Lamalera fisherman do things the old fashion way. They track down a 75ft-long sperm whale in two small hand-made boats and battle the beast with duri flensing knives and spears. Yeah that's tough.
The whale, called Koteklema by the locals, provides numerous resources for the village.
The villagers blame lack of harmony between different clans for their lack of [recent] success. "If there is no peace among us, there will be no good whaling," said villager Anna Bataona...The people believe in the harmony between life in the sea and the island. Peace on the land makes for good hunting from the sea. If a Matros (fisherman) sails without making peace with his brother or enemy, his boat will face problems during the hunt.
The Lamafa or boat captains abstain from sex for six months to purify themselves. During the hunt he will leap from the boat holding a 'kefa', a bamboo pole with an iron-blade, to pierce the whale. He does this multiple times swimming back to collect more kefas from the boat.
Moving faster than a jet-ski, the whale drags the boats through the water, writhing as kefas are thrust into its flesh.
Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.
Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.
Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.
Comments
Wow, this is amazing! Any videos of the hunt available?
Posted by: Mark Powell | July 5, 2007 5:02 PM
Crazy. It looks like a scene from that movie ... crouching liger, hidden dragon.
Posted by: Peter Etnoyer | July 6, 2007 7:33 AM