Fishing Lore of Tobi. Peter W. Black 1968, 2017

Day Fishing Method 35: Biyeu
Esobio

Build a trap. Takes two or three men 3 or 4 days.

The roof is 2 feet high and 2 feet across. Shaped as shown.

Side view roof—

The door is V shaped. Build the door on one end. 6 inches of each wing are made of sticks. The rest—18 inches—are made of coconut roots. Door is 2 feet high and 2 feet across. The trap is 10 feet long, 6 feet wide, 5 feet high.

Top view door—

Floor plan—

End view—

It takes approximately 200 ¾-inch sticks of Fariyap—apple—to build this trap, plus 80 2-1/2 inch pieces of coconut root. You take the roots from 2 or 3 mature trees without killing them.

Side view of one wing door—

Tie the trap together with fiber. Do not use nails. Lash a 20 pound rock on each corner so it hangs down one foot.

Dive down on the edge of the reef at low tide and tie a 60 fathom 1 inch coconut fiber line.

Take the Biyeu out past the reef and tie the rope onto its top in the middle. Take the Biyeu out until the rope is tight then ease it over the side of the canoe.

Leave it for 3 days.

Catch any kind of reef fish, up to 500 of them.

Esobio never made a Biyeu. He saw them being made before Japanese times. They used to have a magic to make the fish come.

On the day you take out the trap you should not eat or drink, or touch your wife. After you bring the trap in, you must remain in your canoe house, you can’t go fishing or leave the immediate neighborhood for one month.

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Fish traps on Tobi Island as recorded by members of the Thilenius Expedition, 1908-1910:

Large fish trap (Eilers, 1936 plate 2):



Southwest beach with large canoe, canoe house, and fish traps.  (Photograph by A. Kramer, Eilers, 1936 plate 6):



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Updated: December 28, 2020