...creating balance and symmetry...

An imaginative way of creating balance and symmetry in the interests of peace is the Meriam way of subdividing the fish traps into 'individual holes' or 'corners' owned by different people. Leafy bamboo poles were erected as boundary markers on the reef at the intersection between sections of fish traps belonging to different people. Outsiders have suggested that the leafy bamboos 'spooked off' the fish, preventing them from concentrating on one side. In this way more or less equal numbers of fish congregate on either side of the bamboo.

Keywords: fish traps, Meriam culture, No Ordinary Judgement

Marine biologist R. Johannes as cited in Sharp, Nonie 1996 'No Ordinary Judgment', Aboriginal Studies Press, p 197.
Author: Sharp, Nonie
Source: Johannes, R