Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands Occasional Papers No.39, 17-23, 2003
Section 1, Report 3. The Progress Report of the 2000 and 2001 Survey of the Research Project“Social Homeostasis of Small Islands in an Island-zone”

17MIGRATION OF MOGMOG ISLANDERS IN ULITHI ATOLL,YAP STATE, FSM
TAJIMA Yasuhiro1), Sesariyo F. HARONG2)

Abstract
This study aims to make clear the tendencies of migration among Mogmog islanders, Ulithi atoll,
Yap states, FSM. There are 35 households including 256 persons on Mogmog island in our investigation time. One hundred and sixty-five of them lived on the Mogmog island and 91 persons lived outside this island. Thirty percent of the people living outside lived in Yap Proper, 20 percent on Falalop,and 10 percent each in Guam, Hawaii and USA. Many emigrants to Guam aimed to work and many
emigrants to Pohnpei, Chuuk and Palau aimed to study, although emigrants moved to the other places
had both aims. Many women had moved to another place because of marriage.
Keywords: emigration, household, marriage, Mogmog, Yap

1 Purpose and Method
It is known that the people in the Pacific migrate very frequently compared to other areasof the world. One of the authors has reported earlier about the migrant’s residential types in Yap
Proper from outer islands in Yap state (TAJIMA 2001a, 2001b). This time we report about the migration tendencies of Mogmog islanders Ulithi Atoll in Yap states.
One problem is the vagueness of the word “family” for the study of migration in the Pacificarea. Sometimes this word means the nuclear family and sometimes extended family. Therefore,
this time we ceased to use the word “family” and used “household” instead. To use the word“household” does not always mean no problem; however, it is true that we could conduct our investigation more easily.
We made clear who were the members of each household first, by interviews to the householders living in Mogmog island at that time, using the questionnaire we made. Some of them
lived inside the Mogmog island, others lived outside. We asked the householders the migration
history of each person of their households, next. It was difficult to make clear the migration history of the migrants living outside the island, and it was not easy to make clear the migration history of a household’s members also, except householder himself, because of the shortness of ourtime on this island. Therefore, we can mainly make clear the migration processes of the householders. We interviewed the householders of 35 households about the migration processes of themembers of these households.
Followings are the main items of our investigation.
1) Some characteristics of the members of these households living in this island; for example,
age, sex, family relationship and so on.
1)
2)

Faculty of Education, Kagoshima University. Kagoshima 890-0065, Japan.
Superintendent of Elementary School, Mogmog.

18

TAJ IMA Yasuhiro

2) Some characteristics and some facts about emigration of the members of households living
outside this island; for example, their emigration years, their destinations, their purposesof emigration, their remittance to the household in Mogmog and so on.
3) The migration history of the members of the households living in this island, especiallythat of householders.
4) The migration history of the members living outside the island.
Several questions in the second item became the main questions as a whole. We could not
get enough answers to the 3rd and 4th items as already mentioned above. One of the authors,Tajima, conducted investigation of 27 householders and Sesariyo shared 8 ones. Sesariyo conducted the investigation of householders who were not present on this island in the daytime
because of their work.

2 Results
There were 35 households in Mogmog island in our investigation time. There lived 165
persons of these households’ members in Mogmog island and 91 persons outside island.
1) Migration tendencies from the personal point of view(1) Emigrant’s destination
We determined the destinations of these 91 emigrants. 30% of them went to Yap Proper,
20% to Falalop and each 10% to Guam, Hawaii and USA mainland (Table 1) We found thatabout half of them lived in relatively near islands.
Table 1.
Place
Falalop
Yap
Chuuk
Pohnpei
PalauGuam
SaipanHawaiiU.S.A.
Total

