Abstract
The Tewada people of Papua New Guinea conduct large-scale fish poisoning in rivers once or twice a year. On 13 July 2003, 94 people (80 male, 14 female) representing 61% of all Tewada hamlets gathered for this purpose. Kinship networks are important in forming fishing groups. Although experts among the Tewada have secret knowledge of fish poisoning and perform magical roles central to such efforts, they do not have exclusive direct influence on the organization of fishing groups. Fishing groups are formed by three people from a single kinship network: the expert, the messenger, and the plant provider. Thus social networks based on kinship serve as the foundation of the fishing groups. In Tewada society, fish poisoning experts are not prominent political leaders who organize fishing groups based on personal power. Rather, fish poisoning experts among the Tewada resemble functional specialists who utilize their own kinship networks.
