RD Tuna Canners PTY Ltd and RD Fishing PNG Pty Ltd have now been in operation in Siar and Seg, respectively, for seven years. Although very brief social impact statements were inserted within the original environmental reports for both facilities, there has never been any sustained sociocultural study of the impact of RD Company (i.e. both the Canners and Fishing companies) upon these host communities. In an attempt to redress this, but more specifically, to assess the potential impacts of the establishment of a new Cannery in Seg, Nancy Sullivan Ltd. was asked to survey the communities in question for the changes that have thus far occurred, and those that the community foresee happening with a new Cannery, as well as those we might be able to independently foretell. Our report is therefore a combined assessment and prognosis of sociocultural change in Seg, primarily, and Siar and Nobnob secondarily. Six male and female fieldworkers were sent to these Villages, as well as related hamlets and villages, to interview community members. They spoke to Ward members and RD employees, Church Sisters and Clan leaders, young men, young women and the elderly. We make no claims to a comprehensiveness in this survey, but we have collected data from representative samplings of all the affected communities, with an emphasis on the owners of the land. In all instances, we encouraged both positive and negative feedback about RD, and maintained a cover of non-affiliation by saying we were University students conducting school research. Combining this data with the history and ethnography of Madang, as well as the environmental reports thus far available, we have compiled a picture of the sociocultural changes, both long and short-term, that have been wrought by the presence of RD Tuna. Our final recommendations are not made lightly; the evidence we have compiled raises serious concerns about the ability of RD to manage its operations on a humane, legal or safe basis.
Madang cultures are renowned for their trade systems, which knit different languages and cultures together. One group provides the pots, the other the wooden plates, another fish, another yams, and so forth, in a dense skein of relationships spread from the Rai Coast up through Bogia. These relationships are all about particularity and diversity, and rest upon the survival of hundreds of different local languages. While the introduction of Western mores and the cash economy have had their impress upon these systems, they are not necessarily incompatible with them. One of the things Papua New Guinea has taught the world recently, is the great diversity and resilience of traditional culture in the face of Western influences. PNG is one of the places where social change is not always a threat to cultural integrity, and where it is not possible to simply shrug off cultural loss as an inevitable by-product of development. Indeed, despite the heavy-handedness and even violence of some of the first emissaries of western culture, Papua New Guineans remain enthusiastic about assimilating western developments to their own culture, and doing it on their own terms. It is understandable that the people of Siar, Nobnob and Seg initially welcomed the presence of RD Tuna Canners and Fishing in their areas. After the Catholic Mission and German planters had taken so much of their land, and after a succession of Mission-related small-scale businesses had closed, these people were eager to host a project of this size. How propitious it was: just when the sawmill, printing press and other jobs in Seg were folding, here was a large tuna cannery ready to offer all the landowners steady wage labor. Just as the land pressures on in Nobnob and Siar had become critical, now that settler populations brought in by the Germans to work Siar plantation were growing, here was the prospect of a viable solution in manufacturing. There were promises of new spin-offs in security, catering, maintenance, trucking, and credible assurances that enough fish would be available in the sea to support not only the Company fishing vessels, but also a hearty business of local fish sales to RD [we refer to the agreements between RD, and the National and Provincial Governments, cited below]. Women would have money for their children’s school fees, brideprices and funeral feasts could be funded, and a surge of cash into the local economy would generally raise everyone’s living standards. Provincial and National Government commitment would also ensure better infrastructure, better services, and even more commercial projects in the future. How good it all looked. RD’s agreement even suggested that their wharf operations might act as a tourist attraction [see below]. What they failed to explain was that none of these benefits were built into the contracts with landowners or the government; nor were they even realistic for these communities.
Because the communities had already lost their land and could not sustain themselves traditionally, they were in no position to negotiate terms. They were vulnerable: without the single most important natural resource, and the basis upon which all PNG cultures thrive, they had only their sea to provide for them. Were it actually possible to host a Cannery and retain traditional fishing resources, the situation would be very different. For one, villagers would have a choice between working for a wage at the Cannery and fishing for cash, food and trade. But once their fishing resources were forfeited to RD, the people from Kananam, in particular, were without any options. They had exchanged their customary sustenance for wage labor with RD. But even this was an un-reciprocal exchange. Because RD’s operations have always been dedicated to a harboring profits, and a reduction of profit sharing at all levels, none of its workers actually make a ‘living wage.’ The working conditions are deplorable, representing not the least investment on the part of the Company in their labor force. More importantly, none of the environmental responsibilities laid out in RD’s environmental reports has come to pass, and therefore the longer the Company stays, the greater the price is paid by all the landowners with their marine resources. In exchange, they receive sub-minimum wage for strenuous physical labor that puts them at health and, we have learned, frequent security risks (particularly for the women) traveling on Company transport.
The Kananam, Nobnob and Siar people are now locked in a cycle of dependency that is grinding away at the very fabric of their sociocultural life. Without land, they must fish. With RD’s presence, they cannot fish as they once did. Without fish, they must labor for RD, which prevents them from working their gardens. Without sufficient pay, they cannot feed their families, or pay school fees or health expenses. They are left in a double-bind: no way to sustain themselves, and at constant risk of losing everything. Meanwhile, the Company has begun to turn the screws by opening up employment opportunities well beyond local landowners, attracting settlers from all over Madang. This puts greater pressure on the land, and on the cash-strapped landowner communities. Opportunely, a small number of women have created a niche market with RD Fishing employees that presses traditional trade relations into a new form of prostitution. They are now able to feed their families, while crewmen find ‘comfort’ between their well-publicized Sunday worship and Wednesday Bible study classes (see Appendix k below).
Inflated expectations and broken promises are phrases commonly heard in the aftermath of failed development in PNG. They also echo the popular assessments of what people have called ‘cargo cults’ in the Madang area that have existed for over 100 years now. The assumption is that Papua New Guineans have no understanding of the ‘means of production,’ and therefore associate the technological and material superiority of Europeans with a magico-religious advantage. And it is an advantage that Europeans are loath to relinquish. This alone can explain the great disparity between how Europeans and villagers live, it is said. Thus inevitably, all the promises of Christianity and its homiletic speech--the bounty of the Lord, the rewards of a life in Christ, and so forth--will always ring hollow. In the same way, after decades of obeying a colonial administration’s laws and laboring under their managers, while no significant change has occurred in their standard of living, villagers can only deduce that a secret is being withheld. While these more dated rationales now sound patronizing, their echo can be heard in contemporary explanations such as ‘People expect too much,’ and ‘The project has raised their expectations beyond reality.’ But we argue that these throwaway assessments of ‘cargo thinking’ only mask what are very real economic injustices.
Look closely at what RD has promised the landowners. Compare it with the conditions they have been given, and look again at what these landowners are requesting. They have been promised spin-off business ventures, and have been given secondhand vehicles carrying onerous bank loans, which can never be paid off by the rate of pay fixed by the Company. Landowners are asking for business ventures that do not serve the Company’s profit margin, but instead serve the community’s needs. Nevertheless, they are not asking for charity: they can service loans, as they have proven, but not at the rates fixed by RD. They will work for a living, but not at starvation wages. They will tolerate Filipino managers if they see a skills transference down the line. They will also share their marine resources, if they can compete fairly with the fishing vessels’ sales to the Cannery. But where there is no quid-pro-quo, where there is no prospect of a fair exchange, the landowners are bound to feel cheated in a moral as well as economic sense. Theirs is a cultural of equivalencies, of both short and long term reciprocities. In the interviews collected here, there are a number of people who emphasize the longer-term or bigger-picture rewards from RD’s presence: the revenues to the province and country, the importance of encouraging manufacturing in PNG, and so forth. But when such long term gains are also proven empty—now that it appears that RD will continue to enjoy tax exemptions, that their spin-off enterprises are structured to profit RD only, and that RD workers will never see Papua New Guineans as equals---the landowners can only feel morally, and culturally affronted. Aggravate the situation with stories of rape, of crewmen urinating on village women, of seducing women on bootleg rum, and of community donations that consist of one carton of tinned fish, and there is bound to be anger. This is not ‘cargo thinking,’ but the overdue realizations of people who have been cheated.
1.1.a. Sociocultural: The presence of a fish Cannery and its fishing operations is bound to place pressures on the social fabric of its host communities. Were the canning and fishing operations safe, clean, environmentally sound and profitable to all workers, there would still be points of stress. Most notably, there would be strains in the relationship between younger and older generations. Money makes young men more important than their fathers in societies where hereditary status and the management of customary obligations used to mean everything. Wage labor substitutes store-bought goods for all the garden produce, clay pots, baskets, shell valuables, dogs’ teeth and other traditional goods of the past. It gives women a degree of independence they never had before. And it places emphasis on western language and education over the vernacular language and fields of customary knowledge. The inevitable tensions cannot be wholly blamed on RD. A foreign manufacturing plant may only aggravate what might be small rents in the social fabric dating back to the first missionaries and colonial administrators. But these are the strains of social change everywhere in PNG, not only Madang. Throughout the country communities are managing these pressures with increasing concern for preserving cultural values. But such a balancing act always depends upon two things: first, an abundance of renewal resources, and second, a program of tangible benefits to the host communities, whether this means infrastructure or fair wages.
However, in the case of RD, neither of these premises exists. The fish are dwindling, and the human population grows impoverished. Women are more than ever dependent upon their market sales to feed their families. But as RD withdraws from its policy of preferential hiring for landowners, more settlers come into the area and provide competition at these roadside markets. Husbands who have little time to see their families are taking on girlfriends and neglecting customary obligations. The old trade relationships are falling away for lack of time and the traditional goods to maintain them. Younger people are marrying across cultural, even provincial, boundaries. In Nobnob, the male initiations that used to be conducted as recently as 2001, can no longer be performed because elders fear the young men are neither as fit nor as pure as they need to be to endure its physical demands. In Seg, young women are selling themselves to get the fish they used to call their own. There is a general disrespect shown by the RD Filipino workers to their PNG counterparts, and most brazenly, to PNG women.
1.1. b. Economic: In Kananam, as in Siar, by eliminating the one resource upon which rests the people’s subsistence and customary trade practices (fish), RD has sent the community hurtling into the cash economy, without any lifelines. Rather than offering benefits, which would serve the autonomy and self-reliance of the community, and thus buffer the transition by preserving certain basic institutions, they have offered business spin-offs that serve to profit only the Company. The Cannery and Wharf wages are so low as to make survival on the cash economy impossible, thus locking the Siar, Nobnob and Kananam people into a dependency cycle that can only look to charitable relief rather than a self-reliant future. They have no more chance now of returning to a traditional economic base than they do of succeeding in the cash economy under RD’s oppressive system.
1.1.c. Environmental: The loss of fish is not simple due to over-fishing by the RD vessels, but a combination of pollution and over-fishing. Independent environmental reports have verified the high levels of human waste in the rivers feeding the sea, and serving the community’s’ needs, and the unusually low levels of larger fish left in the Madang Lagoon’s northern end. Lack of any suitable protocols for disposing of waste in both the Cannery and Wharf areas has led to horrible smells and suspected sicknesses of adults and children. Marine wildlife—in one case a dolphin—seem to have been poisoned by chemicals spilled in Seg Harbor, and an ammonia spill caused several people to become seriously ill. Not the least of peoples’ worries is the level of noise coming from the ships in Seg Harbor, which has disrupted all aspects of community life and made it difficult to sleep at night in the Village.
1.1.d. Religious: the Church in Seg, and elsewhere, has suffered a loss of attendance and a rise in the strain on their services, particularly the Alexishafen Health Centre. In return, they have enjoyed no benevolence whatsoever from the Company. As the institution that people believe maintains social unity in a time of change, the Church now finds it hard to support the presence of RD. Representative church members and staff explain that a disrespect for elders, an increase in vice and teenage sexuality, and the introduction of prostitution, have all arrived as by-products of RD Canners and Fishing. Perhaps the Sunday services and Bible classes offered by the Vidar ships’ resident pastors (see Appendix k below) could be opened to all members of the community, to take up the slack.
1.1.e. Educational: Education across the Seg and Siar region has suffered from the presence of RD. First and foremost are the problem of school fees, and the depressed cash flow in the area that prevents parents, now more than before, from affording these fees. Fewer kids are continuing to secondary school, many young people are dropping out to barter produce for fish with the shipping crews, or to work in the Cannery. In turn, RD has only recently offered gifts of scholarship to top students and donations of stationary supplies and tinned fish. There is small chance that the skills transference promised by the Company can eventuate for a population of under-educated landowners, and a better and better chance now that settlers will be brought in to take whatever management positions are nationalized in the Company.
1.1.f. Employment conditions: Conditions in the Cannery are unhygienic and inhumane. Workers have no breaks, no clean or working toilets or showers, and labor under poor lighting and windless, hot conditions. Their sweat runs off onto the fish in the production area, and the spilled fish scraps are retrieved from a crumbling cement floor only to be lightly washed and processed. There are no provisions for gloves, hair nets, masks or gum boots, although these are available: in one of the meanest of Company policies, use of these basic sanitation and safety items are deducted from the workers pay. There have been documented cases of prostitution and gang rape of local women by Filipino nationals in both the Cannery and Wharf settings, as well as sales of illegally imported cigarettes and alcohol. No unions have been allowed until very recently, and then after pressure from the Iduwad Landowners Association. And this is because the latter finally broke with the implicit gag placed on SSD Members by being payrolled by the Company. The wages are well below minimum national wage, and the hours unmonitored: most workers say they are forced to work over eight hours daily without overtime pay. There are also dubious practices of deducting NPF monies and Company transport fees from workers’ pay.
1.1.g. Recommendations: We recommend that RD Canners Pty Ltd and RD Fishing PNG Pty Ltd cease operations to address the hygiene and safety conditions at both its plants; that it reduce the levels of fish caught in the Seg Harbor and convert to practices that reduce the levels of by-catch fish; that it raise all wages to the legal minimum and above; that it monitor working hours and pay overtime rates; that it institute a fast-track training program for landowners; that preference in employment be given to landowners; that all spin-off businesses be restructured to the advantage of landowners, and that these contracts be offered to all members of the landowning clans; that Health and Safety inspectors monitor the work sites regularly; that assistance be given to Aid Posts, in particular donations of HIV blood test kits, in all landowner communities; that a Clinic be established within Cannery limits to serve emergency medical needs; that pay packet deductions be examined by independent accountants; that material contributions be made to the schools in the area, including lump donations to all students’ fees; that local law enforcement be given unfettered access to all work sites for control of illegal activities on the part of RD employees; that a special social abuse office or task force be established within RD to accept and review complaints of abusive behavior between Company employees and local people, especially women.
Alphonse Tengisa, Headmaster of St. Michael’s Primary School in Alexishafen, stressed to us that the parents had ample time to prepare their children’s school fees, since 2002 was a year of fully subsidized education. It strikes us as a perfect response to RD’s extended tax exemptions. The Company has had ample time to establish financial security and provide living wages under safe, hygienic working conditions for their employees. They have enjoyed enough largesse from Madang’s government and its people to return basic courtesies to their workers, and to refrain from abusing its sanctity, its beauty and its marine resources.
This social impact study of the proposed RD Tuna Fish Cannery in Vidar Harbor, the current site of RD Fishing, Seg, in Madang, Papua New Guinea. Two weeks of intensive fieldwork was conducted in both the area of the proposed cannery and the area of the current cannery. By introduction to the study, we briefly discuss the early history of the area, the significance of the Madang peoples role in trade networks along the north coast, and the more recent history of Mission and colonial presence. In addition, we outline the features of the peoples’ cultural past and what remains key to their cultural survival. The data begins with the principal target group, the Kananam landowners, their landowner associations and the spin-off businesses that have emerged from RD’s presence. Also included are women’s views and interviews with community and Alexishafen Mission workers. We draw a general picture of what life was before, and what has changed since RD Tuna’s operations arrived in the harbor in1996. To expand upon a projection of what might result, were a cannery to be built in Seg, we then turned out attention to Siar, the site of RD’s present cannery. Here we interviewed representatives of the community, cannery workers, market women, people engaged in spin-off businesses, as well as their landowners association. Other views of the impact of RD cannery also came from church, school, health and government workers, and Riwo and Nagada villagers.
What our data tells us is that, despite the social impact components inserted into the Environmental Plans of RD Tuna Canners Pty Ltd, and RD Fishing PNG, Pty Ltd, which generally dismiss the possibility of substantive social effects, these companies have had a significant impact on the quality of life for their host communities. A number of environmental impacts have also had cultural effects, and despite complaints, the company has not made adjustments. Wastes disposal at both the Wharf and Cannery is making people sick, as are the noise and odor of these premises. Over-fishing has left little if any fish for these people to live on and conduct trade. Promises of material and developmental assistance from the company to the landowners have not been fulfilled. None of the schools, Aid Posts or churches has seen any real assistance since their arrival. The social breakdown of traditional authority and family values is most alarming, and while some of this might be inevitable for any large development project, they have certainly been exacerbated by negligent company policies and the behavior of foreign company personnel. We find problems of workplace hygiene, social and sexual abuse of women, improper waste dumping, illicit sales of alcohol and cigarettes, disregard for landowner hiring preference practices, and the payment sub-minimum wages.
This assessment has been conducted in light of the proposal by RD Tuna Canners Pty. Ltd. to move its seafood processing and tuna cannery from its current location in Siar Plantation, to Seg Harbor, where it currently operates a cold storage and ice making plant alongside their fishing wharf and fishing fleet.
It is our understanding that the only social impact studies done for the proposed plant at Siar were carried out in 1995 by the Asia Development Bank (pers. comm. P. Schoeffel 2/12/03), as excerpted in the Environmental Plan produced that year (1995) by RD Tuna Canners for the project. An Environmental Management Plan was also drafted by Nomak Environmental Consultants Ltd. in December 2000 for the proposed cold storage and ice plant projects at Seg Harbor, which includes a very minimal social impact assessment. Neither of these documents acknowledges the sociocultural background of either Seg or Siar, however, and this report attempts to redress this omission.
This is a qualitative study and its principle tools are ethnographic observation and interviews. Six fieldworkers spent one week in Seg, and then one week at the outskirts of Siar, collecting data through the day and evenings. They went from village to village, from markets to churches, and schools. In addition, they conducted group interviews with representative samplings of target groups (landowners and their families, school employees, church workers, cannery workers) and one-on-one interviews with key informants (Councilors, business people, village leaders, cannery employees, guards, fishermen, market women). Researchers were supplied with a list of sample queries and directions for queries, as well as a brief introduction to frame their investigations. (See Appendix p below).
Interviews collected in Tok Pisin have been recorded, transcribed, and in some cases translated, here. All observations of village life, cannery conditions, fishing conditions and general community outlooks have been recorded. Data was collected over a two-week period, then transcribed and analyzed for another three to four weeks. In all our interviews, researchers represented themselves as Divine Word Students collecting information for their own academic reports. Because of the sensitivity of the issue, we felt this was the best and in many cases only way to gain access and retain a degree of neutrality.
