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YSHPO is
aware that only a few elders still have the knowledge to build
and maintain aech, and it is investigating apprentice training
programs so the knowledge can be passed on. The training
program and an aech restoration program needs funding and
YSHPO is pursuing a number of options. If you are aware of
sources of funding that might be pertinent, please let us know
by contacting YSHPO at +691 350 4226 or at
yaphpo@mail.fm
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In 2008, Yap State Historic Preservation Office (YSHPO) commenced
a project to survey the fish weirs (aech) around the main
island of Yap. The aech is a stone/rock structure, usually
in the shape of an arrow (many have a shaft, some do not), that
catch fish after they move inside a catchment area at high tide
and are trapped when the tide goes out. It is thought 700-800
aech may be located around Yap's main island which has a
coastline of about 100 km in circumference.
The aims of the aech project were to investigate and
document what is known about the aech and make
recommendations about their restoration and reuse. It was
considered that the project could help to revitalise this fishing
practice, and the associated traditions and customs. It was also
known that many of the aech histories and how the aech were
built and used were being lost with the passing away of the elders
and there was an urgent need to document this information before
more was lost.
This website has been developed to promote this unique Yapese
heritage. While other countries throughout the Pacific and in some
other parts of the world use a similar fishing technique employing
fish weirs, no-where else would it appear as extensive or
inclusive in the social, cultural and natural world, as in Yap.
This project has found the Yap aech to be a 'sustainable
fishing method' using 'traditional ecological knowledge and
practices' that, in this day of dwindling fish stocks and the need
to live in harmony with our environment, is a pathway for Yap and
other parts of the world toward sustainable fishing.
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