Sea Nomads No More: The Sama-Bajau and the Climate Crisis
Divya Patel
The Sama-Bajau, or “sea gypsies,” are a nomadic seafaring ethnic group of Maritime Southeast Asia who navigate the waters between the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Although they originate from the Malay peninsula, Sama oral legend says that the Bajau are the descendants of a Royal Guard who were instructed to look for a Princess lost at sea, and they have been searching for her ever since. However, the true origins of the tribes are largely unknown, as they have lived their traditional way of life for over a thousand years. The Sama-Bajau people live a nomadic lifestyle on small wooden sailing vessels called lepa-lepas. They fish for sustenance, and seafaring Sama people rarely visit land except to trade their hauls, which often include the exchange of valuable trepang (sea cucumbers) for rice and other land goods.
This seafaring lifestyle has required the Sama-Bajau people to have an intricate knowledge of the sea, fishing, and diving for survival; as a result, they have the most proficient free divers in the world. Provided with nothing more than the occasional wooden mask, many Sama-Bajau divers can navigate to depths of 30-40 meters and hold their breath for up to 13 minutes, and many of them dive for up to 5 hours a day. This extraordinary ability comes as a result of tradition and practice instilled at a young age, and young boys are often instructed to rupture their eardrums for equalizing purposes so that they may dive even deeper in search of rare fish and crustaceans. The Sama-Bajau have even adapted to life on the water genetically; Geneticist Melissa Ilardo performed an analysis which revealed that Sama-Bajau divers have unusually large spleens, which allows them to boost their oxygen levels by 10%. In addition, they have abnormally keen eyesight, essential for visibility in the ocean. The Sama-Bajau use spearfishing techniques to allow for an element of surprise in the water; it has been largely successful, as they can catch anywhere from 2-18 pounds of marine life a day.
Unfortunately, the Sama-Bajau may not be able to continue their seafaring traditions for long. In the age of globalization, there are a plethora of threats to their way of life. Climate change, the rigidity of Southeast Asian nation-states, and forced cultural assimilation have been slowly stripping away what’s left of the traditional “sea nomad” lifestyle, and many believe that the current generation of Sama-Bajau divers will be the last.
Anthropogenic climate change and overfishing will be a death sentence to the Sama-Bajau’s nomadic habits, as they depend on the ability to fish and harvest from the sea for sustenance; the industrialized world’s fossil fuel emissions have caused (and will continue to cause) ocean acidification, warming and rising seas, unpredictable weather patterns, and coral bleaching. All of these aspects of ever-intensifying carbon dioxide levels in the world’s oceans threaten the Sama-Bajau’s access to marine life, and despite their remarkable fishing abilities, spearfishing will become unsustainable as the “sea nomads” will have to assimilate into mainland culture to survive. In many ways, this change is already occurring. Many descendants and younger generations of nomads have transitioned to stilt house living for stability due to the uncertainty of food access. In addition, many of the tribes’ fishing habits have had to change in recent years in order to accommodate these newfound difficulties. Higher competition in terms of fishing has forced many of the Sama-Bajau to start using more commercialized fishing tactics; these include the use of dynamite and cyanide, heavier motor-driven boats, and the use of compressors for diving in order to reach deeper depths. Many of these methods not only further environmental harm to the reefs, but they are also dangerous and/or unsustainable for the divers. Dynamite and cyanide fishing accidents are rare but deadly, motor fuel often has monetary costs that Bajau families can’t afford, and unregulated compressor diving can be fatal as a result of decompression sickness.
In addition to the hardships furthered by environmental impacts, the Sama-Bajau also face increasing pressures from the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines who want them to settle and assimilate into mainland life. The “sea gypsies” are often poorly understood and stigmatized as they live on the fringes of society. Few Bajau nomadic seafarers, and even those in stilt-house communities, are literate, go to school, or have officially recognized citizenship; they don’t believe that they need to have these things as their lifestyle does not require them. However, the fixed boundaries of the nation-state have forced many of them to settle on land as many government aid programs are restricted to those who have citizenship and birth certificates. Many Sama-Bajau though, particularly with the older generations, don’t even know their ages. Coupled with the food security issues brought on by climate change and other anthropogenic causes, many of them have no choice but to comply with the government, become officially recognized citizens, and move to land in order to access these sustenance programs, often leaving their culture and ways of life behind them. In addition, the wood that the Sama-Bajau have traditionally made their houseboats out of comes from an endangered tree, and the heavier wood necessary to create new lepa-lepas is unsustainable for housing.
The Sama-Bajau nomadic way of life is slowly disappearing, and unfortunately, there is little that can be done. Climate change and forced assimilation are decimating nomadic and tribal lifestyles all around the world, and the associated cultural and linguistic losses that will occur are unimaginable. Governmental agencies around the world such as the UNHCR must do what they can in order to preserve the rights and cultures of nomadic groups such as the Sama-Bajau to live the ways in which they desire before all hope is lost.