Collecting in Danau Sentarum

Image above was taken by dear friend, Wim Giesen (thx, Wim). It's 1994, and I am in Denau Sentarum (see Danau Sentarum) in a large, and somewhat tipsy, wooden boat collecting a specimen of Calamus schistoacanthus (see Enrichment Planting). Looks like I was having a good time. [NOTE: Maybe the boat was tipsy because Wim was standing up in front taking a picture].

Enrichment Planting

This shot requires a bit of an explanation.  The villagers from Sumpak in the Danau Sentarum National Park (see Danau Sentarum) in Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan are fisherman.  They make their fish traps (see Bubu Weaver) out of duri antu (Calamus schistoacanthus) rattan, which is getting increasingly hard to find in the forests near the village. In early October of 1994, a group of villagers asked me if it would be possible to enrich some of the degraded rattan stands in front of their village by transplanting duri antu seedlings from more distant, unharvested forests.  I said yes, but that it would require a lot of work and that the transplants would need to be continually tended. The next day, almost everyone in the village - men, women, and children - turned out to help dig up, carefully bag, and transport rattan seedlings to the planting area.  

So, the picture above shows a group of villagers from Sumpak with a boat full of duri antu seedlings getting ready to bring them back across the lake and plant them. [NOTE: The villagers transplanted 82 duri antu seedlngs on this day; about a third of them survived (and these have probably already been made into bubus by now)].    

Bubu Weaver

Bubus are cylindrical fish traps made by villagers at Danau Sentarum (see Danau Sentarum and Cordage) in West Kalimantan. The traps are made out of rattan, and each one requires about 500 canes.  The preferred rattan to use for bubus is Calamus schistoacanthus, or "duri antu", one of only three rattan species found in local flooded forests. The stem fiber of C. schistoacanthus is extremely tolerant of daily submersion in the lake, and a well-made bubu can last four to five years. A dedicated fisherman may have dozens of these traps. [NOTE: More about the use of rattan at Danau Sentarum can be found here].