Fishing in the RMI

Marshallese boys like to go fishing. They like to spend most of their time at sea. Fishing is like a hobby for the boys in the Marshall Islands. Almost every boy knows how to fish for food. They like to go fishing with a group of many boys. The boys on my home atoll, which is Utrok Atoll, love to go fishing every day. I used to be afraid of the sea when I was a child. Back when I was seven or eight years old, my uncle asked me if I could accompany him on his boat when he went fishing. I told him that I didn’t want to go with him because I was afraid of the sea. He told me that it was going to be very fun and I was going to learn how to catch big fish. He tried to persuade me and then all of a sudden I changed my mind. I went with him on his boat and we set off for the sea. When we reached the coral reef, he made himself bait and placed it on his hook and started to put down the line into the sea, down to where the coral was. He made one for me and I held it until the hook was bitten by a fish, and then he told me to pull it toward me so I can take the fish. Finally I had caught a big fish and felt so great about it for the first time. From that time I began to go fishing on the boat and also other types of fishing like spear fishing and fishing with a net. I really have enjoyed going out on the sea with my friends since I was eight years old.