FEATURE
Spearing Whales for Survival: An Inside Look
The clans inhabiting the tiny village of Lamalera, on the sunbaked Lembata island in the remote Indonesian province of Nusa Tenggara Timur, have been spearing and landing sperm whales by hand for at least six centuries.
Despite the ongoing economic and religous transition, the society of this tiny village has not lost a single bit of their pride nor their identity. And because the Lamalerans have been doing this since the dawn of time, they carry on, with permission from the Indonesian government – as long as they hunt for their own consumption and not for commercial sale. This might change as conservationists such as WWF are incessantly prodding the Indonesian government, demanding stricter regulations for hunting practices within the Savu seascape and the Ombai Strait, a migratory bottleneck of regional importance. So far, the environmental activists have had limited impact, due to sluggish governmental action and the unwavering Lamaleran clans. Although many Lamalerans have been well-educated over the past decades, most families pursue subsistence lifestyles, with only minimal exchange of currency.