嘉南沿海養殖村落的生態變遷

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to understand the changes of cultural ecology of a fishing village in southwestern Taiwan. Dwellers' Living activities changed according to different forms and stages of coastal development. In this case study of Huweiliao, village landscapes from rafe fish to pond cultivation had closely related to the development of the coastal barrier-islands. In the lagoon stage, the majority of households in Huweiliao was involved insea fishing, salt pan (晒鹽), and general employment in various fishing business. Most family income depended on several jobs. As the coastal plain was developing, there were more space for establishing fishpond. Since most dwellers in Huweiliao were too poor to develop their own fishpond business, they sold their lands to certain rich villagers in Huweiliao. Fishpond owners were henerally wealthier than fishing households. In the last twenty years, the price of milkfish dropped substantially. There was a hardship for fishpond business owners even though they owned more ponds. Most family income still depended on several jobs, including pond cultivation, fishing, oyster culture , chick farming and so on. However, since the environment capacity of Huweilian was still high enough to provide job opportunities, there was less younger generation in Huweilian than other fishing villages leaving their hometown for other job markets.