原文

The last of the sea nomads

The last of the sea nomads

For generations they havelived on the ocean, diving and fishing, and rarely setting foot on land.But now they risk destroying the reefs that sustain them…

DianaBotutihe was born at sea. Now in her 50s, she has spent her entire lifeon boats that are typically just 5m long and 1.5m wide. She visits landonly to trade fish for staples such as rice and water, and her boat isfilled with the accoutrements of everyday living – jerry cans, blackenedstockpots, plastic utensils, a kerosene lamp and a pair of pot plants.

Diana is one of the world's last marinenomads; a member of the Bajau ethnic group, a Malay people who havelived at sea for centuries, plying a tract of ocean between the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.The origins of the Bajau diaspora are recounted in the legend of aprincess from Johor, Malaysia, who was washed away in a flash flood. Hergrief-stricken father ordered his subjects to depart, returning onlywhen they'd found his daughter.

Over generations, the Bajau adapted to their maritime environmentand, though marginalised, their knowledge was revered by the great Malaysultans, who counted on them to establish and protect trade routes.They are highly skilled free divers, plunging to depths of 30m and moreto hunt pelagic fish or search for pearls and sea cucumbers – a delicacyamong the Bajau and a commodity they have traded for centuries.

Since diving is an everyday activity, the Bajau deliberately rupturetheir eardrums at an early age. "You bleed from your ears and nose, andyou have to spend a week lying down because of the dizziness," saysImran Lahassan, of the community of Torosiaje in North Sulawesi,Indonesia. "After that you can dive without pain." Unsurprisingly, mostolder Bajau are hard of hearing. When diving, they wear hand-carvedwooden goggles with glass lenses, hunting with spear guns fashioned fromboat timber, tyre rubber and scrap metal.

The number of Bajau living on traditional lepa-lepa boats (narrow,high-prowed vessels, highly prized among the region's coastalpopulations) is dwindling fast, however. Nomadism has always been atodds with the fixed boundaries of the nation state, and over the lastfew decades controversial government programmes have forced most Bajauto settle on land. Today, many live in stilt villages such as Torosiaje,though the settlement is unique in that it lies a full kilometre out tosea.

Ane Kasim and her son Ramdan spend sixmonths at a time on their lepa-lepa, subsisting on whatever they canharvest from the reefs. At dusk, they gather with the other boats in thelee of a small island, beside a mangrove forest where the water iscalm. They build small fires in the sterns, grilling crustaceans andboiling thin mollusc stews. Their connection with the naturalsurroundings is vital: "I love being at sea – fishing, rowing, just feeling everything, the cold, the heat," Ane says.

It's not an easy life. Most lepa-lepa have rudimentary engines, butAne can't afford one. "When I go to Torosiaje, I have to row. We don'thave anything; my husband died from the cramp." She means decompressionsickness, or the bends. These days, those who can afford it dive usingcompressors. Air is pumped through a garden hose so divers can go deeperfor longer – 40m or more. Unaware of the need to restrict theirexposure to pressure, countless Bajau have ended up crippled or killedby deadly nitrogen bubbles in their bloodstream.

The practice continues, however, becauseit's lucrative – especially when potassium cyanide is involved. Cyanidefishing was first introduced in the Philippines by Hong Kong fishingboats looking for reef species such as grouper and Napoleon wrasse tosatisfy seafood restaurants' rising demand for live fish. It quicklyspread throughout the CoralTriangle, a bio-region that spans six south-east Asian countries and ishome to the planet's greatest diversity of marine species, including76% of all known corals. Divers use plastic bottles to puff poisonousclouds at target species, stunning them and damaging the coral habitat.Today, the industry is worth upwards of $800m a year, according toresearch by WWF.

Torosiaje used to be flanked by teemingreefs; now there are only wastelands of broken coral, the legacy ofyears of dynamite and cyanide fishing. It's a common story throughoutthe Coral Triangle – communities destroying the environment thatsustains them, driven by voracious global markets. Thankfully, thingsare beginning to change. Charities such as WWF and Conservation Internationalare helping create marine management programmes that encouragesustainability through no-fish zones and a return to traditional fishingmethods. It is often the Bajau who pass on such programmes to localcommunities.

Traditional Bajau cosmology – a combination of animism and Islam –reveals a complex relationship with the ocean, which for them isa multifarious and living entity. There are spirits in currents andtides, in coral reefs and mangroves. Such reverence and knowledge couldbe used to conserve rather than destroy.

译文

最后的海上游牧部落

这群人世代生活在海洋上，潜水和打鱼，很少踏上陆地，然而现在，他们却冒着生命的危险去破坏让他们赖以生存的珊瑚礁 ... ...

