Plastic Fish Traps a Hit in Malaysian Villages

New Straits Times 4 Aug 08;

KOTA KINABALU: Two more villages within the eco-sensitive Lower Kinabatangan region have adopted an environmental friendly fishing method.

This helps to protect the forests at the Kinabatangan wildlife sanctuary in eastern Sabah.

The method, which employs the use of plastic wire mesh instead of tree barks found within the protected forest, has won over the hearts of fishermen at Kampung Sukau.

It is now becoming a hit with other villages on the banks of the Kinabatangan river, ever since it was introduced as an alternative by the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project (KOCP) in 2004.

"It used to take us a week to make one traditional bubu (fish trap) as we would have to walk a day or two into the forest to find the material from trees," Kampung Sangau headman Damsi Sabtu said.

He added the plastic alternative only took a few hours to complete.

"Everyone in this village is interested. Even the women are trying their hand at making this new type of fish trap," he said, thanking KOCP for providing loans to the fishermen from Kampung Sangau and neighbouring Kampung Lokan to venture into the alternative method.

The method was designed and first launched in Kampung Sukau four years ago.

This followed the pressing need to stop fishermen from entering the forest to cut trees to make fish traps.

KOCP alternative fish trap programme head Johry Bakri said the method was introduced to protect the forest.

"We had to search other environment-friendly alternatives," he said in a statement yesterday.

The KOCP, which was jointly established by the Sabah Wildlife Department and French non-governmental organisation Hutan, provided the expertise and loans to the fishermen to cover the cost of materials needed to make the plastic wire mesh fish traps.

Kinabatangan district officer Abdul Latiff Kandok and Hutan director Dr Isabelle Lackman-Ancrenaz handed over materials to make the wire mesh fish traps to several villagers recently.