The number of Badjao, or indigenous sea gypsies, is dwindling in the Philippines as the tribes are increasingly threatened by the rise in cost for fuel and boat repairs.
The continued existence of the Badjao is further threatened by killer typhoons, pirates, religious rebels and the decline in fish stocks.
Many Badjao no longer even sustain their livelihoods on houseboats but have moved on shore to thatched-roofed houses on bamboo stilts in the southwest of the Philippines.
However, the lure of the sea often proves too much for them, and they soon find themselves back at sea, following the ocean's currents and chasing schools of fish with their own hooks and lures. Their only modern gadgets are mobile phones and small gas-powered motors.
The Badjao tribe has been in existence for over 1,000 years. There are some 200,000 Badjao.