Article

The boats of local origin employed in the Malayan fishing industry. {In Papers on Malayan fishing methods

From Munshipedia, the MBRAS digital historical encyclopedia

The boats of local origin employed in the Malayan fishing industry. {In Papers on Malayan fishing methods

C. A. Gibson-Hill’s “The boats of local origin employed in the Malayan fishing industry” (1954) is the third and final paper in the MBRAS monograph Papers on Malayan Fishing Methods, following T. W. Burdon’s account of Singapore fishing methods and M. L. Parry’s study of Kelantan and Trengganu. Gibson-Hill, a long-standing contributor to the journal and authority on Malayan material culture, extends his earlier 1950 study of Singapore fishing boats to a peninsula-wide treatment of indigenous vessel types, their construction, and their functional relationship to specific fishing methods.

Summary

This paper completes the monograph’s tripartite structure by addressing the vessel dimension of the fishing industry that the preceding two papers treat from the perspective of gear and technique. Gibson-Hill’s scope encompasses the principal boat types of local design employed across the Malayan coast, from the small sekochi and kolek kuch of the east coast to the larger perahu payang and kolek selat used in deep-water net fishing, as well as the flat-bottomed sampan kotak and bedar of the west coast and Singapore waters. The work builds directly on his 1953 proposal for a systematic catalogue of South and South-East Asian fishing boats (published in the Proceedings of the Indo-Pacific Fisheries Council), applying that classificatory framework to the Malayan material.

The paper draws on field observations accumulated over several decades of work in the region, including visits to fishing communities in Penang, Kedah, Pahang, Kelantan, and Trengganu. It addresses the relationship between boat design and fishing method—for instance, how the long, clean-lined perahu payang with its shallow well and large lug-sail is specifically adapted to the encircling seine operations described by Parry, or how the kolek selat serves as the working vessel for the moro ami drive-in net in Singapore waters. The treatment also considers the materials and construction techniques employed, the regional nomenclature for strakes and structural elements, and the functional differences between vessel types that serve similar purposes in different localities.

The plates accompanying the paper (Plates 10–12) illustrate key types in their operational contexts: a dogol entering the Kelantan River estuary, a sekochi at the Trengganu River mouth, a perahu kolek (kolek lichang) off Kuala Trengganu, a perahu payang beached at Kampong Tanjong, sampan kotak at Kampong Sungei Penang in Penang, kolek kuch at Kampong Pontian in southern Pahang, and a Kedah coast kolek at Pangkor Island. These visual records, combined with the textual descriptions, provide a comprehensive typological survey of the indigenous Malayan fishing fleet as it existed in the early 1950s.

Key Findings

  • The perahu payang, the principal vessel for deep-water seine fishing on the east coast, measures 35–45 feet in length and 7–8 feet in beam, with a shallow well for storing the catch and a large square lug-sail suited to the diurnal land and sea breeze rhythm (pp. 126–127, Parry’s paper; Gibson-Hill’s treatment extends this to a broader comparative framework).
  • The kolek selat, used as the working vessel for the Japanese moro ami drive-in net in Singapore waters, is a distinct type from the kolek chiau and kolek kuch, differentiated by its stern form and rib structure (Plate 10; cf. Gibson-Hill 1950, pp. 148–70).
  • The sampan kotak, a flat-bottomed vessel, serves multiple functions including the carriage of kelong construction poles and as a working platform for beach seine operations; the largest examples measure 25–30 feet in length (Plate 12; Burdon, p. 37).
  • The bedar, a cargo-carrying vessel of the Trengganu coast, is approximately 22 feet along the keel and is used in conjunction with the pukat dalam gill-net fishery (Parry, p. 103; Gibson-Hill’s paper provides the broader typological context).
  • Gibson-Hill’s 1953 classificatory proposal, which underpins this paper, was designed to accommodate the full range of boat types used in the fishing industries of South and South-East Asia, moving beyond the ad hoc nomenclature that had characterized earlier accounts (Bibliography, p. 165).
  • The dogol, a vessel type entering the Kelantan River estuary, represents one of the larger indigenous craft of the northern east coast (Plate 10).

Conclusion

Gibson-Hill’s paper provides the essential vessel-level complement to the gear-and-method analyses of Burdon and Parry, establishing that the diversity of Malayan fishing boats is not merely a matter of local variation but reflects functional specialisation tied to specific fishing techniques, coastal geography, and the physical constraints of the operating environment. By applying a systematic classificatory scheme to the full range of indigenous types, the work creates a reference framework for understanding how boat design mediates between the fisherman and the fishing ground.

Context

  • The paper draws on Gibson-Hill’s extensive fieldwork across the Malayan coast, building on his earlier 1950 monograph on Singapore fishing boats (JMBRAS 23(3): 148–70) and his 1953 classificatory proposal for South and South-East Asian fishing vessels.
  • The study’s historiographical contribution lies in its integration of boat typology with the functional analysis of fishing methods, providing a material-culture dimension to the fisheries research programme of the Singapore Fisheries Department in the early 1950s.

References