Og og FIshing Technique HD

This is a common fishing practice by the local fishermen in the coastal area of Sto.Domingo, Bacacay and Rapu-Rapu, Albay. The materials needed in this fishing practice are hook, green polyester cloth, fishing line, iron steel (bato-bato), and motor boat as the means of transportation. Experienced fishermen and even senior citizens are involved in this fishing practice. The teenagers are being trained by them. On a typical day at around 2:30 in the morning, the wife of a fisherman gets up to prepare coffee and biscuits or bread for the breakfast of her husband who will be going out to the sea. When the husband gets up, she will prepare the fishing paraphernalia like the jacket, og-og, bato-bato, and pail while her husband drinks the coffee. At 3:00a.m, the fisherman is already at the seashore with other fishermen to check the weather and sea condition for the safe trip. They help each other in pushing their boats from the shore to the water. They sail in convoy under the darkness towards the fishing area. Sea breeze is usually cold so they need to wear long sleeves or jacket. They are lucky if it is not raining while they travel for about an hour to their destination. If it is raining, they need to wear raincoat and reduce the speed of the motorboat for safety, which make their travel longer. In harvesting the fish caught, “Kokoy” needs to be careful because there is a tendency for his fingers or even his lips to be pricked by the hooks. To do it properly, he needs to hold the fishing line hook and get the fish from each hook. When the catch is abundant, he does not feel tired but if only a few are caught, it would be a tiring day for him. More fish can be caught using this fishing technique which is usually done at dawn and twilight. In the morning, he goes home around 8:30A.M, and in the afternoon he goes back to the sea at around 6:00 P.M to 7:00P.M depending on the time of sunset. During twilight, which is the last chance for him to catch fish for the day, the fishing activity starts with switching on the motor boat machine and position the og-og perpendicular to the motorboat, by pulling it forward. When the og-og becomes heavy, it means that more fish are caught by the hook. This scenario is called “ramboo” by the local fishermen. When dolphins are present in the fishing ground, there is a high probability that the fishermen would not get even a single fish because dolphins play with the smaller fishes. As Kokoy travels home, he separates fish for the locals who will help him in lifting the boat from the sea water to the shore. Most of them are adult but some kids would also like to join. Their assistance is really needed by the fishermen especially when the weather is not good and there are big waves. When there is a typhoon, the people in the community help each other to bring the motorboats and bancas to a safer place. This is the culture in that fishing community. For the fishing technique “pag-og-og”, not only boys are involved in