The Destinations of Emigrants from Mogmog
Number1827353113
101191

Rate (%)
19.8
29.7

12.1
15.4
23.1
100.0

(2) Some characteristics of emigrants by destinations
We examined the emigration tendencies by each destination, next.
Emigrants to Falalop were 18 persons. Those who were teen-aged aimed to study and thoseover twenty years old aimed to work (Table 2).
Emigrants to Yap Proper were 27 persons. This is the favorite among destinations. 12
persons over twenty years old aimed to work and 9 persons mostly teen-aged aimed to study(Table 3). It is noticeable that 3 of them aimed to work in the hospital. This is one of the characteristics of the emigrants living in Yap Proper.
Emigrants to FSM except Yap were 5 persons in Pohnpei and 3 persons in Chuuk, in total
8 persons. As the emigrants to Palau seemed to have almost the same tendencies, we decided toconsider these 8 persons together with the 3 persons emigrated to Palau. Many emigrants in this19MIGRATION OF MOGMOG ISLANDERS IN ULITHI ATOLL,YAP STATE, FSM

Table 2.
ageover 50
40〜49
30〜39
20〜29
10〜19
0〜 9total

Emigrants to Falalop by age, sex and aimwork
2 (21 (04 (37 (5wife
1 (0 1)2 (0 2)

0)
1)
1)2)

3 (03)

Table 3.
ageover 70
60〜69
50〜59
40〜49
30〜39
20〜29
10〜190〜 9
total

work
I (I 0)wife
1 (0 1)
1 (02 (07 (52)

7 (52)other

1 (11 (10)0)2)

total (m, f)
1 ( 0 1)
4 ( 2 2)1 ( 0 1)
4 ( 3 1)7 ( 5 2)1 ( 1 0)18 (11 7)

Emigrants to Yap
study

hospitalothers1)

3 (2 1)5 (1 4)3 (1 2)12 (5 7)study

1 (06 (62 (19 (71)0)1)
2)

2 (11 (01)1)3 (12)

1 (11 (10)0)

total (m, f)
2 ( 11)1 ( 03 ( 25 ( 16 ( 27 ( 63 ( 227 (141)1)4)4)1)1)13)

group were in their 20’s and aimed to study (Table 4). Most of them studied at CCM(Community College of Micronesia) in Pohnpei and MOC (Micronesia Occupation College) or
PCC (Palau Community College) in Palau. It seemed to me that the emigrants to Chuuk aim tostudy in high school.
Table 4. Migrants to FSM and Palauage
over 50
40〜4930〜39
20〜29
10〜190〜 9totalwork
1 (1 0)wife
1 (01 (01 (11)0)

3 (21)

1 (0study

5 (22 (13)1)

total (m, f)
1 (1 0)1 (0 1)1 (0 1)
6 (3 3)2 (1 1)7 (34)

11 (51)

1)

6)

We considered Saipan together with Guam, because the number of emigrants to Saipan is
few and we thought that they had almost the same tendencies as those to Guam. 9 persons of 14
emigrants in this group aimed to work (Table 5). This is the main characteristic of this group.
The age of these persons was between 20 and 40, mainly women. I guess their work will becatering in hotels or restaurants in this area. It is also noticeable that there are two emigrants whoaimed to work at the hospital such as at Yap.
At last we decided to consider 10 emigrants to Hawaii and 11 emigrants to USA main land
together, because we thought these two groups had almost the same characteristics. 9 persons
mainly over 30 years old of 21 emigrants aimed to work and 5 persons under 20 aimed to study.

20TAJ IMA Yasuhiro

Table 5. Emigrants to Guam and Saipanage
40〜49
30〜39
20〜29
10〜19
0〜 9
total

work
3 (0 3)3 (2 1)
3 (1 2)3 (03)

9 (33 (03)

6)

study

hospital
2 (1 1)

total (m, f)
5 (14)
3 (21)
6 (15)

2 (114 (41)10)

However, there are emigrants who aim at the army and work plus study (Table 6). These are thecharacteristics of emigrants to Hawaii and USA mainland. Work plus study means that one
person studies and at the same time works or one person first works for the money to study.
Army work has almost the same character because if they finish the army, they can study at theuniversity easily. As a whole all emigrants are relatively young persons under 30, compared toYap Proper, etc.
Table 6. Emigrants to Hawaii and U.S.A.
age
30〜39
20〜29
10〜190〜 9
totalwork
7 (5 2)2 (1 1)

