Fisheries in the Pacific

Samuel Cornier and Isabelle Leblic
In this context, between the 1980s and the mid-1990s, studies were initiated by
Isabelle Leblic 26 in New Caledonia to gain a better understanding of Kanak fisheries
and were progressively extended to traditional knowledge, customary marine tenure
and development issues (Dahl 1985, 1989; Leblic and Teulières 1985, 1987; Leblic
1990, 1991, 1993, 1999, 2001a, 2008). It has been revealed that despite colonization
and its impacts on customary livelihoods, traditional knowledge and marine tenure
systems are still operating in diverse ways in Kanak coastal communities. One point
which must be kept in mind is that, as in most non-Western societies, the idea of
“nature” does not exist in Kanak cosmogony. What makes sense is the country, defined
as a territory where humans (sharing the same habits, languages and kinship links)
and non-humans (animals, plants and spirits) are interconnected with each other (see
fig. 5 and Leblic 2005: 97-100). At the level of the country, the concept of “land”
extends from the mountain range to the barrier reef, including the lagoon, and thus
reveals continuity between land and sea. Marine territories are therefore subject to
the “customary law” of each country and fall under the responsibility of landowner
clans just like any other type of territory. The main design principles of traditional
marine management in Kanak society are the spatial and social boundaries determining
the authority, system of rights 27 and rules within the fishing community and
cosmopolitical organization specificities of each country.
Pictures 1-3: Ancient fishing artefacts in the Museum of New Caledonia (Noumea)
1. Dam filter on a raft, 2. Traditional fishing nets, and 3. Octopus fishing lure.
Sources: Leblic 2008: 59, 53 and 66, courtesy of the Museum of New Caledonia in Noumea, pictures by I. Leblic.
In her summary work of the ways Kanak societies live with the sea, Isabelle Leblic
(2008) nevertheless suggests that, despite the diversity and singularities of countries, a
26. Jacques Barrau invited Isabelle Leblic to respond to a 1982 CORDET call for tenders on fishing in the
Dom-Tom and she proposed a response on New Caledonia which lies at the origin of Kanak maritime
anthropological research (Leblic 2002a: 116).
27. Marie-Hélène Teulières-Preston (1992, 2000) introduced the term “customary maritime law” to
define specific rights of use claimed by a clan resulting from its historical relationship with a specific
marine territory.
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