Tidal Stone-Walled Fish Weirs across Asia-Pacific

Tidal stone-walled fish weirs and traps are extensive throughout the Asia-Pacific region. They are placed in the intertidal region and are used to catch various species of fish—their size, placement, style, and shape are determined with this in mind. In this chapter, I use a Cultural Heritage Management (CHM) approach to compare the fish weirs of Yap with those in Taiwan, the Philippines, and Kiribati. I consider whether fish weir cultural landscapes (and related cultural practices) reflect a cultural identity of people in these localities, and particularly an Austronesian cultural identity. I argue that fish weirs can be recognized in the same way other cultural materials and practices have become an accepted part of Austronesian cultural identity. There is a need for similar proactive preservation of fish weir heritage, not just as a static reminder of past lifeways but as a way forward at this critical time of declining fish stocks, climate change, and ocean degradation. Fish weirs and related cultural practices have relevance as Living Heritage and Traditional Ecological Knowledge, both of which can inform and provide benefits to contemporary marine ecology conservation and sustainable fishing management.