Limitations of time and access are acknowledged. While fieldworkers were able to get interviews with representatives of all key interest groups, both pro- and anti-RD, and they were furthermore able to get photos of the interior of the cannery, they did not have access to the workstations themselves in either the cannery or the fishing vessels. Time was our other limitation, but this was compensated for by sending enough fieldworkers to conduct a more comprehensive than usual survey.
Finally, spelling irregularities may occur in this report between proper and place names, due to the range of pronunciation and spellings on the ground. Also note that we use Alexishafen, Seg, Kananam and Vidar somewhat interchangeably in reference to the site of the RD Fishing PNG location; they all refer to the general site.
TEAM’S TWO WEEKS SCHEDULE – 12/11/03 – 24/11/03
|
DATE
|
TIME
|
MET WITH
|
VENUE
|
| 11/11/03 | 01.00pm |
Made appointments & contacts |
Seg Station |
| 12/11/03 | 08.30am | Mother Superior: | SSPS Sisters Convent |
| 12/11/03 | 08.30am | OIC: | Alexishafen Health Centre |
| 12/11/03 | 10.00am | Mother Superior: | Holy Spirit Sisters Convent |
| 12/11/03 | 01.30pm | Ward Member & Executives of Iduwad | Kaguz Vill. |
| 12/11/03 | 05.00pm | Paul Bai: Village & Church Elder | Tavei Vill. |
| 13/11/03 | 09.30pm | Ward Member & Iduwad members | Kaguz Vill. |
| 14/11/03 | 08.30am | Headmaster: St. Michael’s Primary Sch. | School Office |
| 14/11/03 | 10.30am | Seg Clan Members | Mozdamon |
| 14/11/03 | 04.00pm | Iduwan Islanders | Iduwan Island |
| 15/11/03 | 11.00am | Clan Elders | Tavei |
| 16/11/03 | 12.00 pm | Village Leaders & community members | Kananam Vill. |
| 16/11/03 | 03.00 pm | Joachim Gunong: Truck owner | Kananam Vill. |
| 16/11/03 | 03.30 pm | Charlie Tagau: Security Firm Owner | Savalon Vill. |
| 16/11/03 | 07.30 pm | Chairman Mathew Masbud: SSD | Seg Station |
| 17/11/03 | 07.30 pm | Ward Member & David Bai | Seg Station |
| 18/11/03 | 12.30 pm | moved to cannery site | Batnob |
| 18/11/03 | 09.00 pm | Musas Mumun & family | Batnob |
| 19/11/03 | 08.00 pm | John Musas, Aloi Buka & others | Batnob |
| 19/11/03 | 03.00 pm | made appointments for next meeting | Surrounding |
| 20/11/03 | 09.00 am | Headmaster: Nobonob Comm Sch. | Sch. Office |
| 20/11/03 | 09.00 am | Sister: Nobonob Aid Post | Aid Post |
| 20/11/03 | 05.30 pm | Magistrate & Community members | Gamoi Vill. |
| 21/11/03 | 09.00 am | Headmaster and Staff | Ambarina Sch. |
| 21/11/03 | 10.30 am | Headmaster: Good Shepherd High Sch. | Sch. Office |
| 22/11/03 | 12.00 pm | Kiati Batep: Village Elder | Baitabag Vill. |
| 22/11/03 | 02.00 pm | Nagada Village Women | Nagada Market |
| 23/11/03 | 01.30 pm | Community Members | Nobonob Vill. |
| 23/11/03 | 02.00 pm | Ward Member & Community Members | Siar Vill. |
| 24/11/03 | 07.30 am | Ward Member & few others | Rivo Vill. |
Papua New Guinea is renowned throughout the world for its biocultural diversity, the enormous reserves of linguistic and cultural integrity that have survived into the 21st Century. Twentieth century anthropology is inextricably bound to New Guinea: borne of an extended field visit in the Trobriand Islands by an Austrian Polish national during the First World War, nursed by a between-the-Wars generation of British and American scholars, and then come of age through two generations of post-War scholars who compiled a data bank on cultural variation that taught all the rest the world about kinship, social taboos, warfare, linguistic diversity, child-rearing, magico-religious systems, ceremony, aesthetics, death, and, not the least, social change. In short, a great deal of what we know about human nature comes from fieldwork in New Guinea.
Madang is the most linguistically diverse of Papua New Guinea’s nineteen provinces. In the most linguistically diverse country of the world, this makes Madang amongst the most linguistically diverse places in the world. Because linguistic and cultural diversity are closely connected, it follows that Madang cultures are remarkable, in all the world, for their continued integrity and preservation of difference, both in the past and in post-Independence period as well. They are all about diversity, all about holding on to differences through the enacting of complex trade systems. As opposed the highlands cultures, where thousands of people are united by a single language, here, especially in Madang District (pop 87,700) trading systems till knit people together and serve to sustain hundreds of languages. People are polylingual by design in Madang, they have a handle on small cultural variations, and are proud to distinguish themselves by them. Moreover, these are generous, open cultures: cultures where people have graciously adopted migrant and in-law populations, given land to outsiders and regularly exchange enormous bounties of food during their harvest festivals. These aspects of the cultures here have allowed them to be known as friendly and peaceful peoples---who maintain and appreciate difference, and do not struggle to dominate each other. This also makes them vulnerable to the aggressive tactics of church, business, and land encroachment strategies.
Around the beginning of the third millennium B.C., ceramic-making peoples are first evidenced on the large island of Taiwan off the Chinese mainland, and over the course of the next 1500 years, their descendants or closely related peoples expanded south and southeast, toward Near Oceania. Experts argue that an expansion of the ceramic using cultures from Taiwan, through the Philippines, and into the equatorial islands of Southeast Asia represents the expansion of the Austronesian speakers, a particular ethnolinguistic group. These were horticulturists, fishing people, canoe-builders and navigators, and quite instantaneously appeared on the landscape of Near Oceania in the midsecond millenium BC. Their outriggers are stilt houses appeared on the beaches of Manus, New Ireland and New Britain, where they mixed with the Papuan language speaking populations already there. One of the most fascinating aspects of the Lapita period is the system of extensive exchange between communities. Oceania is famous for its diversity and complexity of exchange systems, and it now seems many of these systems may trace their origins to these first Lapita exchanges. Lapita sits show variety of materials in obsidian, chert, metavolcanic adzes, pottery and shell valuables, that in some cases would have traveled as far as 4500 kilometers from their quarries. (Allen 1996, Kirch 2000).
When pioneering anthropologists such as Bronislaw Malinowski, C. G Seligman and F.E. Williams began their research on coastal societies around New Guinea, they were struck more than anything else by the highly specialized systems of trade and exchange. Malinowski made the Massim’s ’kula’ network a textbook case of sophisticated rather than ‘primitive’ economics. (Malinowski 1961[1922]). The Bismark archipelago’s variety and complexity of Lapita exchange networks settled into a number of clustered exchanges, accompanied by specialization and linguistic groupings over time. And another kind of specialization occurred in the Vitiaz Strait region between mainland New Guinea and New Britain, where the Siassi Islanders operated as middlemen traders. These trading systems also date back to Lapita times, but their highly specialized routes are perhaps only several hundreds of years old, and are marked by new ceramic styles crossing the straits. (Allen 1977, 1982). Eventually these trade networks also articulated with those running westward from the Huon peninsula through the Rai Coast, to the Madang area, and all the way up the North Coast through to Aitape and beyond, across the (now) Indonesian border. These are the exchange networks still operating today, and trade with partners in Siar, Nobanob, Seg, Krangket and the ceramic centers of Yabob and Bilbil. More precisely, the Ngaing, Sengam, Som and Yam belong to one trading system which operates along the coast, running eastward from Madang; and the peoples of the Bagasin Area, inland from Madang town, belong to another which operates in the interior. (Lawrence 1964:26)
"Those of us with claims to Madang town land are the descendants of two brothers, Kumkum and Kunkun, and so we are all related," explains the Krangket landowner, Aksim Siming. "These are distinguished by the Bel language, and the Belon dialect in Gedaged, Bilia, Siar, and Mitibog; and the Nob dialect in Bilbil and Yabob." (Siming 2002:3). The former are sons of Kumkum, the latter, sons of Kunkun (Siming, 1.6.01, pers. comm.). Riwo and Malmal are Kananam clan and they speak a Riwo dialect of Bel. Linguists refer to the language of Gedaged and Siar as Gedaged; and of Nobnob and Seg, as Nobnob language.
The people known as Yam, also called Belon, come from four islands outside Madang Harbour: Krangket [formerly known as Graged], Bilia, Siar and Panutibun. They have always cultivated yam as their staple crop and, more so in the past, had extensive coconut groves. They were known traditionally as keen fishermen and superior sailors, building large seagoing single-outrigger canoes (as did their neighbours in Seg, Riwo and elsewhere). Each island’s inhabitants consisted of their own political unit, allied by trade, and linked by intermarriage. They were divided into named, exogamous patriclans, subdivided again into unnamed patrilineages. A settlement typically contained several patriclans, each with its own land, fishing reef, leaders, and the ritual property (such as carved ornaments, slit-gongs, and gourd trumpets). In addition, each patriclan had its own totemic animal, bird or plant, which it regarded as an emblem but not as an ancestor (and in most cases was forbidden as food) (Lawrence 1964:19-22). E.F. Hannemann (1949) noted a ranking to the Yam patriclans, but this (Lawrence confers [1964:11 fn.]) was probably never very marked. There was little stratification by birth or occupation, although these patriclans may have gained and lost precedence over one another through time. Nevertheless leaders were neither hereditary nor elected: their positions depended on skill in war, trade and ritual success. Their scope was always limited, and they tended not to innovate so much as stage-manage and direct customary undertakings (Lawrence 1964: 19-22).
A major cohesive force for the communities was the men’s cult. This institution varied from the North Coast down to the Rai Coast, but generally consisted of ritual sacralae, dances and esoterica that required young men to be initiated for their full participation in the patriclan. Amongst the Yam peoples, this also included the relatively dangerous practice of adult circumcision. As described by a one Lutheran observer, (Inselmann 1991[1944]:18):
The cult was kept in strict secrecy from the women and the uninitiated youths under penalty of death. The women were told that the meziab [meshiab, the spirit of the cult] swallowed every initiate. In order to get their sons back, they had to substitute a pig for every boy to be initiated. The secret cult spirit would then vomit the boys again and take the pigs instead. Thus the women were not only cheated out of the pigs which they especially had to prepare for the great festival, but were also subordinated by means of the secret cult which gave a definite prestige to the men.
As well as trading dogs’ teeth and Siassi beads, the Madang peoples—in particular the Yabob and Bilbil people—provided the Rai Coast with cooking pots, for they had large clay deposits which the Saidor area lacked (although there were some deposits to the west at Mindiri). In return, they received wooden bowls and bark cloth made by the Ngaing. The Sengam, Gira and Som were the middlemen, and trade relationships reached at least from the foothills of the Finisterres to the Hansemann Mountains. On the Rai Coast, bush groups inhabiting the same ridge running down towards the sea, together with the bush group at its tip on the coastal plain, formed a trade league. In each bush group, every patriclan had its opposite number in the next bush group, and between the patriclans individuals were paired off in private partnerships. The coastal bush groups had similar patriclan and personal links with the Madang island groups, which had partners on the mainland as far inland as Kurog, Kauris, and Nobnob. Mainland Madang groups exchanged wooden plates for pots and valuables from the islands. They also assembled canoes, loaded with pots and valuables, and traveled eastward along the Rai Coast, putting in at all villages from Singor to east of Wab, where they traded for additional bowls or bark cloth from their Ngaing-speaking partners (see, e.g., Hannemann 1948, Lawrence 1964, J. Leach 2003).
Below is a reconstruction of a German Neuguinea Kompagnie map representing traditional trade route and war alliances along the north coast of New Guinea, running from just west of Madang to beyond the Dutch New Guinea border. This gives some sense of how complex and dense these trade networks were.
The Madang peoples believe in a creator god, called Anut by the Yam, and Dodo by the Seg people. This creator brought into being two deity brothers, Kilibob and Manup, whose birthplace is generally accepted as Karkar Island, although the Seg and Milguk people (inland from Yabob) separately claimed the honor for their own areas. The full Kilibob-Manup myth has two main versions, each with local variants: one from the Yam, Yabob, Milguk, Rempi, Sraang, Erima, Bogati and Bongu peoples; and the second from the Seg, Bilbil, Sengam, and Som peoples (see Harding et al 1994). Most importantly, however, is the myth’s central idea that one of the brothers, Manup, is the forefather of all Europeans, and the other, Kilibob, of all Papua New Guineans. The former has denied the latter access to the superior technologies and cargo of the European world. In most versions of the myth, both brothers are expected to return to Madang and finally reveal these secrets to the people here.
Anthropologist Peter Lawrence (1964, 1988) argued that, although deeply religious, coastal New Guineans are also pragmatic and assume that gods and spirits are as real as human beings. He found the post-war Madang peoples would spend a lot of time considering the meaning of both their own myths and Christian scripture, hoping to involve both deities and ghosts in their own human affairs to their advantage. He also traces the spread of the Kilibob-Manup myth to areas far beyond southern Madang, and describes how some version contain strictly traditional information, and others function in part as explanations for why Europeans have access to manufactured goods and Papua New Guineans do not. Lawrence argues that the coexistence of both versions of a narrative such as the story of Kilibob and Manup suggests continuity of belief and an interest in religion "both as an explanatory mode and a technology" (Lawrence 1988:17).
It is the invocation of these myths in different forms that have framed successive so-called ‘cargo’ movements in the Madang area since first contact in the nineteenth century. Indeed, the first ‘cargo’ beliefs began with Niklouhu Maclay who arrived in 1871 at Bongu, Rai Coast. He came back later in 1876, at which time the people took him for a deity, calling him Tibud or Buga, which meant masalai and spirit of the dead. (In some areas ‘Magalai’ is used for masalai still, which derives from his name.) In turn, Maclay called Madang the land of Anut, and noted there were European clothes and tools and steel weapons in some places already. (See Burridge 1954, 1960; Hermann 1992; Lawrence 1964; Worsley 1957).
In 1884 the German Administration arrived, followed soon thereafter by the Missions. The Rheinish Mission arrived in Madang and Bogajim, and then by 1896, the SVD Catholic Mission had arrived in Alexishafen. It wasn’t really until 1901 that the SVD constructed a station in Bogia, and then settled at Doilon (Alexishafen) in 1905. New stations followed soon thereafter in Mugil (1909), Danip (1910), and Madang (1914). In an effort to make the Alexishafen Mission self-supporting, the SVD soon began clearing land for coconuts and rubber trees, and a school was established on Seg Island. After this, came a sawmill, workshops, residences, a clinic and a chapel. Steel tracks were laid for trolleys pulled by water buffalo, and the first wharf was established for these mission enterprises. (Yumi Pipel Blong God flyer 1982).
These Catholic workers were a welcome contrast to the German administrative presence, which was notoriously harsh during its first two decades’ reign (see Hannemann 1949).
The new Europeans were arrogant and mean. The worst shock came in the early 1890’s when, as Maclay had predicted, the New Guinea Company began to take up the land Kubary had ‘bought’ in 1887-8. Although there is no record of what happened at Bongu and Bogati, it is possible to give a clear picture of events at Madang. In 1892, two Company agents landed at Kaisilan, the site of the Madang wharf. They gave the Bilia (Yam) natives, three owners of the immediate area, two steel axes, and some paint and matches. The natives, not as yet under administration and quite unused to dealing with Europeans, accepted the presents purely as rent for the small plot of land on which the newcomers built their house. But thereafter, to the people’s horror, the agents began to cut bush through what is now Madang township and then towards the south. The Bilia natives lost most of their land and ever since have had to borrow or rent garden sites from affinal and cognative relatives in other groups. The inhabitants of Nob, Yabob, and other villages also lost many of their holdings. (Lawrence 1964:67).
The second ‘cargo’ belief came as a result of people around Madang discovering that the Germans were not in fact deities, or the return of Kilibob (as prophesized in some versions of the myth), but mere humans after all. The general malaise and disappointment culminated in 1904, when the Yam people planned the first uprising against their German overlords. They planned to kill all German men and take in the German women and children as their own. Only the revelation of these plans by a servant thwarted the episode, and led to its ringleaders being put to death. (Lawrence 1964:68-9). A period of passive resistance followed, until just before 1912. Plantation clearing had continued, and people were growing anxious about their land. The District Officer at the time found the people hostile, and became worried about the enthusiasm with which they performed the Mens Cult ceremonies. After receiving rumors of a new plan to revolt, he sent several Yam and Bilbil-Yabob people thought to be responsible to the north coast, to Rabaul, and to the Rai Coast area of Suit and Galek, where they had trade partners. These leaders were exiled for two years (Ibid:72).
Thus it is possible to say that the cultural melieu of Madang was predisposed to disappointment with any Europeans who were not, in the end, Manup or Kilibob. And this disappointment could only be aggravated by the extreme difference in European and local lifestyles, as between the promises people assumed were being made with the foreigners and the realities that ensued. These misapprehensions of each other tended to escalate dangerously between the wars, until it seemed to Lutheran and Catholic church officials that all indigenous forms of worship were hysterical, at the very least, and a danger to the colony at worst.
In the words of one Bilbil elder, Pipoi Masput (age 76), "Lutheran church first came to Bilbil, Yabob, Krangket and Siar—the Lutheran Mission. Our grandparents brought them around 1909 or something. Slowly it 'buggered' the sitdaun blong kukurai [the authority of the chiefs]. The Lutheran church was jealous and found a way to rausim power bilong kukurai. Rivo people came and brought it up there, Yarom and Sautu [the husband and wife missionaries] blong Samoa came to Riwo, and they all made their house. Riwo village was on island, Damasa island bilong Riwo is where they put their house. They marked 3 clans, and 3 chiefs, and brought them to the mission to work. To teach the kids and bagarapim pasim tumbuna [eliminate traditional custom]. Baptised and change ikam. 3 chiefs came and joined and dug a big hole in Rivo ples and collected all the puripuri power and putim long hol na kukim wantaim keresene….Power for finding fish and fight and rain and wind sun and cloud and find game and kill sea. Powa bilong kontrolim bel insait long dispela sevenpela ailans [power for keeping peace within the 7 islands of Madang]." (Pers. Comm.26.8.01).
The general feeling through the Madang area was that the Europeans had required great sacrifices of them and given little or nothing in return; that they were still withholding the secrets of their faith, and their politico-economic authority. The person who gave voice to these sentiments eventually was Yali Singina, the Rai Coast man whose politico-religious career following WWII created a nationally-known movement (and whose adopted son is now Madang’s Governor). As recently as the 1960’s, such tensions had yet to be resolved, and gave rise to at least one bizarre misinterpretation of both Yali’s and the church’s teachings. As one observer reported (Steinbauer 1979: 54), in 1962, in Garegut Village, near Seg, Lahit, the luluai of Seg-Abar and an ex-catechist of the Roman Catholic mission there, planned a sacrifice in honor of the ancestors. The Catholic Bishop Noser was invited to the ceremony. At first a rooster was brought-presumably it was to be slaughtered. Suddenly a man named Lagundemi stepped out of the crowd, knelt down and was beheaded by Lagit with a large bush knife. The public was shocked. However, this deliberate sacrifice was consistent with Yali’s repeated s statements that Jesus had died for the Europeans, that they only had been redeemed. Lagit was convinced that at the moment when the blood the sacrifice touched the ground the world would be wonderfully transformed. He was surprised when nothing happened as a result of the voluntary sacrifice, The action had been based on the argument that blessings are possible only through sacrifice. Europeans are blessed; Christ was their sacrifice. Brown people are not blessed; hence they needed a sacrifice too.
