Small Fish

Bayawan is located on the southeastern coast of Negros Island in the Philippines. The coastline here is interesting in that it is sandy and shallow enough that a small child could wade far out to sea in many places. This makes the waters immediately offshore ill-suited for fishing boats or even sport-fishing. However, these shallow waters do support a thriving population of minnows. Interestingly enough, there is a market for those. While walking along the sandy shore, we came upon a man who has constructed his own contraption for gleaning minnows from where they school amid the waves breaking at the shore. This fisherman is particularly interested in the fry of fish that he can sell live to the operators of fish farms, also located just offshore.

Fishing for Fry

—Mitchell Hegman