Bountiful haul from traditional indigenous fishery system
Technique in Sabah involves villagers feeding fish and protecting exclusive stretch of river
The tagal system of conserving rivers and aquatic life practised in Sabah has provided a sustainable supply of freshwater resources for local communities.
Tagal, which means “don’t” in the Kadazandusun language, has been practised by the state’s indigenous people for many generations to manage rivers and natural resources such as forests.
This traditional approach has been adopted by the Sabah Fisheries Department, which forms smart partnerships with local communities to protect, restore, conserve and manage freshwater fishery resources.
The Sabah government and Fisheries Department have been applying the tagal system throughout the state since 2003. However, efforts to implement the system reportedly began in the 1980s, Bernama reported.
The management and monitoring of rivers under the tagal system are done by a committee comprising local communities near the rivers.
Under the system, a pre-assigned stretch of river is divided into three zones – red, green and yellow.
Fishing is prohibited in the red zone and allowed during specified periods in the yellow zone. The green zone is an open fishing area.
Menuai tagal or tagal harvesting is done in several villages in Kiulu, about 67km north of Kota Kinabalu, where a community-based fisheries management system is practised.
Mostly populated by the Dusun ethnic group, the villages include Kampung Ranap, Kitapol, Pukak, Lokub, Sukang, Linga, Tulung, Mantob, Dumpiring, Mangkaladom, Pinahawon, Pinagon and Tiku.
Their harvests of fish such as barob, pelian, sarawi and lampam sungai or gayomato vary, with some rivers providing bountiful catches exceeding one tonne and others producing less satisfactory yields.
Tagal harvesting takes place in the yellow zones once every one or two years and the dates are determined by a village committee.
Sungai Pisapakan Dumpiring Tagal committee chairman Edjilon Tongiak said although their river was harvested nine months ago, this year’s harvest was even more plentiful.
He said within two hours, their haul exceeded 600kg and each committee member took home 14kg of fish.
“Our bountiful harvest would not have been possible without the cooperation of all the committee members and villagers.”
Edjilon said apart from feeding the fish, committee members monitor the river to prevent irresponsible people from fishing or violating the tagal rules in prohibited zones.
“Our members take turns to monitor the areas concerned. This is crucial as we have heard of fish stocks depleting in rivers elsewhere. Those rivers are managed under the tagal system but intruders snuck in there to fish (in prohibited areas). This is why we have to increase our monitoring, to prevent such incidents from happening in our river,” he added.
The tagal system has rules and regulations, and violators must pay a RM5,000 fine or a buffalo if found guilty by the district native court.
Sungai Gunaton Tagal committee chairman Unus Limun, 49, said the system can be a rural tourism product.
He said the system effectively conserves river ecosystems and sustains freshwater fish stocks in various villages, some of which are already drawing more tourists, such as Kampung Luanti in Ranau.
“Tourists are coming to see how the (rivers and) fish resources are being sustained,” he said, adding that the villages in Kiulu should look to Kampung Luanti as a model for advancing their tagal system as a tourism product.