The point here is to emphasize that the history of Madang’s contact with the western world has not been untroubled. It does not require a long memory on the part of Siar and Seg peoples to see their current experiences with RD Tuna as part of a pattern established by the German administration and the Missions. Foreigners arrive, strike a deal for land and resources, require certain cultural changes of the people, and appear to promise the opportunity for an enhanced lifestyle—a better life. Before long, and after straining to fulfill their half of the bargain, it appears that there is no quid-pro-quo here. For a people who only know quid-pro-quo, indeed are masters of maintaining it in their exchange relationships, this is no small deception. Neither is it simply a matter of two different business protocols. It is, at least, a social affront, and a barrier to establishing any trust between the guest and the host communities.
In 1885 the German Administration, under which the Madang was known as The Western District of Kaiser Wilhelmsland, replaced Neuguinea Kompagnie Directors with Imperials Officers. In 1912, the land in Siar was alienated from the Nobnob people under the name of Carpenters Pty Ltd, for the Imperial Administration. "[The Company] alienated huge tracts of land from natives whom it left in their traditional state and with whom it had only tenuous relations" (Lawrence 1964: 40). It was at this time that the people now associated with Siar moved in as settlers from Rai Coast, North Coast and even the Sepik regions. They became settlers on the Nobnob peoples’ land, and have since become ‘naturalized’ as Madang people in the public imagination. (Ibid:36-44).
6.1. RD Tuna Canners and Fishing Ptys Ltd environmental impact plans
Turning to the materials produced by RD Tuna Canners and RD Fishing PNG in anticipation of their cannery and fishing operations in Madang, we begin with The RD Tuna Canners, Pty Ltd. Environmental Plan (1995). This document was produced before construction of their Siar-based cannery. Among its claims at that time were: This project will benefit (sic) community far in excess of its minimal impacts. (p18)
A study conducted by Stephanie Fahey, in 1988** found the Siar Village showed (sic) that the effects of the cash economy are that young women were (sic) benefiting in that families in Siar invested more in the education of girls because employed women spent more of their wages on their families. Furthermore, educated women were more likely to marry educated men who indirectly provided benefits to the woman’s family. Generally in Siar, food production was falling while the purchase of food was increasing due to population growth and land shortage, increase in wage employment as loss of labor for agriculture. Many Siar people now see wage employment as a primary way of life (p73).
SOCIAL IMPACT – WAYS OF AMELIORATION
A study was conducted by the Asian Development Bank on the social impact on the surrounding communities for the development of the first cannery proposed for Seg Harbor. This study is applicable to any major development in an otherwise relatively undeveloped community and consequently is applicable to this installation. The study was conducted by Ms. Penelope Schoeffel of the New Zealand Institute for Social Research and Development.
A follow-up study (June 1995) was conducted (sic) Reg Sanday, Sociologist/Gender Specialist – ANZDEC on the ADB Social Impact Study of June 1993, specifically to determine the consequences of having two canneries in the Madang area. They undertook to apply the findings and recommendations of the original Schoefield (sic) study to apply to both canneries. The follow-up study confirmed the original findings.
The findings were that both positive and negative impacts can be expected for such development. The positive impacts far outweigh the negative impacts and as a consequence, the project is encouraged to proceed. (Emphasis added). The effects (sic) of the negative impacts can be ameliorated and suggestions as to who, when and how these can be dealt with are presented. The following is a summary of the study:
The cannery will provide numerous employment opportunities to people in the surrounding villages. Many of these villages are extremely short of land for food production, commercial agriculture and other economic activities. The people of these villages are already dependent on the cash economy. All the villages in the area who (sic) were consulted (7) say that they have many young people who have left school and are looking for wage employment. Most villages say they have smaller numbers of people with higher levels of education and skills training who would also seek work with the cannery. (Emphasis added)
The people of the area are in favor of the cannery being built in the area because they believe it will create employment opportunities for them ad opportunities for spin-off business…
Local Perceptions –Labor Migration--All communities consulted were worried that the cannery would attract influx of outsiders to the area seeking jobs and business opportunities. All were strongly opposed to this happening. An influx of "outsiders" (i.e. people from other parts of the province and from other provinces) would cause many problems for local villages. They believed outsiders would set up squatter settlements in the area, as they have done around Madang Township. (Emphasis added).They believe that local government and village government mechanisms would be inadequate to control outsiders and law and order problems would result. They further thought that outsiders would take away jobs and business opportunities, which should go to the villages of the area. (Emphasis added).
Access to Employment – All communities consulted believed that employment opportunities should be reserved for people from the area. (Emphasis added). They recognized that some skilled workers from other areas may have to be recruited, but they hoped the management would rent or build accommodation for them so these people would not be squatters. They also recognized local people would have to prove their worth as workers and could not expect to be retained, just because they were locals, if they did not work well.
"Landowner" Expectations – Although former landowners appear to recognize that they have no legal claim to this land, they still consider themselves to have an interest in it, which is why they expect special consideration…allocating jobs and spin-off business opportunities.
Other concerns noted were for relocation moneys (sic) and a worry that somehow traditional fishing grounds will be spoiled and the harbors and beaches polluted. Additionally, concerns about nutrition suffering (sic) because if the women were working in the Cannery, who would tend the gardens. This is offset by an increase in women’s autonomy and the choices made possible by wage employment. Law and Order problems resulting from the uncontrolled entrance into the area of outsiders and forming squatter developments. There were also concerns that prostitution might become a problem because of the increased number of seaman from tuna boats. (Emphasis added).
WAYS OF AMELIORATION
The study went on to suggest actions which could be undertaken to ease the potential negative situations.
By the Cannery –
* Give a clear priority to the selection of its workforce from neighboring villages.
* Set up a worker-management committee to maintain Industrial Relations with the workers.
* Reduce the unrealistic expectations by the community about Spin-Off Business, and
* Set up regular communications with the Tuna Committee at the Provincial level to ensure that everyone understands each other.
* Collaboration with the Provincial Agencies such as funding studies to survey human resources, inventory of people living on site, nutritional status of the population and NGO Business Enterprise Support Team to assist in setting up workshops for spin-off businesses. (sic) (Emphasis added)
By the Provincial Government
* Through the Provincial Tuna Committee, to conduct a human resources survey to determine the feasibility of giving preference in hiring workers to a selected few.
* Utilize the Provincial Tuna Committee as a formal official channel of communications between the government and the local communities.
* Inventory the people living on site to establish status and to monitor the situation to avoid further squatters from coming onto the land.
By the National Government
* Commission the Institute of Medical Research to carry out a baseline survey of the nutritional status of the population in order to monitor long term impacts of the Cannery on local people. (pp 74-8).
Public Involvement
The operating concepts of the principals in this project are to be Good Neighbors and good businessmen. Community involvement is essential in the overall success of the project. Our primary goal will be to have satisfied and dedicated employees, as this we feel is the basis for any successful business. Forming a team between owners, managers and workers is essential for success. Since team members are also members of the local community, we will rely on them to be our emissaries. We also plan to be active in local civic groups and religious organizations. Participation in local planning groups, child and adult educational programs and a variety of other projects are also envisioned by our company. (p108). (Emphasis added).
The observations by the ADB team, if glancing, are prescient; they still apply today. Landowners still worry about migrants moving into their land, about having priority in employment, and about securing spin off businesses that benefit the entire community. The informants clearly expressed concerns even at that time for law and order, health, working conditions, and not the least, contamination/elimination of their fishing grounds. We underscore virtually every suggestion made by these researchers as ‘ways of amelioration,’ and yet note that few if any have been instantiated to date.
The spin-off businesses RD projected at the time are impressive:
This project, if allowed to proceed without further delays, promises to reverse that long standing trend, and to bring the benefits of the abundant ocean resources on shore. A NATIONAL PRIORITY….The project will generate significant opportunities for local fishing developments for up to 200 smaller boats employing 2 to 5 people per boat. Spin-off business for fishing supplies, repair services, hotels, restaurants, food suppliers, fuel sales, and retail outlets, to name just a few, will spring up. (p3)
The "payao" method of fishing is effective, environmentally friendly, and supports significant spin off fishing activities for local fishermen. (p2) (Emphasis added).
Rather than only a few large vessels with limited opportunities for PNG crews, our fleet will number up to fifty (50) vessels of various sizes. Anticipations are that initially up to 25% PNG Nationals will be used as crew on these vessels, more later…"Payoes" (sic) present the opportunity for local fishermen (utilizing inexpensive hand lines and tackle their existing outboard powered skiffs, and proven fish catching and handling methods) to catch, deliver, and sell the highly prized large Yellowfin and Big Eye Tuna. If properly handled, the fish qualify for Sashimi Grade prices, either for domestic consumption or export. Even fish which for one reason or another are not Sashimi grade, but are still usable, will have a local market. …The cannery will employ another 1000 people from the area, and the impact of this on the development of spin off businesses is going to make Madang one of the leading cities in PNG. (pp37-8)
Most unexpected, perhaps, are the prospective benefits the cannery and fishing wharf are expected to have for tourism:
Effect on Tourism Industry
This project is not expected to have any negative impact on the Tourism Industry for Papua New Guinea, in fact, it is anticipated to have a very positive (beneficial) effect. Presently, Madang is a very pleasant location, but seriously lacking in some important infrastructure necessary to promote tourism to levels much higher than it presently enjoys. Developments such as thus Cannery will stimulate the infrastructure growth, thus making it more attractive for tourists.
Important improvements in the air, ground and water transportation systems, potable water distribution, consistency in the electrical supplies, availability of food stuffs, more and better facilities for accommodations, additional goods and services, medical/dental facilities and the increased development of recreational facilities, will all be stimulated by the increased economic levels in the community, resulting from this development. (sic)
The deep seas game fishing resources will not be negatively impacted by the raw products requirements (sic) of the Cannery. Game fishing stocks are not targeted by purse seiners utilizing the "payao" methods. These large fish normally remain much deeper than the purse seine nets are able to reach, and therefore, are not captured. These larger game fish, are however, attracted by the "Payaos", (sic) and they tend to congregate in greater numbers, thus making it even more attractive to game fisherman and Tour Boat operators.
The vessels calling with fish to deliver often become a prime tourist attraction, as this activity is not often seen by international travelers. The vessels themselves and the discharge of the cargo are not objectionable neither visually nor odorwise, as the vessels are maintained and the fish fresh. (pp64-5). (Emphasis added).
With regard to the environment, their conclusions are as follow:
The environmental impacts to the country are not severe, and certainly controllable. The latest developments in waste water treatment, odor abatement, and air pollution controls will be employed. The levels of monitoring, the effluent discharges, and the control systems proposed are equal to or better than those currently being employed in the United States, Canada or Australia.
The Environmental impacts are:
(a) There will be no effects on local sea water. Wastewater treatment will render the effluent clean, odorless, oil and grease free, and suitable for irrigation. Drain fields will allow the treated water to reenter the underground aquifers, and thus be recycled.
(b) Solids will be collected, burned in incinerators, recycled or hauled to authorized landfills.
(c) Fish meal will be manufactured from unused fish parts. Oils will be collected and used as boiler fuel.
(d) Fish odors will be purged from escaping steam by utilizing scrubbers. Proper sanitation practices will reduce other sources of fish smells. (Emphasis added)
(e) Existing provincial power supplies have been verified adequate by Elcom, the existing paved North Coast Highway will handle the expected additional traffic, and all water consumed by the Cannery will either be rainwater captured from roof runoff or bore water from on-site.
(f) No effect is expected to animal and plant life as the site is located on an existing plantation, which was cleared and cultivated by the Germans in the early 1900’s.
(g) The facility will be designed to be efficient, not unpleasant to look at, and set back from the highway. The site is designated for industrial development, fenced, landscaped, and maintained in good order.
(h) The traditional land owners have been interviewed and advised that no known archaeological, historical, or ethnographic items are there. (pp 4-5)
Five years later, RD produced an environmental plan for the storage, wharf and ice plant at Vidar, titled: The RD Fishing PNG Pty Ltd Cold Storage, Wharf & Ice Plant Projects (Vidar, Madang Province) Environmental Management Plan (4 December 2000). In it, they go into slightly more depth as to the community relationship with the company. Interestingly, in some instances the community seems to exist at a safe distance from potential contaminants, whereas in other cases it is conveniently proximate. Thus, on p. 29 of the document, we learn, "The whole facility is located in an isolated location far from any inhabited settlements or villages. Indeed the nearest village on the mainland side is over 1.5 km away and Seg Island is a similar distance away to the east." On the following page, however, we are told that, "The development of this facility right close to where the communities are was determined as vitally important to ensure the operation of the facilities can be of benefit to the local communities."
The sociocultural impacts are assessed as follows:
Impacts on Sites of Cultural/Archaeological Significance: The site upon which the facilities have been built and the immediate surrounding area is part of a very old coconut plantation grown since the days of German occupation, which was recently acquired by the company. As such, if any important sites of cultural or archaeological significance, which may have existed prior to the development of the coconut plantation, would been (sic) destroyed at that time when the land was cleared of vegetation and planted with young coconut trees. In order to confirm the actual status of the current situation, discussions with older men from the nearby Seg Island were conducted on site during fieldwork time. The discussions were necessary to determine whether such important cultural features might exist and establish the feasibility of recording their significance and or salvaging any identified important features by the PNG National Museum. However, the discussions with the local elders revealed that as far as they could remember no sites of cultural or archaeological significance existed on this site or the areas immediately surrounding the facility. To their best knowledge (sic), they do not believe locating this project on the present site has done any harm to any sites of cultural or archaeological significance. They claimed the run-down coconut plantation developed many decades ago was under producing and as such, the development of this new facility has the potential to bring better economic and social benefits to the local people of the area. (p21-2).
Community Impacts: Because of the nature of the resource and its operations, the company fully appreciates the fact that its operations in PNG in fishing and canning are here to stay for a long time to come. As such, the company fully recognizes that one of the very essential ingredients for its operations to be successful in the long run, is the need to establish a good and stable relation with the community within which its operations are physically located. In its endeavors to achieving that goal, the company has made a number of moves into addressing the community relations issue. A Community Relations Division (CRD) has been established within the company with the primary task of establishing that relationship with the surrounding community through village-based meetings and discussions. The existence of the CRD also provides an avenue for the local people to come and express their concerns, desires and needs, as well as obtaining feed back from the company on the progress of work being done to date and answers to queries and questions.
The development of this facility right close to where the communities are was determined as vitally important to ensure the operation of the facilities can be of benefit to the local communities. Already, the company’s presence in the area has benefited the local communities in a number of ways. Direct assistance to the communities have included service contracting through their local companies, security services, stevedoring, ground maintenance, and eventually to include canteen and transport operations to service the local employees. By establishing the wharf right next to the local area and making available ice to local fishermen, hopefully will (sic) encourage more and more participation of local fishermen to fish and sell to the company. (p30). (Emphasis added).
There is no stipulation for landowners to have first access to jobs generated by the wharf, although they do say:
Another area being actively pursued by the company to strengthen community relations and contribute to local development is in the area of employment. Almost all of the local labor requirements are sourced from the nearby communities and all service contracts are awarded to community business entities (p30).
They also mention health care contributions (of which we have no evidence) and the benefits Madang accrues from the company tax (for which they received an exemption):
The company has been providing medicines, construction materials for the building of two community health clinics as well as construction of a new community food market for the local people of the area. The people are also benefiting from selling vegetables, fruits, fish and livestock to the company. On the basis of the above, the overall impacts in the community arising from the company’s fishing operations appear to be positive and beneficial to the people of the area as well as to the Madang Province. Papua New Guinea benefits in a big way through foreign exchange earnings and company tax (p30). (Emphasis added).
Their prognoses of the environmental impacts are as follow:
Impacts from Effluent Discharges:
Given the nature of the facility and its operations, organic rich effluents or poisonous contaminants of a highly polluting nature will not be produced and discharged to both land and the marine environment in Seg Harbour. The exception will be that the facility will be discharging a combined wastewater stream of 750 liters per hour (or 12,250 liters per day) into Seg Harbour….The following physical and chemical characteristics of the combined wastewater streams will be as follows: Appearance, color, smell & variation: Unobjectionable. (p22).
Impacts from Operation of the Cold Storage Unit: There is no air emission and noise problems are (sic) generated by the cold storage unit. A small amount of solid waste generated by staff from the office complex located on the upper floor of the cold rooms is normally collected and transported to the waste garbage dump at the plantation for burning. Sewage waste goes direct to septic tank system.
Impacts from the Operation of the Ice Plant: Operationally, the ice plant is a clean, high technology facility, which does not produce any excessive noise or poisonous air emissions. (p23).
Impacts from the Operation of the Fishing Fleet: The main waste sources produced by all the vessels include used oil, bilge waste and solid waste and sewage. Between 200-300 liters of used waste oil generated by each vessel per month are normally collected and poured into 200 liter drums, carefully sealed and transported in the carrier vessels to the Philippines for recycling purposes. Only in emergency or special cases, used oil drums maybe taken onshore for temporary storage. …Bilge waste from the fishing boats and the carrier vessels are normally stored in the boat’s bilge waste tanks where oil and grease are separated using an oil/grease separator before pumping the water out into the open sea. No bilge water or oil is allowed to be discharged anywhere inside Seg Harbor. All other solid waste generated on board each vessel is carefully collected, placed inside plastic bags and properly disposed of by loading it at the wharf area where it is subsequently dumped at the garbage dump. (p24)
Impacts from Oil Storage and Handling: …(I) n the event that some oil drum spills into the sea inside Seg Harbor (although this is highly unlikely) by accident, the management will require (sic) to take charge of a clean up operation. (p25) (Emphasis added).
Impacts from Noise: There is very little noise generated by the facility from any aspects of its operation, which will be of nuisance or a health concern to anyone in the community. The whole facility is located in an isolated location far from any inhabited settlements or villages. Indeed the nearest village on the mainland side is over 1.5 km away and Seg Island is a similar distance away to the east. As such, whatever little noise generated by the facility should not affect any community or village, in way (sic). (p29). (Emphasis added).
That same year, the Agreement (dated 28 July 1995) Between The Independent State of Papua New Guinea and RD Tuna Canners, Pty Ltd ("RD Tuna Canners") and The Madang Provincial Government (MPG) and RD Fishing, Pty Ltd ("RD Fishing") Relation to the Establishment and Operation of a Tuna Cannery in Madang Papua New Guinea (ISPNG 1995) lists the terms by which the State has agreed to allow RD to operate. Most salient is the item stating:
MPG covenants and agrees with RD TUNA CANNERS that no Provincial Tax other than Land Tax shall, during the Project Life, be levied or imposed on the Operations or any goods or product of any nature be utilized in the conduct of the Operations or produced by the Operations or to be utilized by RD FISHING in the conduct of the Fleet Operation… (p17)
On pp20-21 the Agreement also states:
RD TUNA CANNERS and RD FISHING in consultation and co-operation with each of the State and MPG will by the Commencement of Commercial Production or as soon as practicable thereafter:
(a) devise a spin-off business development program which will encourage and assist participation by firstly the landowners, then the people of Madang, followed by other PNG Controlled Companies.
