrespective no-take marine protected areas or MPAs.7My appreciation of place names in Batasan has been enriched by interviews with theelderly of the island: A. Dolera (2003, 2005), F. Lariba (2005), D. Oldenaria (2002), S.Oldenaria (2005), A. Ranario (2003, 2004, 2005), S. Rebucas (2005), F. Tapayan (2002,2003, 2004), and S. Tulang (2005).8Takot Adring is not mentioned in the two maps. Eighty-year-old Adring himselfvolunteered the location of the site, but requested not to identify the site in any mapthat I will produce.