Mass capture fishing in the Marquesas Islands

Bibliographic Data

ID6038474
AuthorsReno Nims (0000-0002-4584-3170, Portland State University, Research & Graduate Studies Portland USA), Patricia Pillay (0000-0002-4286-5657, Te Pūnaha Matatini New Zealand), M S Allen (0000-0001-5041-5106, Te Pūnaha Matatini New Zealand)
Year2024
Volume59
Issue2
Pages234-250
Publication date2024-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueArchaeology in Oceania/Archæology & physical anthropology in Oceania (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0728-4896 • E-ISSN: 1834-4453
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/arco.5320
OpenAlexW4395069927
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited53

Mass capture of small fishes with a variety of nets, traps, and weirs was widely practiced and economically important across East Polynesia at western contact. Archaeological research, however, has suggested these technologies were less important during the early settlement period and gained prominence over time. Several explanations have been proposed, including resource depression, changes in marine environments, and/or social and economic reorientations. In the Marquesas Islands, pelagic and offshore fishes were historically well represented in early assemblages relative to most Polynesian islands. Here we report on fishbone assemblages from Nuku Hiva Island that were recovered with fine mesh screens, identified using a wide range of skeletal elements, and analysed with morphometric methods. The Hakaea Beach results demonstrate that mass capture of small fishes was especially important at this locality and sustained over three early, successive occupations. These patterns may reflect the nature of the local fisheries, preferential use of high‐return capture strategies in this reef‐limited setting, and/or purposeful avoidance of ciguatera‐prone fishes and a preference for less vulnerable fishes. Overall, our findings highlight geographic variation in early Marquesan fisheries and provide archaeological evidence that mass capture technologies had an important place in the maritime toolkits of the earliest East Polynesian fishers

Benthic zone · Biology · Fishery · Fishing · Geography · Pelagic zone · Range (aeronautics · Reef · Resource (disambiguation · Submarine pipeline · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Isotope Analysis in Ecology · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Geology · Oceanography

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