(b) devise a plan whereby RD TUNA CANNERS, where possible, sources at competitive prices goods and services provided by firstly the landowner companies, companies owned by the people of Madang and by other PNG Controlled Companies;
(c) Assist MPG to devise a business development plan which indicates potential businesses which could be carried out by landowner companies, companies owned by the Madang people and then other PNG Controlled Companies; and
(d) Conduct an annual review of the progress being made in relation to the matters particularized in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c).
Towards the end of the document (p26) there is also a provision whereby RD agrees to: select and train its personnel in accordance with the law and practices in force from time to time relating to training and localization so as to confer the maximum training of and benefits to Papua New Guineans and, in particular, those from Madang Province.
6.2. Independent environmental studies
At this point, we offer data from the first of two environmental impact studies for the Madang Lagoon. The first is WWF’s Madang Lagoon Water Quality Monitoring Report (May 2003 draft only), by Dr. Ariadna Benet Monico (Monico 2003). Among the salient points made about the Lagoon in general are the following:
Faecal coliforms (FC) were higher than the permitted bathing levels (WHO) in several occasions in coastal and river sampling points. Due to health implications, strong priority should be given to assess the frequency of high FC values in these points. It is almost sure that children and women either bath or clean dishes in these waters. Points 9A, 9B, R6A and R6B [of their map] were specifically located on the coast and on the rivers around Siar village to assess the tuna cannery factory near it as a potential source of pollution. All of the sampling sites showed abnormal values in at least one occasion and DO, which indicates depletion of oxygen due to high loads of organic matter, was low in three of the sites. It has been reported by several villagers that the rivers and creeks near the factory are very dirty and smelly. When heavy rain [comes?] it seems that the pond and drainage of the factory overflow and all wastes get spread all over the place around the factory and eventually end up to [in?]the nearest creeks and rivers. Villagers also explain that women wash the dishes and children play in these waters and some of the children have got[ten] seek [sick] after it. It seems that these rivers are the ones that have been sampled in the study. The river point R6A (Siar Creek) is of special concern, since all the indicators except temperature clearly fall off the identified trigger level, indicative of risk of pollution and need to undertake further investigation and appropriate action. (p21) (Emphasis added).
The second report we wish to cite here is by Aaron Jenkins, of the Madang Locally Managed Marine Area Network, Nov 2003 (A. Jenkins 2003). Some of the background statistics Jenkins notes are worth repeating here, for example: Madang Lagoon is the largest on the north coast, at 40 km squared, serving a Madang population of 40,000. Its five landowners are: Kananam, Malmal, Riwo, Siar and Krangket people. 11% of the entire world’s varieties of reef fish live in Madang Lagoon, and 17% of all of PNG’s endemic fish are also here. 25% of all fish live on the reef, hence the reef is vital to fish survival, and the Madang Lagoon holds 4000 hectares of reef. More varieties of reef are found here than in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. It holds more unique endemic fish species, more fish and reef variety than elsewhere in PNG. Fish breeding grounds can be found all over the Lagoon. There are 4 endangered species of fish; 1 whale, 2 dolphins and 1 dugong near extinction here. It holds 2 clamshells near extinction. There are even more kinds of snails here than elsewhere in PNG.
The southernmost readings of the study were taken at Tab, an island across from the mouth of the Nagada River, between Siar and Riwo on the mainland. North of this, readings were taken at Tabad, Wongad and Sinub, three islands clustered north of Riwo within the Lagoon. Farther north, readings were taken at Milinat and Seg. Three of these locations are also fishing reserves: Sinub Island Marine Wildlife Management Area (since 1998), Tab Marine Wildlife Management Area (since 2000), and Tabad Marine Wildlife Management Area (since 2001). It would therefore be expected that the results would be better, healthier, at these sites than at the others selected.
General findings include:
Ol kumu I wok long karamapim rip hariap na namba bilong ol laip koral wok long I go daun. Ol namba bilong pis save kaikai kumu I wok long go antap na ol namba bilong olbigpela pis I save kaikai ol liklik pis is go daun. (Algae are increasingly covering the reef while the amount of live coral is declining. Accordingly, the small fish that eat algae are rising, while the large fishes that eat the small fishes are going down.) (Emphasis added).
[Kilibob (Butterflyfishes), Tag (Snappers), Umut (Sweetlips), Mitiuk (Groupers), Mam (Humphead wrasse), Matu (Bumphead parrotfish).]
Soft coral is dying, the reef is dying, and algae are growing. Fish numbers are good overall in the Lagoon, but their variety is down, and the larger fish are being replaced by smaller ones.
The findings also show that by far the greatest reef and fish loss occurs in Seg, with slightly better numbers improving incrementally as the readings run south, that is, closer to the Wildlife Management Areas, and farther away from the Seg Harbour. In Seg, at only 3 meters depth, half the reef is now dead. Numbers of variety and of fish are down as one ascends the lagoon toward Seg; coral numbers go down as one ascends toward Seg.
"Planti ol eria we I nogat wailaip, namba bilong pis na sais I wok long go daun." ("Where there is not wildlife preserve [WMA], the numbers and varieties of fish have gone down.")
In Seg, the numbers of kilibob, tag, umut, mitiuk, mam, and matu are all down. In fact, only the kilibob (butterflyfish) are left in any numbers, and then far lower than at other points in the Lagoon. Whereas at Seg there are 4.7 kilibob per 250m squared, elsewhere there are 36-46. The general trend is a loss of larger fish, a rise in algae, promoting the growth of smaller fish, which has kept the numbers of fish within the lagoon above crisis level, but with significant loss of diversity.
Boat oil is one cause of algae growth, blocking sunlight and killing fish. But when Seg area peoples talk about the cause of fish loss, the mention over and over the levels of noise from fishing vessels. Noise, they say, is driving all their fish away.
In sum, and at risk of oversimplifying all the abovementioned studies, we conclude that there has been measurable environmental damage to Madang Lagoon. The fish people catch to eat and conduct trade; the water they wash in; the reefs and coral that support the marine ecosystem---have all suffered from the presence of RD Cannery and RD Fishing operations.
The RD Tuna Cannery is the first of its kind in Madang, and one of the largest development projects to be introduced to the province. Its benefits could, in principle, outweigh its costs. And yet little if anything in the management and operations of the RD Cannery in Siar, and the RD Fishing operation in Seg, lead us to believe that this will be the case. The idea that a major manufacturing business from the Philippines can lodge itself in two relatively traditional settings outside Madang town without conducting a thorough social impact assessment, much less an awareness campaign, is a sign of the arrogance that permeates the Company’s relations with the communities. It is unrealistic to assume such a project would have no serious sociocultural effects, but it is commonplace in PNG to expect ameliorative strategies to be put in place, and not simply added to a project proposal. This study supplies evidence that none of the community relations ideas suggested in their original agreements were ever intended seriously. Surely the long tax exemptions RD has enjoyed would have guaranteed their establishment otherwise. On one level, the importance of this study is to ensure that empty promises are not so easily offered landowners in the future. On another level, the study is unique insofar as it is able to trace disparities between plans and reality over six years of a company’s operations, and to use this measure to gauge the future social impact as the company expands. In this case, there can be no suspension of disbelief: what has not eventuated so far is not likely to eventuate in the future. More importantly, the erosion of social bonds, of the traditional fishing base, of the social and economic well being of these communities, is likely to be compounded by opening a Cannery in Seg. Development is not the issue here; the issue is ensuring that a community has freedom of choice in its type of development. For a country as rich in biological and cultural diversity as Papua New Guinea, it is imperative that these resources be protected and assimilated into the course of development, and according to the needs of the community.
We begin with the most immeasurable, and arguably the most valuable, resource of the Kananam, Nobnob and Siar landowners, and that is, their traditional culture. Many customary institutions were deeply affected by the Mission and German administrative presence, and of course, continue to be affected by the cash economy. On the other hand, Madang cultures have been remarkably durable and the effects of modernity have served to more or less ‘modernize’ these institutions. Thus, traditional trade systems have been infused with cash and modern valuables, while systems of kinship and land tenure have also been updated to accommodate wider marriage connections. Most importantly the quintessentially Madang values of generosity and deference to others have never been seriously threatened by capitalist values and their call for nucleated families, wealth accumulation and individualism. Madang people still conduct great exchange feasts and are generous to a point amongst themselves. Prestige is about knowledge and giving, rather than hoarding and loaning.
In the past, before Independence, clans stayed together. After the pre-Independence demarcation of lands, people began to live separately on their land. This was a fundamental shift. Now that a major manufacturing plant has become part of their lives, this shift has taken on momentous proportions and the anxiety over land boundaries has created rifts throughout all the landowner communities. On the day-to-day scale, life has changed as if overnight: rather than going to their gardens and fishing for their dinner, people are focused on earning money to purchase their food. They are focused on their pay packets and on creating spin-off businesses that will keep them out of a wholly new state: destitution. For the first time, there are Madang people going hungry, homeless and aimless. Women are bartering their bodies for tuna. Young people are drinking bootleg rum and stealing from the fishing vessels.
Seg’s community elders tell us that too many young people roam around doing nothing. After the Mission undermined the single most important institution for Madang men—the Men’s Cult with its Haus Man. The institution was all encompassing, and it served to discipline as well as entitle its male citizens. As Yangsai Dui explains (in personal communication, June 2000) of the Krangket case:
Mazoz em olosem sapos nau yu kam long mi, mi bai putim buai, simok, daka and well eat together. Ready food and well all eat, and were friends. This is traditional mazoz. Who breaks tradition, the leader will ask him to bring a pig and pay this as tax, to stretim the road. If not, leader will tell him again. If not, then before, he’d ask if he wanted to usurp the big man, or he can chose to die---and he’ll die, if the big man wants it.
Benedict Sim, of Matanan clan, Kananam, explains: Maror em kastom blong mipela. Em istap gut na mipela istap bel isi na stap. Wonem kaikai mipela mekim, mipela kaikai wantaim bel isi. (Maror is our custom. When we live customarily, we are at peace. Whatever foods we make, we eat in peace.)
Maror is the yearly feast for the Kananam people; it is related to the Mazoz of the Yam people, and what the Amele people call Malol. Maror is still observed in Kananam, and involves traditional fishing, traditional yam planting, and the secrets of the men’s house. Now, however, this has become more ceremonial than real, as the Men’s House was long ago burnt down by the Mission, and the education in traditional fishing and gardening is not as consistent as it was in the past. Nevertheless, some of the older people still hold onto the more esoteric knowledge. The only traditional custom which is alive and well is the funeral custom. Their greatest fear is that soon their language will die out, too. Asked why this is so, they say that intermarriages and modern education are forcing people to speak Pidgin and English now.
The loss of a strong Mazoz/Maror and Male Cult created a void might have been filled by a gradual transition to the cash economy. Places all over PNG are managing this transition quite ably: where cash crops supplant traditional gardening for food and keep the greater system of community, ceremony and ritual together, even while new ideas and objects are introduced (see LiPuma 1999). But few places in PNG have been confronted so rapidly and thoroughly by the cash economy as have Siar, Nobnob and Seg. With minimal land and sea resources left, there is not enough of a subsistence base to serve the population and RD Tuna both. Thus, the population has been radically pressed into service of the latter. They make so little money in the time they have forfeited from gardening and other traditional labor, that they can no more balance these two ways of life than they can afford now to stop working. Those who have left the Company have done so to return to the much more comfortable life of subsistence farming. But not everyone has the land to do so these days; nor can the local fishing business be successfully revived while commercial fishing still exists in the area.
In the past, marriages were arranged by the man and woman’s parents. Brideprice was a pig, diwai plates, bilums, dog’s teeth, and graun pots, all of which came from the many trading systems that knit the peoples together in Madang (see above). Seg people would buy graun pots at Bilbil and Yabob and then use these to buy wooden plates or pigs from elsewhere, and then collect all these valuables to pay brideprice.
A Church and Gmarmatu Clan leader from Kananam, 68 years old, describes the traditional trade routes for Kananam as follow: They would trade fish with clay pots from Bilbil and Yabob villages; trade kina shells with taro and other garden foods at Nobnob village; and trade the (Bilbil-Yabob) clay pots for tobacco, galip nuts and pigs from Karkar. He says this began to break down in the middle 1970’s, because of the new cash economy. Now, with the fishing boats entering places where they used to fish, the most important resource in this trade network, for the Kananam, is depleted (see below). (In the past, he furthermore tells us, people could earn up to K400 within 3 days from their catch, but now they have a hard time making half of that.)
The slow loss of traditional marriage patterns has been grossly exacerbated by the presence of RD: the lack of trade systems and the resources that they depend upon; the elimination of traditional forms of sociality; the introduction of settler communities; and the desperate and recent shift from bartering for food to bartering for sex, have all restrained conventional forms of marriage. Underage girls are ‘befriending’ young men, and having children out of wedlock. The ideas—the values and beliefs-- of Kilibob and Manup are eroding.
In Seg, they still speak Bel language, we are told, although with the many mixed marriages, the growth of Tok Pisin and the English school curriculum, this is changing rapidly. All of this has also been aggravated by the presence of RD—the long working hours, the separation of parents from young children, the emphasis on English in the workplace. The Mission Sisters in Alexishafen say that the language is dying out, that the local Kananam people no longer speak it. Benekison Sem, of Matanan Clan, however, tells us they have a plan to build an elementary tokples. Most people between Seg and Siar are related and understand but do not speak each other’s language. Understanding neighboring languages has always been a critical component in trade relationships throughout the North Coast, running up to the Sepik. In Madang, as elsewhere, when the younger generation stops speaking the vernacular, it also stops understanding the neighboring vernaculars, and thereby obscures the roads for trade in the future. It is likely now that, having such unusual distortions placed on the trade systems throughout the area, this generation of young people will not have trade to bequeath to their own children.
In Siar and Nobnob, raising cocoa and marketing garden food were the main sources of cash before RD came. Before, most women made gardens and sold produce at the market in town, says one informant (Gameg). During that time they sold at 10t for 10 pitpit, 10t for buai, and so forth. She herself lived in Gamoi, Nobnob, and would wake up early while it was still dark and walk to the town market. The price of foods in stores there was lower too. Bread was 20t, 1 metre laplap was 50t. Also a Lutheran missionary (Ben Droff) was at Nobnob and they used to go and exchange with him for salt and kerosene. Nobnob women also used to sell their produce at Sagalau and Daleb markets (on Nobnob maus road), where they could make pretty good money.
They have big gardens, and yet there is a shortage of food due to the shortage of time nowadays, with people working for cash. Some families do have a problem with land for gardening, though, because the German Company planted coconuts on what was garden land. Now RD has extended the plantation boundaries once again, and because of this, villagers have resorted to making their gardens behind the Cannery.
Now that RD is here, they sell their things at the RD Cannery market [just outside the Cannery], and their income on a good day is K40-50. But an average income per week is about K100. The market houses were burnt down this year during the June eviction, although after two months they were built again. The women sell produce as well as cooked food such as: doughnuts (20t) flourballs (10t), sausage (1.50), fried banana (10t), and fried sago.
In Riwo, people say traditional forms of generosity are breaking down. Before, people shared food and betelnut freely between families, now they give money instead, and always think of themselves first. Simon Bissell of Riwo tells us, "Before we shared or gave freely to wantoks—food, goods, and more. Now we hold back because we think of the children."
The traditional trade routes for the Kananam were as follow: With Bilbil and Yabob, they traded fish and kina shells and garden food for clay pots; with Karkar, they traded these clay pots for pigs, galip nuts and tobacco. With the Nobnob inland areas to Baitata (Mabunup, Heven, Halofa, etc), they would trade fish for taro.
The Yam peoples had the following routes: Nobnob would trade garden foods with Riwo, Siar and Kananan, for fish. They would also exchange yam, taro, bananas and other garden food for clay pots in Bilbil. Trade was conducted with friends and inherited trading partners. The Yam also traded for diwai plates from the Rai Coast people: they would send word to their friends to come bring the plates, and they would exchange for garden food and pigs. Age-old trade connections remain intact in many places, but the demands of a cash economy have put certain strains on these relationships. In Krangket, for example, the land pressure is such that they can no longer produce their own morata roofing, so they trade fish for this with Siar.
Madang people are renowned for their circumcision practices in male initiation. The boys/young men undergo protracted dietary deprivations to prepare themselves for the experience, and it all rests on a delicate balance between purity and magical prowess. Seg has not had initiation since the Catholic Church arrived, which means that the older men, not having been initiated, have no knowledge of how to conduct it. Male and female initiation were both banned the Mission; the Kananam haus man was also burnt down and its associated customs called ‘satanic.’ Even the old men no longer have any knowledge of these practices, and so they cannot be revived.
The Nobnob and Siar people, however, come together with Riwo to initiate their young men in Riwo, as this is not performed in Siar proper any longer. The Nobnob people used to circumcise boys up until the year 2000, at which point they stopped because the older men generally felt that young men were no longer pure or strong enough---they were having sex and doing drugs, and therefore were likely to be injured during the process. Spells could backfire and children could die. And the blame would then rest on the teachers performing the procedure.
The Nobnob initiations would occur in Matupi, but they have been suspended in 2001, 2002 and 2003. The older men have agreed that the youths are simply not fit enough for this, that they engage in too much sexual activities and now drink and take drugs. Their bodies have none of the purity necessary to withstand the physical and psychological strain of initiation. The elderly people fear that something may go wrong and youths may serious problems, even death, during the process. The knowledge of conducting initiation is still there, however, and could be revived if the social context changed.
The loss of initiation practices has been considered causal in many parts of PNG to the rise of ‘raskalism’ and social unrest among young men. Without specifying exactly, it is possible to describe the knowledge imparted to young men during these rituals as both secular and sacred. Not only do young men learn the ritual sacralae that allow them to lead and administer major ceremonial institutions of their culture, but they also learn the simple things that make for citizenship in small scale society: how to make love to a woman, how to look after a wife and children, how to hunt, fish and garden, how to control the younger generation coming up in their wake. These are not lessons normally imparted from father to son, as would be the case in nuclear families, but in traditional society, they are left to the collective of older men to instruct the young ones. Without such an education, many people speculate, the very fabric of inter-generational unity in a culture begins to unravel. Moreover, gender relations suffer. Some would say that it is only an uninitiated man (from anywhere in PNG) who would consider raping a woman or molesting a child. Thus, while the Church may rightfully take the blame for much of this cultural loss, there is some culpability on RD’s part, too, as they have created the situation, and the general lack of respect for traditional culture, that has allowed young men to be alienated from these values. At very least, this last thread of intergenerational cohesion between older and younger men has been a price paid for hosting RD (see Dinnen 1992, 1998; Harris 1998; Leavitt 1998; Schiltz 1985; Zimmer 1990).
