KATHERINE JACK

Palawan Seas is an ongoing photography project that explores our human bond with the sea. It is located in Palawan, an archipelago of over 1,700 islands in the far-western Philippines.

The project is currently sponsored by The Blue Earth Alliance.

Palawan is other-worldly place, steeped in the history of the ocean. 

Located in the Coral Triangle, Palawan lies at the center of global marine biodiversity. It harbors fifty percent of the world’s coral species and is home to an ancient seafaring culture. Human fossils discovered in the Tabon Cave Complex indicate that Palawan was the first inhabited island in Southeast Asia. Hidden in jungle-clad caves, a Neolithic burial jar was found depicting two people paddling into the afterlife on a small boat.

Until the mid-Twentieth Century, Palawan was a place almost forgotten by time. People were completely dependent on existing ecosystems and the sea was their primary means of travel and source of food. An intimacy with nature developed that defined every aspect of their lives, from the practical to the spiritual. An intricate knowledge of the marine world was passed from one generation to the next.

After the Second World War, a boom in Philippine fisheries brought Palawan to the attention of the fishing industry. Palawan waters were a rich, virtually untouched source and by the early 1970s almost two thirds of all fish caught in the Philippines came from here. 

Palawan's relatively recent introduction to the modern world brings with it a powerful tension between tradition and change.

Today, many Palaweños still live according to the tides, winds and lunar cycles.

Since 1990, these islands have been a designated Unesco Biosphere Reserve, a place where the system of government is purposefully designed for the population to live and work in harmony with nature. However, despite laws to conserve nature and culture, Palawan is clearly in transition. The population has increased more than tenfold over the past seventy years and global commerce is constantly seeking new ways to exploit the islands' natural wealth. 

In Palawan the mystery of our human connection to the sea seems to be partially revealed. It is here that we can glimpse ourselves not as outsiders but as participants in complex ecosystems, a delicate balance which has been borne by generations of Palaweños to the present day.