2 (20)

4 (13)

9 (62 (20)

4 (13)

3)army

w+sstudy
2 (21 (12 (05 (30)0)2)2)others1 (11 (10)0)

total (m, f)
7 ( 5 2)10 ( 6 4)
1 ( 1 0)3 ( 1 2)21 (13 6)

We can summarize the above results as the followings:
Destinations and Purposes of Emigrants(1) Work type : Guam and Saipan(2) Study type : FSM and Palau(3) Both type : Falalop, Yap, Hawaii and USA main land
These are the fundamental types. If we add age and sex to these fundamental types, we candescribe these types in more detail.
(1) Emigrants to Guam and Saipan aiming work (Work type) are mainly women over 20. We
can guess their work will be catering in the hotels or restaurant.
(2) Many emigrants to FSM and Palau aiming study (Study type) are the persons in their20’s and teens. They will be students in College or high school.
(3) (a) In Falalop 7 emigrants of over 20 aim to work, 7 emigrants in their teens aim to study.
The latter will be students of Falalop high school.
(b) In Yap 12 emigrants over 20 aim to work, 9 emigrants of mainly teen-agers aim tostudy. The latter will be students of COM or high school.
(c) In Hawaii and USA mainland 9 emigrants in their 20’s and 30’s, especially 30’s, aim
to work, 5 emigrants under 20 aim to study. 6 emigrants in their 20’s aim for army andwork plus study.
2) Migration tendencies from the household point of view
We will consider the migration in the relation to the household from which migrants start

21

MIGRATION OF MOGMOG ISLANDERS IN ULITHI ATOLL,YAP STATE, FSM

out.
(1) The number of emigrants in each household
Some household sent out no emigrants and some sent out many. So, we tried to determine
the number of emigrants by each household (Table 7).
Table 7.
Emig./H.
876543210Total

No. of H.
13032669535

Number of Emigrants in a Household

H’s. No.
35
82029F
35102732
1923omit
omit
omit
omit

1YP

G

H
522
71U

3
32

511

1
1
122

574

1021

2

7

Note: H means Household
F: Falalop, Y: Yap, P: Palau & FSM, G: Guam, H: Hawaii, U: US main land

There is one household from which 8 emigrants went out. This is the largest number of emigrants from one household on this island. There are three households from which 7 emigrants
went out. There is no household from which 6 emigrants went out, there are three households
from which 5 emigrants went out and two households from which 4 emigrants went out.
In the case of 8 emigrants, 5 of them live in Hawaii and 3 of them in Falalop. In the caseof 7 emigrants, 5 to Falalop 2 to Guam; 5 to US main land, 2 to Yap and all 7 to Yap. These facts
show us that the members of each household concentrate in particular destination. This will alsomean they migrate by using the tight connection of family members, relatives or friends.
(2) Family relationship and migration
Next, we noticed family relationships and determined who in the household emigrated(Table 8). We thought the results of this table reflected the strength or weakness of emigration.
The household from which no one leaves (1) has the strongest tendency of permanent residence.
Next strong is the case (2) in which only brothers or sisters of the householders leave. The thirdstrong is the case in which children leave. The weakest is the case in which householder himself
leaves. If this tendency advances more, it means all members of the household leave and only
their vacant house is left.
On Mogmog island there are only 5 households from which no one left. There are 7 households from which brothers or sisters of the householder left, 16 households from which children
left and 7 households from which parents of householder or householder himself left.
These results show the tendency of permanent residence on Mogmog island is not always
strong.