Despite the information acquired by RD Fisheries Environmental Plan researchers, which asserts that there are not now nor have there ever been any sacred sites within the Vidar Harbor plant area, we are told that an underwater spring of some medicinal significance used to exist in the Harbor and has been destroyed by the RD operations. These sorts of underwater springs are common throughout the Madang lagoon area, and similar to springs that occur inland throughout the Madang Province. Where these are sulfuric (evidence by the strong smell of rotten eggs), they are often used effectively for healing purposes. Their clay may be dried as cakes, as in the case of siwa (photo above) found in the Almami LLG area, and dispensed to cure everything from stomach aches, and skin disorders, to more life-threatening cases of sanguma. It is very possible that this underwater spring in Vidar had the same capacities, and in the past, was used for ritual as well as everyday healing.
Kananam Village is in Ward 10 of Ambenob Local Level Government.
8.1.b.1. Population
Total 1050 (623 Male, 427 Female).
8.1.b.2. Clans
Kananam has 3 major clans, and 2,3 or 4 subclans:
1. Seg Clan – leader: Leo Panu (possible subclan Kidipain)
2. Matanan clan – leader: Martin Kikai
3. Gamarmatu clan – leader: Henry Tamad/Paul Bai
4. Geunen subclan – leader: Laurence Kandu
5. Panufon subclan – leader: Paul Bai/Charlie Tagau
6. Panuwaden subclan—leader (unknown)
This information is conflicting, and we believe further research into clan histories is urgently required.
8.1.b.3. Interest groups and key figures
1. IDUWAD ASSOCIATION – anti-RD
Chairman: Mr. Francis Gem
Vice Chairman: Mr. John Debb
Women Leader: Mrs. Alexia Bai Tokau
Women Leader: Ms. Cabrini Kikai
2. SEG SAMALANG DUN – Pro-RD
Chairman: Mr. Mathew Masbud
Vice Chairman: Mr. Joachim Gunong
3. ST. MICHAEL’S PRIMARY SCHOOL
Head Master: Mr. Alphonse Tengisa
Deputy Headmaster: Mr. Benny Ikuma
4. ALEXISHAFEN HEALTH CENTRE
Officer In-charge (OIC): Sr. Valsi Kurian
5. SSPS – HOLY SPIRIT SISTERS (International)
Mother Superior: Sr. Inez
6. ST. THERESE SISTERS (all Papua New Guineans)
Mother Superior: Sr. Martina Kawai
8.1.b.4. Development history for Kananam
Father Limbrock when they first came to Alexishafen found locals to give him land for the Mission. They were: Futol—from the main Seg clan, subclan Panuwaden, which is from Riwo and adopted into Seg. Kesu—from Gamarmatu clan. They story says he was not supposed to give the land away but because he was angry about someone stealing from his breadfruit tree, so he did. The gift of payment included: gull (necklace), an axe, salt, and cold tar. There was no written agreement. The pay they gave the luluai was 10 shillings, his name was Nangai. Villagers had no Tok Pisin at the time. Limbrock supposedly mimed the action with the words ‘Nan eg tan’ meaning ‘This is my piece of land.’
Benekison Sem, Matanan Clan (translated from Tok Pisin): Before the mission came our ancestors were lived in peace, when the mission came they took away our custom and we became poor. Mission prohibited us to use traditional beliefs to catch the fish, plant the yams and hunt wild animals [prohibited garden and hunting magic]. They burnt down our houseboy. The Seg clan took Futile from Rio and when the Mission came he give the land to Father Limbrock. Then the Mission did not bring any changes to improve our living standard; I was working with the mission but I did not get any compensation or retirement benefits, for example.
I would say yes, there are benefits from the Mission, but they were general, like health, and education services; but the principle landowners did not get direct benefits at all. The good things from the Mission are education and health services. The bad things are the burning down of our traditional beliefs, taking away our land without proper arrangements, and not preparing local people to take control over the mission station.
Gmarmatu clan church and clan leader, age 68: The bad side of the Mission is that they destroyed our culture {house boy}, the traditional exchange systems died out, and they left no special services to the landowner. It failed to fulfill a promise to establish work for future generations of Kananam. The missions taught our ancestors first and foremost to plant rice and coconuts, which tricked them into expanding the Mission land holdings, all the way up to Vidar. They took all the land from Danip to Vidar. There the mission saw the kwila trees, wanted them for their constructions, and justified their harvest by planting coconuts afterwards. The landowners received no real benefits from the church. They were paid laborers only.
Doilon (place, also known as Maiwara) is where the Mission planted gardens for their own use, not for the community. Plantation workers were also recruited from East and West Sepik, and Morobe, for one shilling (10 t) per month, which allowed them to sidestep landowner requests. Another strategy was to foment dissension within landowner clans.
The second missionaries came, and they were very friendly to the people. And the third missionaries came with new laws and regulation. A marine biologist priest made research to develop the Vidar Bay and he registered the land for 99 years lease. After the lease expired the mission did not transfer the land to us but sole it to RD. Before the Mission sale, in the 80s we had been asking the Mission to give back our land. We had a court dispute, until we realized that the land was already sold to RD.
Lawrence Kaiyok, Geunen Clan: Futol (the ancestor responsible in selling the land to the missionaries) em blong Riwo na ol tumbuna blong mipela adoptim. Bifo ol tumbuna igo na kilim ol Riwo. Taim bilong ol tumbuna, em bipo pait isave stap. So ol kilim ol Riwo na ol ikisim tupela, Futol na igat wanpela more. Ol ikisim ol ikam na yu save pasin blong bifo em mipela isave poret long blut or bai mipela ikisim sik orait na mipela salim ol igo stap long Seg clan. So wanpela man blong Panuwadan nem blong em Sawat na nem blong meri blong em Bulel. Meri blong Sawat em blong Dugulel. Bulel em bel blong em nogut na em ino save karem pikinini. So ol salim Futol ikam na Sawat em adoptim em bikos em inogat pikinini. Dispela graun nau Seg Mission station isindaun nau long em, em graun blong dispela man Sawat. So Futol em ino pikinini tru blong Sawat. Em adoptim Futol tasol olsem pikinini blong em. Bikos Sawat inogat pikinini nau, Futol ikamap olsem pikinini tru blong em na ikarem dispela nem papa graun. Olsem na em igivim graun nau Seg Station nau istap long Fr. Limbrock. Dispela em bikos dispela hap graun em blong Sawat, so Futol olsem adopted pikinini blong em isalim dispela graun.
(Futol was from Riwo and out ancestors had adopted him. Before, we were enemies of Riwo. So when they fought Riwo, they stole two captives, and Futol was one of them. So we brought him here, and you know our custom, how we’re afraid of blood for fear of poison, so we sent him to Seg clan. A man from Panuwadan clan named Sawat, his wife was named Bulel from Dugulel, and she couldn’t bear children. So Sawat adopted Futol. This land now where Seg Mission stands is Sawat’s land. It became Futol’s, but he’s not the real child of Sawat. And Futile gave this land to Father Limerick.)
Taim Futile igivim dispela graun long ol missionaries pinis, ol mission nau isindaun long hap. Ol istap igo na ol laik planim sampela lain kokonas blong ol, so ol igo long toktok nau orait ol kisim ol papa graun blong faivpela clan blong Seg husait ibin orait na passim toktok long givim graun long ol mission. Na ol igo long Vidar na makim graun we bai ol mission usim na planim kokonas. Ino bin igat money stret we ol bin usim long baim graun. Ol usim ol kainkain samting nabaut olsem ol samting bilong bilasim skin olsem glass (mirror), beads na ol narapela samting. Ol mission grisim ol tumbuna long ol dispela samting na ol tumbuna igivim ol graun.
(When Futol gave this land to the missionaries, the mission came and moved there. Before long, they wanted to plant coconuts, so they found the landowners of five clans and got them to give them more land. They went all the way to Vidar with this new land purchase, but it wasn’t a money purchase. They used all kinds of things—decorations, mirrors, beads, and so forth. They seduced our ancestors with these things to get the land.)
Taim Catholic Mission ikam sindaun long here ikam inap nau, mi no lukim wanpela senis long life style bilong ol manmeri blong dispela ples. Wankain tu long nau RD ikam insait. Ino gat wanpela gutpela senis em ibringim long ol manmeri blong dispela ples. RD nau imore nogut ken long RD. Long sait bilong company em olsem, sampela man husait I pas gut tru wantaim company, em tasol ol benefit long em. Na mipela ol lain husait ino pas gut wantaim company, em mipela ino benefit. Mipela ino akensim ol, bikos mipela lukim olsem ol ino save mekim gut long mipela. Mipela toktok ol save rausim mipela, olsem na mipela tok mipela mas stap long wei na lukluk long ol. Spin off now istap long ples em ikam long nem bilong klan tasol nau lo kamap pinis olsem samting blong wanwan man.
(When the Catholic Mission arrived here, we didn’t see any real change in our lives. The same with RD now. There hasn’t been one significant change for the better for us. RD doesn’t help, only the leaders benefit from the company. Those of us who aren’t insiders, we don’t benefit. We don’t ask them because we’ve seen their ways already. If we talk, they fire us. So now we’re standing back and watching their activities. The spin off businesses are in the names of the clans, but the rules for them now only apply to individuals.)
Victor Tamote (from Tok Pisin): The ZZZ Company was the first company to come and clear the land. But after four years they did not come. And later the government and RD came to start their business without any proper arrangement with the landowners. In the first place I (Victor) and Vitalis we tried to stop the operation. However, police came and arrested us and told us if you stop the operation that mean you will go to the court. My father was afraid and told us to stop and let the company operate.
The first Catholic Priest to establish the Mission station in Seg was Fr. Limbrock. He made the payment to Futol who was from the Seg Clan. However, it is disputed that Futol was not the rightful landowner to sell the land to the mission. He was from Riwo but was adopted into to the Seg Clan. We were told that because of he difference among the landowners he sold the land away. Kasu was the other man initially from Gamarmatu clan who received payment from the mission.
The land was eventually developed into coconut plantations. By doing so the land was taken away completely. Apart from that most of the Kwila trees in Doilon Bay was cut into timbers that were used for building up what was/is Seg Station. After logging the area the land was used for making gardens. After the vegetables were harvested the land was turned into coconut plantation. Nangai was paid 10 Dollars for that piece of land.
Landowners were used as slaves to work the gardens and the coconut plantations. The landowners found it difficult to continue with the labor work. As a result the mission started contracting people from East and West Sepik Provinces, Morobe, Finchafen, and other parts of Madang Province. The laborers who came from outside were used as security by the Catholic Mission. Whenever there was any argument of any sort with the landowners the laborers were used against them. It also happened that the landowners fought among themselves and thus the Mission people took advantage of the situation. That is to say that some of the local Kananam people were with the Mission.
According to the landowners most of the benefits should have gone directly to the landowners but that was not done as expected by them. Though the School and the Health Centre was built they still see this as services that are not only for them as traditional landowners but for anyone who has access to them, especially the Mission laborers.
According to the agreement signed between RD and both the National and the Provincial Government of Madang it was the responsibility of the Government to find land for establishing the project. At just about the same time, the 99-year lease for land now occupied RD Fishing expired. Madang Development Corporation, the business arm of the Madang Provincial Government got the land and sold it to RD for K3 million. There was no consultation with the traditional landowners of Kananam. While that was happening at the back of them they were pushing the Catholic Mission to get their land back. All their fight to get their land back was ruined when they learnt the RD was going to operate in their area.
The people of Kananam were force into accepting RD. They were not given a choice but they were promised employment and business spin-offs. There was not agreement signed but they were told everything would be fine and most of the problems would be elevated should the company operate in their area.
SSD was the incorporated landowner company that should be the umbrella company that should oversee all the business activities. These business activities should come under the landowner package where the RD Company kick-start the landowners with business spin-offs.
Vidar Plantation dates from the Mission era, when 860 hectares of land were alienated for coconut and cocoa cultivated from Vidar up to Maiwara. Today RD has added cattle farming and is not introducing rice. None of the product or proceeds is shared by the landowners, and most of the employees, we are told, are not from the area anyway. The following is a 18/12/03 interview with ‘Alex Gabriel’, Mauna subclan, Rempi, a former employee (1997-2003) of Vidar Plantation:
Alex: From my Department at Vidar Plantation we had two Filipinos. One came in on a tourist visa and that expired—that tourist visa is three months, and after three months he was working, like, 12 days without any visa so then I think Immigration notified the Labor, and then they came in and they investigated. And he went away to Moresby, and he was in Moresby and his passport and visa were held in Madang by the police, and he was in Moresby a month and then they deported him with a ‘black ban’—he was black banned. I don’t know, it might have come from Immigration, and they told Labor.
Nancy: Is this common for the Filipino labor at RD?
A: I don’t know if it’s common, but that’s one instance of it. I don’t know if that’s what happening in the company.
N: ….Have you seen any prostitution?
A: No I don’t see any of that because in the plantation we don’t have female employees. I saw ladies, but I cannot speak about that because I don’t know anything.
N: What about your pay there?
A: My rate was 1 kina per hour.
N: That’s rural minimum wage I think.
A: Right, right…But I don’t know if its legal or not.
N: You were management?
A: I was not a manager, but there were people below me.
N: So people below you were paid less?
A: Oh yea, of course. They were 65 toea or 68 toea or 70 toea per house. Producing copra and cocoa.
N: The same people who had been working for the Mission were working now with RD?
A: Yea yea, they were the same people. From the Catholic Missions they came to RD.
N: Were they given housing there?
A: I think the plantation, they don’t give houses. But they were allocated the land to build houses, for themselves, to live in.
N: And that stayed the same when RD came?
A: When RD came they used to move us around, and then I had a problem there, I’m going to bring it up in court. Because this year, during the eviction time [March 2003] they told us to move out of the land, I mean they didn’t even give me an eviction notice.
N: You were the employees?
A: Aha. They called us settlers and we had to move out from the land. They even brought the police and then they burnt down my house. So we all lost our property, we lost our houses.
N: And RD didn’t protect you?
A: Right.
N: Then you went back to work at the same job without housing? Without housing. Yes.
A: And no compensation?
N: No, no compensation.
A: And this agreement had always been there during the Mission times, where that was settlement land for the workers?
N: Yea, it was.
A: …Actually we came in, my family came in, with RD, we were not there for the Missions….We just moved in there at that time [1997], and you know, that was our land, we thought it was our clan land. We lived on that land. But we thought the Catholic Mission had taken the land from us, and sold it to the Madang Provincial Government.
N: So it was part of Rempi land?
A: Yea, yea. It was, we thought it was our clan land from Rempi. Mauna clan.
N: So that was never clarified with the Mission?
A: We went to the missionaries, the Catholic Mission. We tried to talk about our land but they said You don’t really own that land. So you know, we were trying, we were forcing the mission during that time, but then they had to fast track that land and…
N: Are there people in your clan who can confirm that is your land?
A: My uncle, my cousin-brother, and one of my clansmen, the Magistrate for Rempi, Joseph Mokoi, is one, he knows.
N: So clearly the Mission came in in 1907 and did not make a clear agreement about what land was whose?
A: No, no, we did not have any agreement between the landowners and the missionaries, they just came in there. My Uncle told me that the Mission, what agreement they gave them was that after growing the land, after growing the coconut and cocoa, whatever, after the lease expires, the land has to go back to the landowners. But that didn’t eventuate, after the least expired, that was in 1990 at least I think, it might have been 1994 or so. And then the missionaries, they sold the land to Madang Development Corporation, and from there it went to ZZZ Fishing, and then they could not develop the land and so, and then those contractors like Amri and Ambesugi, all those people, they upgraded the land where the road should be, they were claiming their money—because they were owned money by ZZZ, and the government was part of it. So they auctioned the land. I don’t know if it’s right to auction the land, but they auctioned the land, they put it to auction, and I was there.
N: At Smugglers?
A: No, at Madang Resort. And then they bid for the land and RD won.
N: Rempi people are affected along with the Kananam, but are there other people then?
A: Yea, Budup Village, Mediba Village, and Haven Village, they are all affected. Those people past Seg, up past Danip at at St. Fidelis College, that’s where Mediba Village is, those people. That was their land too.
N: Has the plantation changed much since RD has been there?
A: Oh no, not much, there was a bit of planting when I was there, some hard woods, coconuts and cocoa, but so far as I know, now it’s gone bushy. The management, I don’t know what’s wrong with them, they’re not looking after their cocoa. I mean we grow betelnut, too—you’ve seen it.
N: And they sell it?
A: No, they cannot find a market for it, so people are helping themselves to the nuts. People are stealing it! Yea, when I was there, I talked with management and we set up the market in Maiwara, you’ve seen that. Not just for buai, for everything. I did that as a community leader, not as part of my job. I tried to bring some benefits and assistance. I asked them, Can they help us build a market? Because the ladies cannot just sit on the road, it is very dangerous for them to just sit on the road.
N: Did they help you with money?
A: No, they helped us with the building, not money. Just one building, it’s a permanent building and a concrete floor and iron roofing. And now we are using that market.
N: So you’ve seen the whole span of RD’s time in Vidar. Have they improved their public relations in this time?
A: No. I don’t think so. Public relations wise—I mean, we should be having school, which they promised us—we have elementary school there but it’s not been upgraded. We tried out best to get them to upgrade it for us so that we could have a Primary school there, and we even have a church building there and its not been upgraded. They told us to put proposals in there, and we put proposals in there, but all this time we did not get back any feedback. Nothing happening in almost 6 years now.
N: How do the Filipinos treat the Papua New Guineans?
A: Well, they’re a bit all right, I mean sharing things, they’re a bit all right. But I mean, you know this attitude they have, they used to speak their own language…
N: Tagalog?
A: That’s one thing, they speak their own language , they do their own thing.
N: It’s a big problem?
A: Yea, it’s a big problem.
N: They are having girlfriends now too.
A: Yea, well, that actually I don’t know. I heard that’s a problem in Kananam. Actually I’ve got one of my cousins whose got a baby from one of the ships crew. Actually he’s not married to here but he visits her every time he comes in from the ship. I don’t think he’ll marry her, because he’s a bit older. But you know he gives her food, clothing, money. Her family has accepted her. His kid is about 4 years old now, too. I think what they’re doing is trying to get ladies from Papua New Guinea, but I don’t know if they’re happy to back to the Philippines with them. Only a few are not married in Philippines anyway.
N: When the mission was running the plantation, was it still a low wage?
A: I think it was still a low wage.
N: What about your gardens in Rempi, have you still got enough land?
A: Well, our problem for making gardens is not a big one, because some part of our land is still customary land, but our worry now is that we just want to sit on the roadside now because we want access to the road, because the road system going into our places our villages is not there. So we want to just sit on the road so that we can have some sort of development there.
N: They have given no spin off business to Rempi?
A: No, to Rempi, we don’t have them.
N: What’s your opinion of RD now?
A: Well in my point of view RD should look into the social well being of the surrounding communities. Like for instances, in my community Maiwara, and all the surrounding areas, we need a better school in there, better sport facilities, and then we need roads—Because when there is new development there are problems there, so from our point of view we would like to ask RD if they can assist us by putting up all those things in there, putting up a small police force in there to cater to the problems coming in there, because more and more workers are coming in, too. They live on the land, and that’s where the problem is.
