Study area and methods
This research study was conducted in the Gyeonggi Bay area,
focusing on the relationship between the benthic organisms
living in tidal flats and the culture of the region by collecting
the fishing gears and conducting investigations on the fishing
gears (Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, 2002b). More specifically,
the study had been concentrated upon the hand hoes
and fishing gears used in digging and turning the sediments.
This study was conducted by visiting the fishing villages in
Gyeonggi Bay area that are engaged in tidal flat fishing, concentrating
mostly on Daebu Island, Ansan City in Gyeonggi
Province (Fig. 1). Daebu Island still possesses extensive and
rias coastal line, and though it is only a single island, it contains
variety of marine environment, which makes it easier to
collect multitude of data in one region. In addition, the fishing
gears of Oi Island of Gyeonggi Province and Ganghwa-
Donggum Island and Jangbong Island of Incheon
Metropolitan City in the bay were included.
As for the shapes and forms of the hand hoes, the
dimensions of blade, neck, and grip (Fig. 2) were measured
to analyze the relationship between its form and the getbatang.
For the investigation on fishing methods, the sites and/or
interviewed the regional resident representatives (2 in Daebu
Island, 1 in Ganghwa-Donggum Island) and cultural experts
(1 from Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation) had been either
visited to gather data. Analysis on getbatang sedimentary
environment is not included in this paper