Ssuge has been used to catch octopuses only in Daebu Island. In the other areas on the west coast of Korea, fishermen generally use small shovel (Ko, 2009). In Donggum Island, people usually do not use clam hoes. Also, they only use their bare hands or ssuge even when they are catching small octopuses. This culture is the direct result of having an ultra-fine grained tidal flat.
In Jangbong Island, they do not use the word ‘ssuge’. Both ssuge and hand hoe are just called ‘homi’ (hand hoes) such lugworm hand hoe and long hand hoe, and though they were mostly used in catching lugworms in the past, they are now used in catching small octopuses.
Ggalggori (hand rake)
It is a tool with 4–5 thick bent steel tines that is used in collecting shellfishes, such as surf clams and manila clams. People usually hand make these hand rakes. When one scrapes tidal flat with low mud contents using a hand rake, it separates the clams from the sediment (The Compilation Committee for Siheung City History, 2007). There are newly developed hand rakes for the tidal flat ecotourism purpose, but they are too light for long hours of clam collection. Hand rakes used in Gyeonggi Bay area are generally uniform in shape (Fig. 9).