The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay “A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!” Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker

May 2014 issue

by Katherine Jack

The reef-fringed islands of Palawan, an island province of the western Philippines, are among the first inhabited places of Southeast Asia. For thousands of years Palaweños have fostered a close bond with the sea and, until now, fishing is their most important source of food and livelihood. I originally came to Palawan to work on a reef conservation project with the World Wildlife Fund. After two months, when my contract ended, I set out to explore the islands with my camera and began what is now a long-term project to document the relationship between people and the environment. Now, after ten years of living and working in Palawan, the fabric of my daily life remains constantly punctuated by images of fragile relationships carefully maintained by local people with their natural heritage. Since 1990 Palawan’s role as a Unesco Biosphere Reserve has made it an international model of environmental sustainability but despite this, illegal fishing, combined with climate change, has left some underwater areas barren. These days many small-scale fishermen struggle to feed their families with a meagre daily catch. Larger operations, such as those catching yellowfin tuna, continue to thrive but for how much longer no one can predict. The majority of fishermen use nets or handmade spear-guns and wear wooden goggles. Some work as night as, in the absence of bright moonlight, fish are attracted towards the lanterns on their boats. It is because of this that the price of seafood in the local market fluctuates according to the phase of the moon.