Stone tidal weirs (STWs) are structures built from stone or coral elements on tidal flats to trap fish as the tide recedes. For generations, these weirs have supported livelihoods in coastal societies across Island Southeast Asia and the Pacific by providing food through shared, low-impact fishing practices. Building and maintaining STWs requires detailed knowledge of tides, currents, shoreline conditions, and fish behaviour, as well as collective labour and cooperation within the community. Today, this material knowledge is rapidly disappearing as older fishers retire, younger generations pursue other livelihoods, and coastal environments change.
This project documents STWs as a living material knowledge system. We examine how these structures are built, used, and maintained, and how knowledge about their placement and function is passed on. We focus on the Cuyo Archipelago in the Philippines, where STWs remain within living memory, but the physical structures as well as the knowledge to construct them are now eroding.
Building on existing relationships with local collaborators and knowledge holders, we combine high-resolution aerial mapping using UAVs, interviews with fishers and elders, participant observation in intertidal areas, underwater survey, and the documentation of STW construction.
This integrated approach allows us to record the physical structures as well as the community knowledge and decision-making processes behind them, while contributing valuable resources for future research and cultural heritage work.
PI: Manuel J.H. Peters
Collaborators: Cynthia Neri Zayas; Aldrin P. Lee; Grace Barretto-Tesoro
Research Location: Cuyo Archipelago, Sulu Sea, Philippines
Host Institution: Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology
Top Banner Image: Stone tidal weirs in Cuyo Archipelago. Photo credit: Ronald C. Palay and Aldrin P. Lee, 2021.