by:
Dr Subha Bhassu
Fisheries Research Officer
Freshwater Fisheries Research Centre,
Batu Berendam, Melaka
Objective:
To study the success of the Tagal System: A Sustainable Community-based Fisheries Resource management on Riverine Fishery in Sabah and collection of samples for the study on systematic and phylogenetic relationship of Kelah from Sabah using molecular markers.
Visits by:
Mr. Hj. Rosly Hassan (Head of Centre), Mr. Ahmad Ashhar Othman (Senior Research Officer) and Dr Subha Bhassu (Research Officer) from Freshwater Fisheries Research Center, Batu Berendam, Melaka.
11th January 2005 (Tuesday):
At 9 am, Mr Jephrin Zefrinus Wong, Pengarah Perikanan Negeri Sabah gave us a presentation on Tagal System. The presentation covered on the reasons behind the implementation of the Tagal System, what is Tagal system and how does it work, strategies to make Tagal system sustainble, the present status of Tagal in Sabah, roles played by Fisheries Department and a new plan to promote eco-tourism ( sport fishing) on Tagal.
Before Tagal was implemented, the number of Pelian population has been dwindling over the years due to habitat destruction and overfishing. To address the problems, Department of Fisheries Sabah focused on 2 strategies which is to encourage aquaculture and restoration of the resources through the Community-Based Fisheries Resource Management (The Tagal System).
The question that ran through our mind was what is Tagal?
Tagal is a kadazandusun word = fishing is prohibited by the community on river for a certain period as agreed by the community.
Its objective was to restore the depleting fisheries resource, to prevent pollution to the rivers and to generate income to the community. In this system, the community will form a Tagal commitee to look after and to manage the fisheries resource in their river. The main advisor is the District Fisheries Officer.
The unique feature of the TAGAL is the sign board that if you break the prohibition rule, the community will stop you. This was very interesting because the Implementation of Sabah laws that empower the local community / Tagal committee to protect and manage the fisheries resources in the TAGAl sites / zones under Section 58 of the Sabah Natives Courts and Section 36 of the Sabah Inland fisheries.
In his presentation he covered areas on how to start a TAGAL in a selected river, how to form a commitee and their responsibity, strategies to make TAGAL system more sustainable.
This is interesting for the TAGAL zone is divided into red, orange and green sectors.
- The sites are colour coded: - Red zone : Forever untouchable - Green zone: annual communal harvesting allowed - Orange zone: fishing once a year
In conclusion of his presentation, the TAGAL system is succesful with full support from the community as the number of TAGAL sites is still increasing as we write this report. To this date, the total number of TAGAL sites is 179. The system is sustainable because of this four following elements which is:
1. Element of conservation;
2. Element of equal share on the fish among members;
3. Element that they can get at least a fish, from the Tagal zone whenever they want, for own consumption;
4. Elements of access to the TAGAL fund if they need to.
At 1030 am, Mr Jephrin Zefrinus Wong took us for a visit to four TAGAL sites, including the first model TAGAL system at Freshwater Fisheries Station at Barbagon. Excitement and anxiety were our feelings when we walk to the other side of the river on a hanging bridge. It was a beautiful place. This station is just beside the road and you will be able to see Kelah. Below are some pictures of the Barbagon Freshwater Fisheries Station. As promised, we were fortunate to see Kelah.
The rocks is where you can find kelah most as they love the fast flowing water
This part of the river, you will see the small and medium size Kelah as the water is calm. This is the Barbagon river
Pelian is the common name for Kelah. However their species is yet to be identified. There could be 2 possible species recognized using taxonomic keys based on the median lobe. (Ahmad Ashhar, pers comm). We took some scale samples from the live fish. It is non-destructive sampling as we did not hurt the fish. This is something that you have to see for yourself as the TAGAL community in Sabah love the fish and took so much pride in taking good care of them. Below are some pictures on the collection of scales.
Pelian caught and kept in a container for identification and scales were obtained for DNA study. The colour of pelian is magnificant and has beautiful golden colour.
Short median lobe of Pelian
Samples of Kelah scale were obtained for DNA study and kept in tube containing ethanol
Then we were brought to another 3 tagal sites and we had the opportunity to see the most beautiful site where at one tagal, we saw different populations of Kelah. From our description, there were many different sizes of the fish, ranging from small ones to the big ones. These fishes are indeed spawning and breeding. Clearly the implementation of TAGAL had taken its first step in conservation measures.
Kelah of various sizes swimming in this clear river system. The river is clear and unpolluted.
Overhelming picture of Kelah swimming everywhere has given hope for the Government of Sabah to generate the local economy on ecotourism (angling). The people of Sabah who took conservation issues as their responsibility is surely something to be proud of by we Malaysians. We believe the Department of Fisheries Sabah played an important role in managing the whole TAGAL system. May their efforts and their model allow us in taking lead in our pursue to conserve this fish in the Peninsular Malaysia. For sure if you love Kelah, take the first flight to Sabah and see the people that loves Kelah and its protected habitat.
Source: http://www.fri.gov.my