N: So the basic problems that come with any development they have not looked at, and they have not helped?
A: No, no.
N: What about these tax breaks they’ve gotten? Do you see money coming back to PNG?
A: Well, I don’t think that we [in PNG] are making money, because if we were making money then the government would come in and develop the place where RD was, to put the money where the people are. But they’re not doing it at the moment. In my area in my place—I don’t know about Kananam. But in my place, we haven’t seen any development. Even the roads, you know, there’s a village up there, Haven Village, there’s a road leading through the plantation to the village, and we have requested of the company, so that they can just put some gravel and get some bulldozers and like that to grade it , so that the people have access to the road, and the plantation has a way to get the copra out, but up to now we haven’t heard anything yet.
N: So do you think RD is having money problems?
A: No, I don’t think with RD money is a problem, but you know, it comes down to management and how they use the money. Because from the Company owner, I think he has a good vision for the people, he wants good things for then. But it’s the management here who’s holding up this, the local Filipino management. The Owner has a good vision, he wants to work with the people. Like when he opened the market, which we started around 2000, he said he has a vision to work with the people and to give help to the people in the communities. But then, it might be him, or it might be the management in the middle here. We trust the owner of the company, but not the people here.
N: What about the CRO, he’s Papua New Guinean right?
A: Right. He’s a Papua New Guinean. He’s from Siassi, the CRO Manager in Siar. Before he was a policeman.
N: But it strikes me he hasn’t been doing his job. A: Yea, of course. And of course we need the CRO to go into every community, but its not there, we don’t have CROs going into the communities, only you have police going in after something’s been done. We have one in Siar and one in Vidar. The man in Vidar was from Rai Coast, but now he’s from Sepik. There are no Rempi, Kananam or Siar people in the CRO’s department.
Our researchers conducted several open meetings throughout the Seg and Siar areas, encouraging a range of views. As might be expected, people were more eager to lodge complaints than register their satisfaction with RD. But even where people supported RD’s presence, and commended the benefits provided, they spoke in terms of a history of broken promises.
A general consensus seems to be that RD Fishing and Canning Companies have contributed towards law order problems in the area. One of the main problems is the division wrought between the landowners themselves. While the Kananam people had been expecting to fight for the return of their land after the 99-year lease expired, they were trumped by the government’s sale of it to RD. But then the Company promised employment and small business spin-offs, which sounded good. Upon the advice of Joseph Balim of Siar, they formed what is now SSD, the Incorporated Landowner Company, to manage these small businesses. However, it soon seemed to other members of SSD and community leaders that these small businesses would not generate benefits for the entire village. This is why they formed Iduwad Landowners Association.
The disappointment with RD’s inability to positively benefit the community is a sentiment that actually dates from the Mission era in Seg. In return for handing over their land and autonomy to the Catholic Church, the community had thought tangible, substantial development might eventuate. Failing that, they expected secure employment and skills from the Mission, which only happened in very limited numbers. They also watched as the Mission carved out larger and larger expanses of territory to serve their own cash crop enterprises.
Presently, their living standard remains low, and they have no traditional resources with which to better it. RD’s arrival initially implied that better times had come. They assumed, as it true with most new business projects in PNG, landowners would get first preference for jobs in both the Cannery and the Wharf, but this has not been the case. Instead, RD has followed an equal-opportunity policy that has left landowners competing for a right to work on the own land with laborers from all parts of Madang, and settlers from elsewhere in the country. Landowners also assumed wages would be living wages; but this is not the case. Not only are they below minimum legal wage for PNG, but they have left families unable to feed themselves, without either the land or the time to work their gardens. Indeed, in a repeat of the Mission’s strategy, RD has also extended its land reach to accommodate their own cash crop projects, which again, do not directly benefit the landowners.
For fishermen, the experience has been devastating. Those people who made their living selling fish, simply cannot do so any longer. They believe RD made an agreement to take tuna only, and no other kinds of fish; but this has not been the case. They believe RD made an agreement not to catch by nets, but this has not been the case. All the large fish are gone from the Seg Harbor, leaving nothing for people to sell, and still less for them to eat. Indeed, the result of this has been a bizarre exchange system of food for these peoples’ own fish, caught by RD crewmen and thrown back to the landowners. As time has gone by, the twist on this trade has been straightforward and insulting: fish for sex. The landowners in both the Siar and Seg areas are living under a malaise of disappointment. The feel promises have been broken by RD. In this culture, where exchange values are everything, and where no one gives without expecting a return, they continue to look for RD’s real benefits to the community. Rather than sub-standard pay packets and a dependency based on depleted resources, they are looking for spin off that actually benefit the entire community, and assistance that will build their self-reliability. Whether RD taxes do or do not stream back into the PNG economy, the relationship between landowners and RD is not and never has been quid-pro-quo.
James Sungai asks "Why do they have to live like fools since the first day RD came because nothing through their agreement was done to help them?"
People say that the Mission and RD have taken over the land and sea and left them with barely anything on which to survive. Here are no basic services like a water supply or water tanks, permanent housing materials, or employment with a living wage.
8.1.b.5.a.Meeting with Seg Clan, Mozdamor 14/11/03
The Vidar wharf is built on the land that is claimed by the Seg Clan as theirs. Unfortunately in the name of development they were not consulted at the early stage of the development. They were aware that the 99-year lease was about to be expired but just about the same the land was tendered and RD won it paid it. This was all done behind their back and therefore since they know that they are rightful landowners they still insist to get their land back. They said that it was shameful that the main culprit Catholic Mission could not give the land to the traditional owners. Why did the Church give the land to RD Company is still a question.
The issue of benefits was raised again at the meeting. They said it is true that the CM had brought in developments like what is now the primary school, the Health Centre, Girls Vocational Centre, Minor Seminar, the Agriculture Technical School and developments but these according to them are not direct benefits. Some got employment with the CM but they were paid as laborers and that money was not sufficient to pay for their family needs such as school fees and building of permanent houses. It is sad to see that most of the people still live in simple bush material houses; some of them are similar to those in the squatter settlement.
Instead of improving the living standard of the people the situation has worsened as pointed out during the meeting. RD was a complete disaster since it has negative environmental impacts that eventually have the impacts on the social life as well the economic life of the concerned landowner. Prior to the arrival of the RD marine resources were abundant and thus these resources sustained their livelihood. Sex trade is the result of this and parents could not afford to pay their children’s school fees either. (Refer to the list of students suspended for unpaid fees).
Noise pollution was a concern that was raised at the meeting. Since they live a few hundred meters away from the wharf they stated that it is very disturbing since there is no one time of the day or night engines are put. They also pointed out that noise pollution gets worse when 5 or 6 fishing vessels come into to the harbor. In such situation they find it very difficult to sleep at night.
Almost all the young men of Seg Clan worked with the company but when they found that the terms and conditions of the company were not good they left. They felt that employment was more like working like a slave. Salary is the main problem since they are paid standard salary. There is no such thing as incentives/bonus like giving away by-catch.
They feel that they have been disregarded as the rightful landowners and they see little reason why RD should be allowed to stay. RD’s operations in the area have so far disrupted the environment and the well being of the community. RD has been a bad influence on the social lives of the people, bringing in illegal alcohol (Tanduay rum), and participating in acts of group sex. (For discussion of this kind if behavior in PNG, see C. Jenkins 1997). One case in point is the account we were given of four Filipino men abusing one Kananam woman at Vidar .
Fish still is an important resource for the Kananam people. Apart from food, fish has been used to exchange with the inland people for other foods, and more recently, to earn cash for school and health fees. This is not the case any more, since RD has reduced the level of viable fish in Seg Harbor. As a result, women are forced to trade sex for fish with the RD ships’ crew these days. Some women cannot resist because they feel it to be their only means of survival. An eye witness (name withheld) described accounts of this sex trade on the ship to us. He said these activities usually happen at night, but that when the Iduwad Association started raising the alarm about it, such activities started declining.
According to the people at the meeting there is no guarantee that there will ever be long-term benefits from RD. They describe the spin-off businesses as lousy since they preclude any profits for the landowners.
8.1.b.5.b. Dumunseg Island Meeting 14/11/03
People in Dumunseg Island, Seg, concur that there have been no benefits from RD. The Company promised them spin-off businesses, and a water supply, but none of these have eventuated. The Mission provided a clinic and a school, as well as employment and skills in their sawmill, garage, and boat building house---but all these are now gone. Real direct benefits would mean equal participation, preferential hiring, some equity or ownership of the spin offs, with the consequent upgrade in their living standards.
8.1.b.5.d. Iduwan Island Meeting 14/11/03
Most people who met with us on Iduwan Island were from the Seg clan. The eldest member of the clan, according to other clan members, had been bribed by RD and thus he supports the company. The impact of RD was much the same here as elsewhere: negligible benefits, considerable costs. During the meeting those who witnessed instances of the sex trade and group sex told us their stories. RD has brought a lot of environmental and social destruction, although people admitted that it has provided employment for youth and others.
It was also noted that such a big development should boost the cash flow of the local community, rather than diminish it. Social indicators should show improvement since RD’s arrival in 1997, but this is certainly not the case. People cannot afford to pay school fees and the majority of the population still lives in bush material houses. Prior to the arrival of RD, Kananam people had only one aim, and that was to get their land back. When RD came in they were divided into to groups, one pro-RD and the other anti-RD. Those against RD are spear-headed by the Iduwad Association, a community group which is vocal on the negative impacts of RD on the environment and the social well being of the people. These issues have divided families and clans. Those who support RD are on the payroll and find it hard to speak against the company. In addition, they have spin off businesses, which they identify with personally. It has been an effective policy of divide and rule for RD, some say
According to the people at the meeting, the Catholic Mission first stole their land, and was thereafter "greedy" in selling the land to RD, when it should have passed it back to the landowners. Only a few individuals are benefiting from RD spin offs, people told us, and this has caused divisions amongst the Kananam people. SSD may be composed of two members of each clan, but these members are serving their own interests and not the community’s. On the other hand, according to the Village Recorder, Martin Baleng, SSD directors are not benefiting at all; they are only used by RD to protect RD’s own profits.
This is not to say the communities do not acknowledge the benefits of RD, in terms of job opportunities, and the introduction of cash crops (in their rice project, for example). But the litany of negative effects in Seg alone represents a real imbalance: waste and oil polluting the harbor; loss of traditional fishing grounds, reef bleaching and dying; people neglecting their gardens; young people involved in drink; unwanted pregnancies; and a drop in church attendance. Is all this worth a few low-paying jobs?
Michael Kob claims that he is the Kananam Village chief, and he is the only member of Seg clan on the RD payroll. According to him, RD will improve after a few more years, when it has time to improve its benefits policy and its distribution to the community. RD has already started to support the school and will continue to offer support, he notes.
Canisus Urate, of Seg Clan, totally opposes what Michael Kob says. The support to the school, he says, was only after pressure put on RD by Iduwad. He also says that the chief and the others who support RD are all on the payroll. Having been bribed, they find it hard to say anything against RD. He further stated that those who support RD are feeling more and more insecure about the prospect of RD leaving. A clinic was conducted by an RD medical team, as a result of pressure Iduwad put on the Company to donate medical assistance. But they came once only.
One of the youths raised a concern that RD is not addressing the real problems affecting the youth. Employment opportunities, as noted elsewhere, should go to the locals, but those employment opportunities are themselves exploitative. The money they earn is not enough to sustain their lives. The young people need real jobs and real skills.
A woman representative pointed out that women are not benefiting from RD. Company workers are degrading women with this sex trade and practice of group sex. She wants RD to pack up and leave; only then will they be free and they can enjoy the life they once enjoyed.
The sex trade seems to have no end, another person tells us. Since their sea has been polluted and over-fished, they have no choice but to exchange sex for fish from the crew. First it was vegetables and other things being exchanged, but then the crews began asking for sex. The hard evidence of this trade are the mixed children now being born. One of the women, Rosemary, said that she would testify or make herself available in court to give evidence of this ‘sex trade.’ It was reported that some women have been given Tanduay (the Filipino rum) and forced into group sex. This practice is common, she verifies. Unfortunately the women who have been victims of this have moved away or are too hesitant to speak out to us. (We therefore have no testimonials of women who have either asked for or been victimized by these behaviors).
8.1.b.5.d. Sample comments: Joseph Sawat, Matanan clan:
Mi les long RD long operate long graun bilong mi. Mi les long Catholic Mission Tu.
Francis, Matanan clan: We can get many spin offs but it would replace the damage of our environment.
Leo, Seg clan: I as a chief of Seg clan; I don’t want RD continue operating on my land at Vidar; RD must pack up and go.
Amilus Mana: RD came and promised to bring services (school, boat, cars and water supply). But after six years of operation there is nothing been done. I don’t want RD to operate in my land; RD must go.
Patrick Manan: Before RD came we caught a lot of fish and supported our families, but after RD came we can’t afford to help our families.
Researcher: Why did you say that?
Patrick: Our land was taken away by the mission and now RD has taken away our sea, our only means for survival. I don’t know what will happen to our future generation. More, our daughters are involving [themselves] in the sex trade. I don’t want RD to operate on my soil, because we don’t get any benefits.
Researcher: Did you know that RD had a plan to buy a school bus? What do you think about that?
Patrick: We are living on the island; how would a bus operate to the island? Whatever promises RD would give to us, I wouldn’t accept it because all promises made by RD, they will never fulfill.
Clement Bam: RD had promised to bring development as my clansman said, but there is no implement[ation] process. That way I support the idea that RD should pack up and go back to the Philippines.
Gmarmatu clan leader, and church leader, age 68, is asked, Did the Mission give any help to the community?--Not until 1980, when people asked the Mission to improve the services to the principle landowners. The Mission promised to build a workshop. However, the promise wasn’t fulfilled. Due to that, many people turned against the mission, especially the young people.
Statement by Igi Yabu, former Seg Mission worker, born in Wewak, married and settled in Seg: Mi bin marit long hia long 1989 olsem na bai mi stori liklik long life bilong dispela komuniti bipo na after RD I kam. Nambawan samting mi lukim em taim RD ikam insait, wanpela o tupela yia, em samting igo orait. Bihain long em, em planti ol bagarap ikamap. Mi lukim life bipo em I moa better long nau RD istap. Mi hukim pis, mi salim na kisim moni, mi baim skul fi blong ol pikinini na mi gat moni blong mi yet tu. Nau em nogat. Mi save painim hat long skul fi. Namba tu pikinini blong mi ino pinisim grade 8 bilong em bikos mi nogat inap moni long pinisim skul fi blong em. Narapela samting em mi lukim em life blong dispela ples mipela save kisim long solwara tasol. Emi wanpela rot we mipela save kisim fast moni em long solwara. Na nau em mipela ino kisim bikos long bikpela bagarap ikamap bikos long RD fishing.
8.1. c. Seg Samalang Dun (SSD) Corporation
SSD is the Incorporated Landowner Company, established when RD first arrived. Because the Mission bid went to RD at Vidar without negotiations or an MOA/MOU with the landowners, RD supported the establishment of a landowner group through which worker and landowner complaints could be aired. The Directors of the company are leaders of the five clans of Kananam. They received business spin-offs from RD on the principle that their entire clans should benefit. Many informants say this has not been the case, and that the Directors took full control over the businesses, as good capitalists, harboring all the profits for their own families. Nothing in their agreements with RD stipulated what sort of benefits distribution was to be made to the general clan members.
The Seg Samalang Dun (SSD) key figures are: Chairman, Matthew Masbud and Vice-chair, Joachim Gunong. The Members consist of two appointed members of each landowner clan. SSD Corporation was founded to act as an umbrella business organization, representing the landowner interests in the following spin-off businesses: Trucking, stevedoring, catering, fisheries, building and maintenance, and security services. These were apportioned to the LO clans as follows:
1. Panufor clan—Charlie Tagau—Security
2. Gamarmatu—Matthew Masbud—Catering
3. Geuwanen—Joachim Gunan—Trucking
4. Matanan—George Malot—Building and Maintenance
5. Seg—Adolf Skarmai --Stevedoring
Matthew Masbud explains (paraphrased):
The concept of business is not known to the local people, they misunderstand how to run a business. Many clan leaders do not know business concepts, successful businesses are privately owned, or joint ventures. RD is a family company—Rodrigo and Delores Rivera. The Company has no work ethics, bench-marking systems, no code of conduct, corporate manual, work manual, etc—so give it another 5 years to work these things out. A majority of people in Kananam have false expectations of the company. Community services are the responsibility of the government and not RD. RD improves local people’s work attitude. RD is providing free transport services, and giving contracts to landowner companies. Company rates increase with the profit increases. RD gives 100% guarantee to spin off businesses, where landowners do not otherwise have financial backing. Any environmental problem is a national concern, such as reefs, seas, spills. It is a failure of the Provincial and National governments to address issues of the local people’s knowledge of working with investments such as RD. Localization is a problem of the company’s. The future of business management at RD is through a localization program, a move by SSD Corporation to attract the private enterprise, and to have Papua New Guineans work in the company’s management positions. All clan leaders are on the company’s payroll of K70. All landowner directors of SSD are on RD’s payroll of K100/fortnight. The social problems are minimal, such as stealing, and disruption of property by youth. RD provided school supplies to Alexishafen primary school and is also offering scholarships to five top up students in 2004. The company supports people who are ready to support themselves, such as supplying 27 water pumps [These pumps are not in use, have never been installed, but for one on Iduwan island; the remainder are now rusting]. Socially they are all better off without the company, due to prostitution, drunkenness, etc., but economically, compared with the Mission before it, RD has done well for the community. The benefit with RD for Kananam is with fishing really, not the Cannery—which belongs to the Siar and Nobonob people.
As the Vice-Chair of SSD, Joachim Gunang reports that he is not happy that the services provided by RD are not beneficial to the entire community. There was one RD-sponsored health clinic conducted, but it has had no follow-up. It is the same with the water pumps, he says. RD brought in water pumps but did not follow up and install them, so the project remains unfinished and rusting. Joachim also said he is happy the Cannery is moving to Vidar. But he raised the concern that the Company should look seriously at the benefits to traditional landowners.
8.1.d. Iduwad Landowners Association
Iduwad Landowners Association is the landowner group fighting against RD Tuna Fishing Company. Iduwad means the "Voice of the village." The Chairman of the Association, Mr. Francis Gem, is the former Advisory Director of the SSD, the Incorporated Landowner Company of the people of Seg (see above). He quit his position as Advisory Director, he explains, because SSD Directors were being paid fortnightly by the company. He recognized this as a ‘gag’ stratagem, and saw that this would prevent them from saying anything against the Company. Initially, RD formed the SSD to accommodate landowner concerns, and yet, according to Iduwad members, SSD Directors of the group were unsuccessful in negotiating with the Company to improve basic services to the people, so they felt compelled to form an alternate group.
8.1.d.1. Meeting with Iduwad Association 13/11/03
In attendance: ILA leaders include Ward Member (Councilor) James Sungai, Iduwad Chairman Francis Gem, Iduwad v/Chair John Debb, and Women’s leaders Alexia B. Tokau, and Cabrinie Kikai.