大海的孩子：恩耐尔与他的宠物鲨鱼
黛安娜•波图提贺是在大海上出生的，如今已经年过半百，她的一生都是在宽1.5米长5米的小船上度过的。她只有在用捕捉来的鱼去换取大米或需要添加饮用水的时候才会上岸，她小船上日常生活用品一应俱全：坛坛罐罐、被烟熏得乌黑的锅子、塑料器皿、煤油灯，此外还有若干盆栽植物。
戴安娜属于世界上最后的海洋游牧民族巴礁族中的一个成员。多少世纪以来，该民族一直生活在海上，游走于菲律宾、马来西亚和印尼之间的水路上。巴礁族散居四方的起源可以在讲述马来西亚柔佛国一位公主的传说中得到印证。当公主被突如其来的洪水卷走后，悲痛欲绝的父亲遣散了他的臣民，要求他们找到他女儿之后才能返回家园。
历经数代的时光变迁之后，巴礁人适应了周围的海洋环境，虽然他们被边缘化了，但他们积累的海洋知识依然受到马来大苏丹的尊崇，后者在建立和保护海水贸易路线时经常要采纳他们的建议。巴礁人掌握着娴熟的自由潜水技巧，深入30米的水下追逐鱼群或捡拾珍珠和海参完全不在话下。海参不仅是巴礁人餐桌上的美食，而且也是他们经营了几百年的商品。
由于潜水是巴礁人一项司空见惯的日常活动，所以他们从小就会故意刺破自己的耳膜。印度尼西亚北苏拉威西省Torosiaje社区的伊姆兰•拉哈桑介绍说，“你的耳朵和鼻子会血流不止，因为头晕目眩，你不得不在床上躺一个星期，从此，你潜水时痛苦就不会再与你相伴。”难怪许多巴礁族老人听力都不太好。巴礁人潜水时都会佩戴镶着玻璃镜片手工雕刻的木质护目镜，手持利用船上废旧材料改制的渔叉。
然而，目前生活在传统的lepa-lepa船上的夭人数量正在急速下降。曾几何时，这种船体狭窄，船头上翘捕鱼工具在沿海地区普遍受人追捧。随着印度尼西亚边界的确定，政府在过去几十年中不断迫使渔民上岸定居，虽然这些政策备受争议，但海上游牧方式已经日益式微。如今，许多人已经生活在如Torosiaje那样的棚屋聚集的村庄。这种定居方式十分独特，因为村庄距离大海足足有一公里的路程。
安妮•凯西姆同她的儿子拉姆丹曾经在这样的村庄居住了6个月，他们的生活来源是采集珊瑚礁里任何可以采集的东西。傍晚时分，他们与其他船只一起停靠在一座小岛附近风平浪静的红树林边。他们在船尾生火启灶，或炙烤海贝，或煮炖海鲜。对于他们，与大自然亲近是须臾不可或缺的：“我喜欢生活在海上，捕鱼划船，感受冷热变化，” 安妮说。
这种生活显然不太容易。大多数的lepa-lepa都配备了最低限度的发动机，但安妮家里却装不起。“每当去Torosiaje，我总是划船而行。我们一贫如洗，丈夫死于抽筋。”其实她所说的应该是减压病。现在，有些钱的都会购买压缩机来帮助潜水。把压缩空气通过花园软管输送给潜水员能使他们下潜的更深的地方（超过40米）待得更长。由于巴礁人对暴露在高压下的限制条件认识不足，许多人因为血液中充斥了致命的氮气泡儿导致残疾或毙命。
然而，类似的做法层出不穷，因为有利润的诱惑，尤其是利用氰化钾来捕捉海产品的时候。氰化物捕鱼法最早由香港鱼船引入菲律宾地区，目的是为了捕捉生活在珊瑚礁丛中的石斑鱼和苏眉，用以满足海鲜酒楼对活鱼的高增长需求。此方法很快就传遍了珊瑚礁三角区。该生物区面积广阔，跨越东南亚6个国家，是地球上海洋物种多样性最丰富的区域，已知珊瑚有76％都集中在这里。捕鱼时，潜水员用塑料瓶对准目标物种喷洒有毒的云雾，这种做法不仅使鱼类晕头转向，也破坏珊瑚栖息地。根据世界自然基金会的研究分析，如今该行业的产值每年高达8亿美元。
Torosiaje海域以往丛生的珊瑚礁生机盎然，如今在炸药和氰化物使用过的地方珊瑚礁破败不堪，成了荒凉之地。整个珊瑚礁三角区都在讲述相同的故事：在贪婪的全球市场驱动下，当地人正在破坏维持自己赖以生存的环境。值得庆幸的是，现在情况开始发生了变化。世界自然基金会和自然保护国际等慈善组织正在帮助创立海洋管理规划，鼓励在无鱼区建立可持续的开发方案，同时让渔民回归传统的捕鱼方法。在把这些方案向当地人推销时巴礁人往往时不可或缺的角色。
传统的巴礁宇宙论是泛灵论和伊斯兰教的结合，它揭示了人与海洋的复杂关系。对他们来说，海洋是一个纷繁复杂的生命活体，水流、潮汐、珊瑚礁乃至红树林都是有灵魂的。这种认知和敬畏应该用来保护而不是糟蹋大自然。

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