1942 FRANCE (New Caledonia) - Spearfishing on the island of Maré

Spearfishing is an ancient method of fishing (maybe the first) that has been used throughout the world for millennia. One could say that it is the most selective fishing method, because uses no bait and has no by-catch. It may be conducted with an ordinary spear or a specialised variant such as an eel spear. Today modern spearfishing makes use of elastic powered spearguns and slings, or compressed gas pneumatic powered spearguns, to strike the hunted fish.

1182 FRANCE (New Caledonia) - A Kunie child ready to dance in Isle of Pines

New Caledonia, a special collectivity of France, consists in an archipelago located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, in Melanesia, at mid-way between Australia and New Zealand. Among its islands is the Isle of Pines (French: Île des Pins; Kanak name: Kunyié), nicknamed "l'île la plus proche du paradis" (the closest island to Paradise). The inhabitants of the island are mainly native Melanesian Kanaks and the population is 2,000 (estimated 2006). The origin of Kanak people is unclear, but ethnographic research has shown that Polynesian seafarers have intermarried with the Kanaks over the centuries.