ILA (Iduwad Landowners Association) is a pressure group, a landowners group of Kananam villagers in the RD fishing area. It was formed to voice their concerns regarding environmental destruction, illegal practices such as smuggling in of Tanduay rum (a very strong alcohol – at 80% proof), and the social break down in the community as result of RD’s presence. Their focus is more communal than SSD’s, they say. SSD members are more concerned about short-term benefits and personal gains. It is the Incorporated Landowner Company supposed to be representing the people at large; but the Iduwad members say that is has not been the case. Those who wanted to raise the concern that SSD might be misrepresenting the people came together to fight for their rights, as Iduwad LA.
Kananam people have always depended on sea and land for survival, and even more so on the sea after their land was taken over by the Mission. Now RD Tuna has taken the sea. The population is growing, and they are locked into a dependency with these low wages from RD. The old barter system of food for clay pots with Bilbil, for instance, has been replaced by a new barter system of fruits for fish with Filipinos on ships, with the more recent replacement of sex for the fruit. Now they are demanding sex for the fish.
In 1996 ZZZ Fishing was the initial company, which was to operate a fish cannery here in Madang. However, ZZZ Fishing found it could not continue with the project. RD Tuna Company then came into the picture with their Fishing and Canning Companies. As the Government and RD have agreed, it is the responsibility of the Government to find land and sea for the company. The Catholic Church, without consulting the people of Kananam, auctioned the land where its plantations were operating and RD bought it for K3 million.
The traditional landowners claimed that their rights were denied since the 99-year lease expired about the same the land was sold to RD. The acquisition of the land by the first Catholic Missionary, Fr. Limbrock, was also not fair in the eyes of the traditional landowners. Their land was bought with an axe, bead necklaces coal tar. Meanwhile, the real landowners still have received nothing more than the beads, axes, metal pots, tar, mirrors and knives the Mission first handed over (some of those beads are now with Martin Kikai, Matanan clan leader).They blame the Church for an inadequate level of community development after all these years. Moreover, those payments were made to Futol from Seg Clan and Kasu from Gamarmatu clan, and they all agree that Futol was never a legitimate landowner. There was no formal agreement whatsoever, no more than a verbal understanding forged from hand signals between the parties.
From the 1960’s onward the Mission did little to help the community. Although it provided a school and a clinic, and small jobs, no direct assistance, such a water supply, was provided. They were restricted in the gardening to two small islands between the mission coconut plantations. It had been expected that the landowners would work in the mission and run services, as a benefit, but this did not occur. Then in the 1980’s there was a dispute between landowners and the missionaries over the return of the land (Paul Panu was present during the dispute meeting with church leaders and other locals). The landowners were not informed of the sale when it should have reverted to them rather than go to freehold. There was no compensation for the land at the initial handover, and now their land is fully occupied by the Mission, so they have no land to produce cash crops. The ZZZ Company did conduct an awareness campaign with landowners in readiness to buy the land. But the government then gave the land and fishing zones to RD. The transferal of ownership from mission to government to RD was never made known to the landowners; in fact, they first realized RD was coming at its ground-breaking ceremony.
Though the church did not provide direct benefits, it nevertheless only took the land, and left the sea in the hands of the traditional owners.
The business spin-offs were meant to go all members of the five Kananam clans, but they ended up in hands of a few individuals. RD offered to put all the Directors on the payroll but a few of the SSD Directors, like Francis Gem, withdrew and formed what is now Iduwad. According to Francis Gem, putting them on the payroll effectively gagged them from speaking against RD. SSD was caught up in self-interest, says James Sungai, who adds that the Company has successfully used a policy of divide and rule. Thus Kananam landowners are now broken into two groups, the SSD (Seg, Samalang, Dunn) landowners, the pro RD faction; and Iduwad, the splinter organization, against RD’s presence.
SSD directors are on an RD allowance of K200 per fortnight, and the LLG ward councilors in the company’s operation area receive allowances of K50 (some say K70) per fortnight. Spin-off business ventures have remained in the hands of these payrolled individuals. Iduwad members say the SSD landowners do not sufficiently represent all landowners, but their own families instead.
Problems are on the rise, and Francis feels they need to be addressed. These include:
1. Sea pollution caused by oil spills from the RD Fishing Vessels, killing marine creatures.
2. Destruction of reefs by these same vessels
3. Dumping of waste into the sea just beside the wharf
4. Dumping of waste in the near-by bushes and along North Coast road, filling the air with the nasty smell
5. Marital and sex-related problems, particularly sex trade and group sex
6. Spin-offs are in loan basis and employment in spin-offs like stevedoring is more working like slave than paid employment.
7. Very few are benefiting from these spin-offs since they have made them become their private businesses.
8. Illegal shipment of goods in and out of the country, example; strong alcohol like ‘Tanduay’
9. Illegal business activity like shelling of shark fins
Some say the spin-off businesses are failing anyway. One case referred to is the Catering Company run by Mathew Masbud, Chairman of SSD. In the start, he was cooking with a gas stove but now he cooks with firewood, a sign that business is not flourishing. It seems that one day these business activities will be taken over entirely by RD, as the Stevedoring Company has been.
Oil spills from the fishing vessels have polluted the sea, and in the month of April,2003, it is believed that a leakage of ammonia gas killed many sea creatures, and caused at least three people to report sick to Alexishafen Health Centre. People also add that dogs and pigs died because they ate the dead fish after this spill. All the waste from the Cannery is carried to Vidar and either burnt or dumped into the sea, sometimes being left to turn fetid in the dumping area.
Noise pollution has contributed to the decrease in the fish population, people believe. The fish are scared away because of the noise produced by the shipping vessels. It is also disturbing all the people in the vicinity of the Wharf. Many find the noise unbearable, especially when 5 or 6 fishing vessels are together in the harbor.
ILA wants the Company to close down its operations. Landowners have no land or sea to maintain their livelihoods now; their resources are very limited both in the sea and on the ground. RD’s working and employment conditions are also poor—they offer very low wages, and low contract rates with landowner companies. There was never an MOA or MOU with Kananam landowners and RD. And finally, the increase in social problems has been critical: a sex trade has intruded upon their old barter system; alcohol has become a problem; domestic disputes are on the increase; and migrants are putting even more pressure on the land. Even school children have lost interest in school now that they can make money trading with the ships’ crew.
8.1.d.2. Meeting with the Seg Clan, Mozdamor Village 14/11/03.
In attendance: 20 people (3 women):
One ILA Member (Anonymous) tells us:
Why mipela sampela I bin bruk away na lusim SSD em bikos ol RD I bin askim mipela olgeta SSD Directors long sainim wanpela paper we bai yumi ol directors bai stap long allowance olgeta taim. Mi lukim dispela kain na mi withdraw long SSD na kamapim Iduwad. Dispela allowance mi lukim em bai stopim mipela long toktok agensim company. Mi no inap save hamas ol SSD director istap now isave kisim long allowance. Mi bin wokim dispela samting. Olsem na mi no save hamas moni tru ol save kisim bipo. Tasol nau mi harim ol man isave tok olsem ol save kisim K200 plus.
(Why we broke away from SSD is because RD asked all of us Directors to sign a contract to be on a permanent allowance from them. I saw this and I withdrew to form Iduwad. This allowance would prevent us from saying anything against the Company. I don’t know how many Directors are still on their allowance. I did this, so I don’t know how much money they took in the past. But now I hear they get more than K200 a fortnight.)
Narapela reason why mipela sampela lusim SSD em bikos ol benefits I save kam long nem blong clans tasol mi lukim olsem planti samting em ol directors o save kisim. Olsem mi lukim ino stret na mi lusim SSD.
(Another reason why we left SSD was because all the benefits are in the clan names but we could see the Directors only got the benefits. I saw this wasn’t right so I left SSD.)
Narapela reason bihainim dispela em bikos ol lain nau husait istap yet long SSD, ol representim self-interest blong ol tasol na ino blong ol pipol. Mipela sampela i lukim dispela ino stret olsem na mipela lusim SSD na formim Iduwad Association long fight long rights blong ol pipol.
(Another reason for this was because those who are with SSD were representing their own self-interest rather than all the people’s. We saw this was wrong so we left to form Iduwad to fight for the rights of all the people.)
Iduwad Members report (paraphrased):
In the first place we were all happy to allow the RD Company to be established in our land, because RD promise to bring spin of benefits to the landowners. However, after six years of the operation we see there is no benefit at all.
Disputes have arisen amongst the clans; the sea has been polluted, (reefs changing color and dying, fish and sea animals dying}; wastes and oil have been dumped in the harbor, along with glass and plastic litter. Our traditional fishing grounds have been destroyed. And finally, women have been lured into a sex trade with the fishing vessel crewmen.
Rex Sarea says, "Green gold—their renewable resource [fish]--this company now has their green gold. It could have or should have paid people royalties or subsidies."
Leo Panu tells us, ‘Ol papa trutru blong graun itok ol ino laikim tru RD bai stap , olimas igo.’
8.1.d.3. Iduwan Island Meeting 14/11/03,
with forty in attendance (14 women):
Michael Koa, Sega clan (in paraphrase): After Second World War {1946} Mission did not recognized our land right and today RD took away our land and did nothing to us.
Augustan Sane (in paraphrase): The government did not consult the landowners. Landowner did not know of any environment plan, and didn’t know of any Memorandum of Understanding. The Papua New Guinea government has not addressed the social problems in our community, and RD Company promised to bring benefits to us, but after six years of operation we don’t have any. We get no response from government or the Company if we write any proposal for spin offs or small-scale businesses.
Patrick Makat, Village elder: "I don’t want RD to operate in my land."
Dick Manat, Youth Representative: "On behalf of youth in the island, I want RD to pack up and go."
Line Tun, Mothers Group: "Mi les long dispela company; mi laikim ground bilong mipela kambek long mipela."
Francis Gem, former Advisory Director of SSD, now Director of the Iduwan Landowner Association, says that spin offs will never solve the problems, especially the social and environmental problems.
Recommendations made by the Iduwad members are that the company halts operations until they improve conditions; a new management replaces the current RD management; and contract improvements be made in local business spin-offs with landowners.
Clans, and their representatives, with spin-off business:
1. Panufor clan—Charlie (Solly) Takau—Savalon Security
2. Gamarmatu—Matthew Masbud—Catering
3. Geuwanen—Joachim Gunan—Trucking
4. Matanan—George Malot—Building and maintenance
5. Seg—Adolf Skarmai –-Idbanag Stevedoring and by-catch fish sales
Charlie Tagau, Panufor clan, is Executive Director of SSD, a former village Councilor (1997) when RD first arrived, and when SSD was begun. As a landowner of Panufor clan, he received the security service spin off, now called Savalon Security (est.1997). Tagau’s firm employs about 30 men, not all from Panufon.
His discussion of the business is recorded as follows:
"I run a Security Company called Savalon Security Service, operating at Vidar wharf. To protect the interest of the RD company." "Did you come across any problem during the operation? "
"Yes, many times my guards got involved to stop the landowners to steal the fish from the boat. Sometimes I asked police to help me."
"Did your spin off benefit all the clan’s members? "
"Yes."
How did you distribute the money?
"We pay school fees, and hospital fees, and contribute to death (mortuary) feasts."
"Do you know of the existence of Iduwad Association? "
"Yes, but they were not real landowners."
"Why do you say that? "
"Because most of Iduwad executives are of mixed parentage’s."
"Do you why the Iduwad Association was formed? "
"Yes, because of they don’t like the way RD operation system."
"Did you try to settle the problem between SSD and Iduwad? "
"Yes, but they didn’t turn up when I sent the invitation."
"Did you know any pollution round the lagoon? "
"I don’t see any waste/oil."
"Do you know about sex trade?"
"No sex trade, but boy friends and girl friend."
"What do you thing about some cases of mixed babies? "
"Oh that not my problem."
"Have you seen any negative impacts of RD? "
"No, nothing."
"Do you see any positive impacts of RD? "
"Yes, they give spin offs to the landowners; job opportunities; make a name for Madang Province and PNG as well. They’ve brought new cash crop investments, and they have cut down criminal activities. RD is good company; even though [there is] now plenty opposition. But I believe RD will provide good service in the future."
Charlie went on to say (we paraphrase):
If Iduwad wants to fight RD they should not go on their own in their meetings. The councilor should be a neutral man and not join the Idawad Association. He should meet with the people and bring their concerns up to RD. The company bought 4 cars and gave them to the landowners, but the landowners buggered the cars. The SSD has advised the RD to continue with their plan to build the new mill factory. This will employ 5000 women at Vidar cannery, compared to the old cannery at Siar which employs only 300. They would build two dormitories that would cater to 85 women each at Maiwara. The contractors are Ela Builders.
RD initially told the people that if they need help, they must make a formal request. From this, landowners have come to assume that, at very least, proposal forms are required, and that they have not been given these.
Martin Kikai, Leader of Matanan clan, explains that the so-called catering spin off owned now by Matthew Masbud is supposed to be the Gamarmatu clan’s business, but it is not being run that way. It was also agreed that all Filipinos and RD workers would be having meals from this business. But it is not like that—instead, it’s more of a kai bar. Filipinos and RD workers have their own mess, elsewhere.
The sad thing about these spin-offs is that all these businesses are only on loan from RD. It seems that RD Tuna Company does not have landowner package and that was admitted by Joachim Gunong. He was given a used truck on loan by the RD, which he uses to carry the employees of RD to and from.
Joachim Gunan, Vice Chair of SSD, first wanted to start a trucking business with ZZZ, but they left. So he approached RD, and they gave him a secondhand truck (on an unsecured loan, 20.02.03) for his business. The truck, a secondhand Mazda Reg no MAC 959, given by RD with a K46,000 loan, means Joachim uses the truck and the money he makes goes toward repaying this loan. He can only make two runs a day for RD, so he also runs a passenger service to help repay the loan. (No matter how you crunch the numbers, this man is never going to make a profit.) He told RD that his clan should benefit from spin-offs, but they haven’t, which means they are also cross with him now. His trucking business charges K40 per trip to the company for tuna cannery workers and passenger fares. His driver gets K200 per fortnight; his boss crew gets K70 per fortnight. He is still paying off RD’s loan for the truck. When complete, he will push for better payment of his services. People have business plans, but no start-up money, he explains. If the company helped them, they could start businesses, too. The company gave him the truck without security, after that, he has had to struggle to make it work, though.
Joachim Gunang told us their first fight was for the land; it was what the whole Kananam Village was fighting for. He pointed out not all their land was given to the Catholic Mission, the Church seized it all without the landowners’ permission, and they then sold it to the Company.
Joachim made a proposal and gave it to RD so that he could run the trucking business spin off. Since RD was aware that he was a prominent figure in the village he was given a secondhand truck with a loan. He was not really happy that he was given the truck loan and also the fact that the truck was a used one. He complained that he could not make money by transporting RD workers to and from. In order the pay the loan back he needed to add a PMV service. That is how he now makes the extra money to pay his loan. He makes 2 trips a day, and for each trip he’s paid K40 by RD. His loan now stands at K46,000 and said that after repaying it he would dispute the K40/trip rate he’s been given.
According to him, those who own spin-off businesses are working cooperatively. They work closely with the Company and defend it in whatever way necessary. However, the Company is not fulfilling the needs of the landowners. They have negotiated with RD but there was no positive response at all. In his case, he, too, tries to defend the Company but he knows it is not fair they gave him a secondhand car with a loan for his business.
8.1.e.4. Building and Maintenance
George Malot, Matanan Clan, Building and Maintenance. Increasingly, RD has been using its own people to perform these functions; he believes his business is being phased out.
8.1.e.5. Idbanag Stevedoring and by-catch sales
Adolf Skarmai once ran the Idbanag Stevedores, and he says that they could not make enough money to pay the employees their fortnightly wages. There was no capital monies given to the local stevedoring company to kick-start the project. They paid K8/tonne, which means they are paid K200-K900 per shipment. Stevedoring’s contract rate is K1000 per/month, depending on work and tonnage per month, according to John Wasau, Supervisor of Stevedoring. John also says all rate/quotations/wages are determined by RD’s Port Manager. Stevedoring employee wages are K40/fortnight. RD makes further deductions in the spin-off businesses for working equipment and food, just as they do at the Cannery (70t per meal in the canteen, K8 for work boots). In the end of the day the Adolf and his clan didn’t make any money at all.
He then requested that the company give them their undersized and by-catch fish for sale. This would help pay the wages of the employees and also make a living. Their response was negative, claiming that all the by-catch fish were used for canning. Adolf then started buying the fish from RD at K2.50/kilo, which he would then sell at K2.80/kilo. But when RD saw his business, they, too, raised the price of their by-catch fish to K2.80/kilo, which squeezed out Adolf’s profit. Now he still sells the fish, but for no profit.
Faced with such a situation, they’ve been driven to steal fish. This led to a big fight with Guard Dog Security personnel when they were caught stealing fish. The company was terminated and RD took over the stevedoring work. Spin-off business rates with RD are very poor. They sell off the undersized fish at the high price of K2.50/kilo.
Alexishafen Health Centre serves the Seg community, and it is manned by Mission Sisters, with Sister Valsi Kurian as the Office In Charge.
8.1.f.1. Interview with Sr. Valsi Kurian, the Officer-In-Charge of Alexishafen Health Centre - 12/11/03:
Cases were reported and admitted in the health center during the end of April. It was believed that the people were affected/infected by the ammonia gas spill over the sea by one of the RD’s fishing vessels.
Below is the list of patients admitted:
1. Sabina (second name not given) – complaint: diarrhea & vomiting – admitted: 29/4/03
2. Josephine Kasi – complaint: food Poisoning – admitted: 30/4/03
3. Steven Ratengmai – complaint: food Poisoning – admitted: 30/4/03
(Sabina Sarea, of Dumunsek Island, speaks of vomiting and diarrhea when she fell from canoe and drank seawater at Dumunsek Island. She was admitted to Alexishafen Health Centre. Joe Tuaken from Seg clan lost his son, because he ate a contaminated fish. The son of Francis Gem, who washed in the oily sea and drank some of it, as a result vomited blood. )
According to the OIC, there are many reported cases of scabies, which people now have as a result of washing in the nearby sea. The Sister could not release other information regarding STD since this information is confidential. (Nursing Sisters later explained that, while they do not conduct STD testing, they believe there to be a rise in HIV infections since the arrival of RD.)
They have also noticed an increase in unwed girls becoming pregnant.
Although the Health Centre is in the vicinity of RD’s operations, the Sister said that, to date, they have not received any RD assistance. Asked if they requested assistance she said that she had made one request but there was no response.
Kananam people agree that the condition of the working environment at the Vidar base is very unhealthy—there is smelly, stagnant water on floor mixed with fish peelings, extracts, and flies. Only the gumboots, and hand gloves are worn by the workers there; they have no masks or hats [in the cool storage area—for the weighing of fish]. Most women at the Vidar plant are employed as stevedores--people who weigh and lift heavy fish trays, work which men should do only. This is affecting their health, giving them back strains, and general muscle and bone complaints. There is no Company policy for accident compensation, either.
