The Closing of the Frontier: A History of the Marine Fisheries of Southeast Asia, c.1850-2000

3. State, Economy, and Fisheries to the 1930s

Chapter 3 60© 2004 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 3 State, Economy, and Fisheries to the 1930s In the latter part of the nineteenth century catches of marine animals in Southeast Asia began to increase so that by the 1930s they were several times what they had been in 1850. In order to understand the rise in catches we must first step back and look at the political and economic transformation that took place at this time, for it was in the context of this transformation that catches increased. The political and economic transformation In 1850 Southeast Asia was made up of many dozens of states and statelets in which power tended to be decentralized. In the latter part of the nineteenth century the colonial powers — the British based in the Straits Settlements and Rangoon, the Dutch based in Batavia, the French from their foothold in Saigon, and first the Spanish and then the Americans based in Manila — and the Thai monarchy cantered on Bangkok extended their reach over more and more territory. In some places this was achieved by military force, as in the case of the incorporation of Aceh into the Netherlands Indies and much of Vietnam into French Indochina, while in others it was accomplished by treaty. However it was done, by 1910 virtually all of Southeast Asia was brought within the boundaries of one of these states. Even more importantly, these states were motivated by a desire to control the activities of the people within their boundaries and, increasingly, they acquired the means to exercise this control. This transformation did not happen immediately. In fact, Reproduced from The Closing of the Frontier: A History of the Marine Fisheries of Southeast Asia c. 18502000 , by John G. Butcher (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2004). This version was obtained electronically direct from the publisher on condition that copyright is not infringed. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.Individual articles are available at State, Economy, and Fisheries to the 1930s 61© 2004 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore one of the features of states in the late nineteenth century was their heavy reliance on the practice of leasing out, usually to Chinese businessmen, monopolies (“farms”) for the collection of certain taxes and the sale of goods such as opium; as far as fisheries is concerned, the most important of these farms was the farm which the Netherlands Indies government granted for the right to sell salt to the fish processors of Bagan Si Api Api in Sumatra. By 1920, however, governments had developed bureaucracies staffed by specialists in a great variety of fields that enabled them to impose their will far more than states had been able to do just a few decades earlier. The transformation of the state had a profound impact on fishing. The new states promoted fishing simply by greatly diminishing the danger of being captured or attacked while out fishing. During a tour of the Selangor coast just after the state became a British protectorate an official commented that as soon as “it was known that protection was afforded” by “a nice, conspicuous [police] Station” the “number of fishermen would greatly increase”.1 More spectacularly, the Spanish, Dutch, and British deployed steam gunboats to crush slave raiding along the coasts of Southeast Asia.2 As states consolidated their control over their territories, they came to possess increasing power both to promote and to hinder fishing by levying taxes, controlling the production and sale of salt, and regulating access to fishing grounds. In the early 1900s several states took it upon themselves to begin exploring the fishery resources of neighbouring seas and to experiment with new fishing gears. Just as importantly, supervision of immigration, investment in transportation, and a multitude of other activities carried out by states that were not directly related to fishing shaped the development of fisheries. The transformation of the state was accompanied by — indeed propelled by — a rapid expansion in economic activity. In particular, there was a great increase in the production of food and raw materials for Europe and North America, then undergoing a period of rapid industrialization, growing prosperity, and population growth. By a whole host of measures — ranging from the reduction of import and export duties and the construction of roads and railways to the offer of land on easy terms — the new states created the conditions in which Chinese, European, and other entrepreneurs...