Marine and freshwater fishing has been part of man's
sources of food since prehistoric times. A host of equipment, ranging
from simple but effective spears and hooks to traps, tackles and nets,
have been employed to catch fish, crabs, prawns, lobsters and other
edible creatures available in such places as the seas, rivers, streams
and lakes.
In the days of yore, freshwater fishing was as
popular as the marine kind in Brunei Darussalam. This was because a lot
of families, most of them farmers, had their homes within easy reach of
rivers, streams, lakes and the like to ensure not only abundant fishing
grounds but also ready water supply and means of travelling by boat from
one location to another.
Fig.1 Rambat is a casting net, which is weighted with lead pieces
at the bottom, for catching prawns or fish in shallow as well as deep
waters
Fig.2 Kail is a simple tackle made up of a hook or barb, a line
and the flexible but tough stem of belubu, which is a member of the
Salacca palm. A woman is seen here angling
They invented many implements, which have survied
to this day, to help them catch the bounteous fish, giant prawns, crabs
and others found inland waters. The ones that quickly came to mind are
sangkap (a type of spear), rambat or jala (casting net), kail (a type of
tackle), penyiut or sauk (long-handled net), bintur (a type of lift-net
specially for catching crabs and prawns), selambau (a large drawnet),
rawai (a stretched line with baited hooks), andang (stretched or buoyed
net) and bubu (fish trap). Needless to say most if not all of the known
fishing-gear, including the ones mentioned here, are just as suitable
for the saltwater. But it is certain that most of the earlier devices
were created by inland fishermen.
Fig.3 Fresh water prawns, which can grow to enormous size, abound in Brunei waters
Of course, bubu is the most advantageous because,
being a kind of trap. It is designed to work without attendance. Thus a
number of them can be set at the same time over a large area. Another
advantage is that they can operate best in shallow waters, doing away
with the necessity of using a boat or a canoe.
The bubu is made of bamboo, with rattan rings as
frames. It is shaped like a barrel but tapered towards the end to
resemble a cone. Its mouth is fitted with a separat funnel entrance
that allows the fish or prawns to pass through with ease in one
direction only.
Fig.4 A funnel entrance, which allows the fish to go in one way
is skilfully made as a separate item that must fit well into the mouth
of each bubu
SkilledIt measures anything from 45 centimeters (18
inches) to 240 centimeters (96 inches) or more in length. Its girth also
varies from 60 centimetres to a few 100 centimetres.
Fig.5 Opening of bubu
To construct a bubu, the bamboo stalks are split
and made into flat, ring-finger-sized sticks, the number and length
being dependent upon the dimensions of the proposed fish-trap. The
rattan rings, which determine the girth and hold the bamboo sticks
together, are placed at the opening and spaced out a few centimetres
apart to a point where the sticks are bent to form the cone-shaped end.
The sticks are fastened to the rings with rattan strips and the
cone-shaped end is either woven with rattan strips or tied up with a
coconut shell. A skilled maker can complete the work on a medium-sized
fish-trap within three days.
Fig.6 A lot of skills go into binding the bamboo onto the rattan
rings that serve as frame for the bubu as this close-up picture shows
The bubu is usually positioned in knee or thigh
deep water near the bank, preferably among the reed. It is seldom
necessary to fix the trap to a post, except perhaps in fast moving
water.
Pasur
Although it is quite uncommon, the bubu can be
cylindrical with the end flat rather than the cone shaped. The one
disadvantage of this sort of trap is that it requires a lot of work to
cover the end, which explains its rarity. However, the bubu for
trappping udang galah or giant prawns (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) is
cylindrical but shorter and made of certain tree bark which the prawns
are known to have affinity for. Nevertheless such bubu still uses bamboo
as funnel entrance and rattan as frame and binders. The bubu is lowered
into the water, which is deeper than usual, with a piece of raope. To
get the prawns to enter it, decaying coconut shell flesh is used as
bait.
Another type of fish-trap is called pasur, which
is much slender and shaped like a clarinet. It is particularly useful in
water with a strong current that can push the fish into it until they
become wedged and unable to swim out.
Traditions
There is a wide variety of fish that can be caught with the bubu. The fish, all of them considered delicacies, include keli (Clarias batrachus), dalak or haruan (Ophicephalus striatus), baung (Mystus nemurus), karuk or ikan puyu (Anabis terstudineus), sepat (Trichogaster trichopetrus) and banya or barau-barau
(Hampala macrolepidota). Some of them are even regarded as having
medicinal values. For example, an age old Chinese belief claims that a
diet of keli or dadak soup after an operation can help the wound
quickly.
Fig.7 Ikan dalak (Ophicephalus striatus) which has medicinal properties that are believed to be helpful in healing major wounds
Fig.8 Ikan karuk (Anabis terstudineus)
Freshwater fish, though of different breed, and
prawns are being reared by farmers in ponds in several places in the
country. The Fisheries Department provides the farmers with various
kinds of assistance, including stocking their ponds with fry it produces
in its hatcheries.
Fig.9 Using a large net, these workers get a good harverst of
carp (Cyprinus carpio) and lampam (Puntius gonionotus) from one of the
freshwater ponds at the Sungai Jambu Fish Farm. the picture also shows
one of the men holding a penyiut, which comes handy for transferring the
fish into containers
While it is true that the use of bamboo fish-trap
is declining due to the popularity of off-shore fishing and the easy
availability of ready-made quipment at the market, making and setting
the bubu will continue to be part of old traditions. Besides, like the
hand woven baskets, the bubu is also fast becoming an art object,
gracing a good many homes.
On the whole, freshwater fishing is no longer a
livelihood people depend on. but it is still a lucrative sideline income
earner for many. This will further ensure the survivial of traditional
fishing.
Source: Brunei Today published by Information Department, 1994