Perhaps the biggest single health hazard occurred in the middle of this year, when fishing vessel 829 spilled ammonia gas into the sea. One of the ship’s crew (name withheld) admitted that in April of 2003 ship 829 poured ammonia gas into the Seg Harbor. That killed many marine creatures and also infected people in Kananam. The informant said that 2 children at the age of 14 namely Jerome Duakin and Frank Duakin were poisoned and admitted to the Alexishafen Hospital (see 30.4.2003 food poisoning admits above).
8.1.f.2. Interview with Tavei Village women working at Vidar 12/11/03:
When the Company wanted to start up they went and dried a well behind the plant, pumped the water, boiled it and put chlorine in it. It is used for drinking by the women workers, also used for washing fish and cleaning trays and knives. The tank water is only for the Filipinos. At first they gave tickets for drinks, and used to order biscuits from MST. They stopped and started ordering cold kaikai from Elwag. Most workers have sicknesses from these foods, including diarrhea, cough, headaches and vomiting. Some women also used to faint and fall down on the floor, injuring themselves. Those who have worked at the receiving where they used to cut the fish, many have had their fingers badly chopped or chopped off, but the company did nothing by way of compensation. They stand and work long hours and their legs swell up. During the night shift, many women have also been raped and held up in the settlement areas.
8.1.g.1. Interview with Alphonse Tengisa, Headmaster, St. Michael’s Primary School 14/11/03:
St. Michael’s Primary School is Catholic Agency School. It enrolls students from Kananam, Malmal, Riwo, Mabonob and the settlements (of plantation workers). Most students walk to school, and a small number arrive by car or canoe. When the current head of the school took office he realized they had a transport problem, and he wrote to RD seeking assistance in the form of a new school bus. However, the Company told them a school bus would be too expensive; and since then, they have not made any more requests for assistance. According to Mr. Tengisa, the school started to receive assistance anyway, after the Iduwad Association put pressure on RD. The first gift was a set of stationary donated in April of 2003. During the donation, the Company’s Community Relations Officer (CRO) also promised scholarships for the top five Grade 8 (top-up) students to continue through High School. RD also reconsidered its earlier decision and promised a new bus for the school in 2004. According to the CRO, this is only the beginning of RD’s commitment to the school.
The Headmaster pointed out Mr. Mathew Masbud hold several caps in the community. The two important ones are, Chairman of the PCA (Parents & Citizens Authority) and Chairman of SSD. Though, he holds these positions the school did not receive any assistance from RD prior to the existence of Iduwad as mentioned above.
Asked if some of the schoolgirls go exchange for fish, Mr. Tengisa replied that only once four girls went out to the ships to exchange. The next day he received complaints from the parents, so he summoned the girls into his office, warned them, and told them not to get involved with such activities. This was because he heard rumors that women were involved in what they call a sex trade.
Almost most of the students who left or were suspended from school were so because of unpaid fees. He stressed that the parents had ample time to prepare the school fees since 2002 was a year of free education. Further more the fees are below the PEB’s (Provincial Education Board) mark and the school fees stand as K150.00 for grades 7 & 8 and K40.00 for grades 3 – 6. Apart from school fee problem there is no other major problem. He pointed out that in order for the children to return to school they have to pay their outstanding fees.
St. Michael’s Primary School is based in Seg, and services Kananam and the surrounding communities. Headmaster Alphonse Tenggisa, and Deputy Headmaster Benny Ikuma, both spoke to our researchers. They confirmed that the school attendance numbers have gone down since RD arrived, which they believe to be caused mainly by a lack of money for school fees. This has prevented children from continuing on through higher education. The sea and land is being used by church and company now, prevent many members of the community from making cash for such expenses. Moreover, children do not have interest in school any longer because they are now busy trading for fish, befriending the men on ships, and generally following this new ‘next big thing.’ Still, most students do not leave school from the pressure of working trade with boats, but from the lack of school fees. When they are suspended for lack of fees, their parents cannot pay. Prior to 2001, the fees were national subsidized, which made it easy, and the school had expected parent to save for the following years’ fees, but this has not been the case. Nevertheless, the Provincial Education Board did assess the fees as below the norm: Fees are K150 for grades 7 and 8, K 40 for grades 1-6, whereas normally they would be K300 for grades 7 and 8, 150 for grades 3-6, and K40 for grades 1-6.
Alexishafen Primary School’s Headmaster tells us that his school has requested help from RD but been repeatedly rejected. First they wanted a school bus in 2001 for kids living distant to school. But this was knocked back. The first proposal was written to RD on advice of Mr. Stotic, the CRO of RD; Headmaster didn’t want to do it. Then Iduwad Association finally pressured RD and they gave help to the school in form of stationary goods. In addition, they have now pledged scholarships to the first five best top-up students in grade 8, and a school bus for the coming year---but this was 2003, and the bus has not arrived. Their only objection to the scholarships is that RD promises to sponsor any students from any province in the school as long as they are in the top 5; once again, this is meritocratic rather than landowner-preference criteria. After the exam, RD and the school will signed with the top 5 students.
Benekison Sem, Matanan Clan, Kananam Village, tells us (paraphrased here):
Half the children go to school and half stay in the village. Many kids want to go for exchange foods with fish instead of going to school. The families find it hard to raise the money for school fees because our assets (land and sea) for getting the money are spoiled by RD Company and the Catholic mission.
The participation and attendance in Church is very poor. They said that the RD Company is part and partial of these problems occurring in their community. Youths, married men and married women don’t go to church because they have to sleep and rest because of the night’s discos. Parents do no longer have control over their children as they used to do before.
Sister Vincent Dinmar, House Superior Nun, Kananam, says the positive impacts of RD have been bringing in cash and offering employment. But the negative impacts have been a lower church attendance, a fall-off of villagers working in their gardens, more young kids smoking marijuana, a lack of respect toward church workers, young women are having unwanted pregnancies, and there is now a sex trade for fish with the fishing crew men. We ask, Has RD given any assistance to the church? She tells us, "Nothing."
Sister Louise Marie (from Bougainville) tells us that the benefits of RD include revenue for the government, employment for the young, and a transference of fishing skills and knowledge. Kananam Sister Vincent says Church participation is very low; according to the sisters the religious faith of the locals is very poor. Sister Vincent sees RD as the cause; they introduced money and now money is the main focus of the people’s lives.
In the 80s and 90s the participation and attendance in the church was high. Before RD arrived, many people were involved in the church organizations (Mother groups, Youths and Communion, and Sport groups). However, this dropped between 200 and 2003. There is a land dispute between the locals and the Catholic mission (she doesn’t know the details). Sister Vincent says Vidar land and bay belongs to the Catholic Church. The provincial government asked the church for it. There was no assistance from the company to the church in Alexishafen. She believes her views are representative of all the sisters’.
Holy Spirit sisters say Vidar land, bay and plantation were supposed to be given to the landowners. But they (landowners) did not really care for it, so the church gave it to the Madang Provincial Government.
Paul Bai, Tavei Community church leader. Paul was working with the church since 1964. He was the church leader of Alex Holy Spirit church. According to Paul, before the 80s, he saw that people’s faith was very strong. But it started to drop in the 1990s. This is because of the promises of the mission to give workshops, sawmill and tools to the landowners, which never eventuated. There was a land dispute after the 1980s because mission didn’t fulfill its promises. Paul Bai: Youths are now beginning to dislike the church—resent it. In 2000, church participation dropped. According to Paul, it could be the cash or other churches that are diverting the flock. As one of the clan leaders Paul said that the locals and the landowners were not aware of the land lease from the church to the MPG. Paul Bai: Marriage: Before, many people received the sacrament of marriage in the church. Today, not so. There are also marital problems in the community. Paul Bai: But there are water tanks now installed by EU, which might be the initiative of the church.
Sister Mildred (who is Filipino) points out the employment, government revenues, and the skill transferences that all benefit the community. Yet the disadvantages are that young girls exchange themselves for soft drinks from the crew. The Filipino crewmen now have family friends in village. Since the ships have come, they also experience a lot more noise, both from the ship engines and the crew radios. This has eliminated the quiet time they used to enjoy for prayer.
When the Missions first arrived they created small-scale manufacturing shops—a sawmill, a mechanic shop, a book shop (Stella Press). According to the Sisters, many locals were employed in these enterprises. But because of an increase in theft by the local people, these small businesses one by one began to close.
The community has a good relationship with the Sisters. If there is a Church celebration the local people participate, and if there is a village funeral, the sisters go and sit with the mourners. They are involved, they say. The Sisters do say that young boys come and break and enter their convent. This began well before the arrival of RD, but it has been on the increase since. Village leaders are struggling to get a handle on the youths, and the Sisters acknowledge this. They say the reason they youth break and enter is because they’re angry that the Mission closed down the sawmill, mechanic shop and other small scale industries. They break in to steal goods from the sisters like VCRs, TV and videos, which they sell to get money.
They also break and enter for food from the sisters’ kitchen, their common place, because they are also hungry. The people are not happy with the Mission having taken their land and not providing them with any development services, the Sisters say. They therefore feel they can do whatever they like in return. Their original grievance has now been exacerbated by the growing need for cash.
Sister Louise Marie (Bougainville) lists the negative impacts of RD: Women selling their bodies for fish and other goods; parents allowing daughters to sell their bodies; church attendance falling to half since RD arrived; young people no longer showing respect for their elders; noise pollution from ships; pollution of the sea from oil; and an increase in HIV/AIDs.
The Mission sisters, as young women, go out into the villages once a week and help local mothers to cook. They also help them prepare herbal medicines—namely Sister Pauline. Sister Pauline goes out to villages once a week to help women with cooking and the use of herbal medicines. Also the novices go to the outstations like Riwo and Tulidik to give awareness talks. Many women are happy with the sisters’ work, and men are also taking part. But the standard of living is still poor, they say, and the villages are not clean. The Sisters say that RD is creating laziness. Most youths are lazy because they have easy access to fish for sale. Meanwhile, the traditional fishing skills are being lost.
The Sisters overheard a rumor that by 2006 the Council would remove the Mission, but the Mission has said they will renew their lease.
Benedict Sim, Matanan Clan, Kananam Village, explains: "Taim bifo ol mission ino kam yet, ol tumbuna papa ol istap gutpela tru. Taim ol mission ikam, ol kastom blong mipela em ol mission rausim. Bifo God givim mipela gutpela kastom tru. Bifo mipela isave isi kisim ol bikpela pis long kaikai. Mipela istap gut tru, kaikai planti abus ikam ikam na taim RD ikam, sori, dispela pis em mipela ino lukim now. Taim mipela ikarem supsup igo long nambis, mipela ino painim wanpela pis na wankain tu long taim bilong dive em mipela ino save kisim wanpela gutpela bikpela pis olsem bifo."
Seg Ward Councilor, James Sungai, adds (in paraphrase): From the beginning of the cannery establishment, there have been a lot of environmental impacts: the color change of corals, wastes dumped at Vidar attracting sharks and crocodiles, fish being contaminated and some children fishing were affected with stomach aches. In 2003 there was an ammonia spill in the sea by RD, and yet compensation for it was given to the mission, not the landowners. The mission was not ceded the sea by the original landowners, so they have no right to take compensation for it. There has been a complete disregard for landowners in this matter.
Leo Afkel, Chair, Committee for Iduwan Island, also says (in paraphrase): Our island is right in front of RD Vidar base where oil spills, it’s smelly and rubbishy, and plastic rubbish bags visible. We feel the effects more than other villages. Dead fish stinks on our shores where people bathe. The noise factor is terrible—from ships and from the generator at night. When RD Tuna had not yet come, we were able to catch around 70 fish a day, and now we catch no more than 5-10. Noise pollution and the bright lights of the ships are scaring off fish from the reefs where a good variety of fish used to swim. Now we cannot catch anywhere near the same amount.
Holy Spirit Sisters at Seg Mission complain of the oily sea, that they can no longer swim. They report that the noise of ships and the music the crews play, especially during RD fortnights, is terrible.
Solly (Charlie) Takau’s views on RD (in paraphrase): There has been no pollution; an oil spill in the seas was mixed with water and neutralized. I have not seen any damage to environment.
Alexia Bai says (in paraphrase): Before RD came, we lived in peace, our husbands went out to fishing and caught a lot of fish. Some, we sold for the money to pay schools fees and other needs. But today we can’t go for fishing because our water is polluted and the noise of the engine of RD fishing disturbs fish in the bay, we’ve found hard to catch any fish.
Comments from Francis Gem, Kaguz ples, Kananam: "Taim company I start na kam inap nau, ol fish I wok long pinis na ol reef tu i wok long dai. Mi yet mi bin lukim ol jelly fish i bin dai na drip nabaut long sea, ol clam shell i bin dai na drip lusim shell blong oli kam antap, na ol maleo (eel) i dai na drip tu. Mipela yet mipela lukim olosem bikpela bagarap tru ikamap. Wanpela pikinini blong mu tu i bin waswas long solwara mix wantaim oli na i bin dring liklik oily sea. Dispela i mekim emi trautim blut igo inap tulait na mipela bringim em igo long haus sik."
Augustine Sanat, of Iduwan Island, Kananam says: "Mipela ol papa blong graun imas save long environmental plan blong company bipo long company ikam insait. Mipela ol papa blong graun ino save company i sainim MOU o MOA wantaim husait papa blong graun na nau company ikam insait."
People report that fishes, and other marine creatures like clams, have been found dying.
There were oil spills from the RD vessels, which polluted the sea for some time, as reported by Sr. Valsi. According to her, the situation has improved because they (Health Workers) raised complaints to the management of RD.
One of the ship’s crew (name withheld) admitted that in April of 2003 ship 829 poured ammonia gas into the Seg Harbor. That killed many marine creatures and also infected some people in Kananam.
According to Alexia Bai, a woman leader in Kananam, the presence of RD has caused many problems for peoples’ livelihoods. The sea is full of oil, no fish in the sea, the numbers have dropped, and women are unable to feed their families. For women, fortnightly pay from RD is not able to satisfy household needs. Daughters who work in RD no longer respect their parents, and they become involved in prostitution for fish. Regular domestic disputes arise form this. Women workers at the Wharf are also asked to do the tough jobs such as carrying trays of fish.
Barter trade was part of practiced economic system since their ancestral days. The main commodity used was fish, which they trade from the people inland Mabonob and Halopa. They used the food (yam & taro) to trade with the people in Yabob and Bilbil for clay pots. These clay pots are then traded with the people in Karkar for pigs and galip nuts. However, since the introduction of modernity the trade system started to fade away.
The arrival of RD also had impact on this traditional system trade. The people, mainly women of Kananam go to the RD ships to exchange vegetable and other items with the crews for fish. However, exchanged for vegetables for fish was for some replaced by what many have described as "sex trade". Sex trade has led to social breakdown. Local leaders tried to find measures to control the situation but find it quite hard. The Ward Member Mr. James Sungai said that when the Catholic Mission took all the good fertile land. The sea was in the hands of the traditional landowners. They did not worry too much cash cropping since they could earn cash by selling fish. The arrival of RD was a total destruction because they took both the land and sea. That forced the women to go into sex trade. That has contributed towards marital problems. We told that there are two half-caste children in Kananam as result of such sex activities happening when women go to the RD ships trying to exchange their vegetables and other items for fish.
We were also told that women also go there to the ship crews to buy cigarette packets, which they later sell. We were told that the ship crews illegally bring in 4 brands of cigarettes, one of them is champion. Police taskforce sometimes raids the women while selling the illegal cigarettes and confiscate them. The women do not if the police personnel raid the ships, arrest and charge the ship crews who illegally bring in these products.
The traditional barter system has generally turned into a sex trade. The traditional exchange system of food for fish from RD ships’ crewmen is now converted to an exchange of by-caught fish with the women in Kananam. The RD crewmen eventually refused exchanges of food, preferring to exchange fish for sex with the local women.
Barter system in terms of sex trade has brought a lot of social problems to the community. Problems such as divorce and other marital problems. Our only way to survive has been to get fish from the sea. And if the ladies refuses she and her family have nothing to eat. This is because all our land has been taken by the Catholic Mission and so we don't have any good land to make gardens.
Most women in this village trade for fish on the vessels. They trade garden food for fish, and then sell it at Seg and Sagalau markets. But most fish are poor quality, some are broken, bagarap alittle. There are still exchanges of goods going on with the Filpinos on board, also.
The worst impact from RD that the Sisters Vincent have seen or heard about is ladies earning their living by sex with RD crews on ships. They have seen canoes with ladies going out to the vessels at night and coming back in the early hours of the next day. Seg Sister Valsi Kurian says she has seen young women carrying food in canoes and going to the ships but she does not know what happens there. She knows things are happening but cannot say what they are.
Eunice Akuani says she once went on a trip in the night to exchange a packet of smokes and 4 cans of coke with fish on the RD ships. She and the other women were new to the trade and had to wait for several hours before someone noticed them. They traded the smoke first with 2 big fish and then had to wait again for an hour before exchanging the cans of coke.
The fish the women get from sex is much bigger than those traded for smokes, canned drinks, etc. For the fruits, smoke and drinks they get small damaged fish. But in exchange for sex they would get loads of good fish. There are ladies who always exchange sex for trade, not all women do it. These popular women have partners on board, both national and Filipino. When they see their partner’s ship come in, they go out to the ships. Others go out anytime with anyone.
Women in the village do not go for exchanges at night, only during the day, because the men restrict them. Sex trade is happening in this area but people are ashamed of saying so, despite what they’ve seen. Lots of meetings held in village regarding sex trade, but no change has happened. Women still going to the ships for sex. Plenty of women in Kananam doing this, it is the cause of many broken marriages. It is obvious where and who is engaged in this sex trade. Some have been encouraged by it to leave school or forget their education. Most children, especially young primary school children who follow these young ladies or women are influenced by it.
Sept 2003 Filipinos came twice for visits with women, but the villagers removed them. They do not want them to come now because they have done nothing good for the community.
The Kananam Village Recorder tells us: Ol pikinini ol save go long ship blong RD long senisim ol fruits na ol kaikai wantaim ol wokman blong sip long pis. Ol save go kisism pis ikam na ol yet isave go na marketim. Ol lukim dispela iving em gutpla more long go long skul. So wanpela samting nau em ol mas lus tinting long skul na go kam long dispela. Wanpela samting we em wanpela major problem tu em ol school fees. Dispela em bikos long nau, mipela inogat wanpela hap more long kisim money na live or baim school fee blong ol pikinini. Dispela em bikos mipela inogat more wanpela hap more long kisim money na live. Only means means we mipela save live em solwara blong mipela taso we mipela save kisim pis na salim na baim ol school fees na narapela samting. Tasol nau company ikam, mipela ino save go more long dispela hap. Mipela nau istap olsem ol man ikam na settle istap we mipela inogat graun na solwara blong mipela. Dispela trade isave kamap olgeta taim. Em long nait san wantaim.
Mipela igat tupela pikinini hap kas Filipino ikamap pinis. Wanpela em boy na wanpela em girl. Boy em nem blong em Gregory na mama husait ibin karem em nem bilong em Kodula Bap, em blong Geunen clan. Na pikinini meri em nem bilong em Talisa na mama blong em Alexia. Dispela barter system wantaim ol Filipinos nau em ol Filipinos ino more laikim ol goods. Ol mama na ol meri mas salim body blong ol na bai ol Filipino givim pis long ol.