22TAJ IMA Yasuhiro

Table 8. Household Type from the Point of Emigrants
Household type(1) No one leaves(2) Only B or S leave(3) Children leave(3-1) B, S or C
(3-2) Only C Study only(3-3) Only C Work
(4) Parents leave(5) Householder leaves(5-1) either H or W
(5-2) both(6) All members leaveTotal

No. of Household
5717
8
1
4235

Note: B: Brother, S: Sister, C: Children,
H: Hasband, W: Wife

3) Migration history
It is mainly about householders themselves that we could gather the information about theirmigration histories. Some householders rarely move, in this case they have no migration history.
Now, we show the results of our investigation about the migration history of 18 persons onwhom we could gather their information (Table 9). The persons from no.1 to no.14 live on
Table 9. Migration History of Mogmog Islanders
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18

Age
59
59
45
42
42
39
38
37
31
28
27
51
49
19
41
36
31
24

Sex
mm
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
f
f
f
f
f
f
f

H’s no. Y of B
15
1942
35
1942
26
1956
121959
28
1959
16
1962
21963
18
1964
17
1970
31
1973
30
1974
141950111952
11198231960
35196531970
121977A. P. P.
25 US S
24 US O
13 FA S
18 PO S
16 PA S
18 PA S
18 PA S
13 FA S
9 PA S
13 CH S
17 PO S
21 PA S
20 GU S
0 YA
21 PA S
24 PO S
21 PO S
17 HA S

A. P. P. A. P. P. A. P. P. A. P. P. A. P. P.
27 FA W 57 MO
26 PO S 28 HA S 29 MO W
17 MO
20 SA S 21 MO
19 MO
19 MO
20 GU S 22 GU W 28 MO
17 MO
37 YA O 37 MO
13 FA S 17 PA S 20 FA W 29 GU W 30 MO
17 GU W 19 MO
22 MO
23 YA O 24 MO
26 CH M 29 MO
22 YA M 35 MO
5 MO
16 YA S 18 PO S 19 MO
24 MO
25 PA M
25 HA W
22 GU W 22 GU M
22 US M

note: MO: Mogmog, FA: Falalop, YA: Yap, PO: Pohnpei, CH: Chuuk, PA: Palau, GU: Guam,
SA: Saipan, HA: Hawaii, US: United States main land,
S: Study, W: Work, M: Mariage, O: Others,
H’s no.: Household's number, Y of B: Year of Birth, A. P. P.: Age, Place, Purpose

MIGRATION OF MOGMOG ISLANDERS IN ULITHI ATOLL,YAP STATE, FSM

23Mogmog island and the other 4 persons live outside. The persons from no.1 to no.11 are maleand the other 7 persons are female.
(1) One thing we point out is that there is not much difference between residents on Mogmog
from no.1 to no.14 and emigrants outside.
(2) 5 in 11 males left the island to study and returned here after finishing their studies. Thisis the main type of male case. This is divided into two patterns, further. Two emigrants returned after finishing high school. This is one pattern. Three emigrants returned after finishing college. This is another pattern.
(3) Five persons in 7 female emigrants moved because of marriage. This shows us that marriage is the main factor of migration in the case of females.
(4) It is general that when the islanders in Mogmog fall sick, they move to the hospital in Yap.
It is said that the frequency of this moving is two times a year in maximum and one timein 2 or 3 years in minimum.
(5) Many high school students studied on Falalop, but some studied on Yap and a few studied
on Chuuk. Many college students studied in CCM of Pohnpei in our investigation of migrant history. Students in the College of Palau are next numerous. Some college students
studied in Guam, Hawaii and USA main land.
The above-mentioned is the reality and tendencies about migration in 35 households on
Mogmog island which we made clear by our investigation. It should be noticed that we don’t include the Mogmog households which had already left the island, in our investigation time.

References
TAJIMA, Y. 2001a. Outers moving in: The residence of outer islanders in Yap Proper. Kagoshima
University Research Center for the Pacific Islands Occasional Papers 34: 25–32.
———. 2001b. Dabach, new settlement, constructed for outer islanders of Yap in Micronesia.
South Pacific Study 22 (1): 13–30.