by Bandeng » Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:49 pm
Once upon a time (1994-1999), I had worked at the national research station in Bali. The station and the village mentioned in the report located side by side each other. The station worked for aquaculture technique development including marine ornamental breeding. The station had produced some juveniles of Napoleon fish. The people working at the station well aware of the villager's use of the "POTAS (potassium cyanide)", but do nothing. Because the villagers have "POTAS". The station has some experience having the fish in some of their tanks totally killed over night, when both had some conflicts.
The villagers (Isram) migrated from Java, where they could not make livelihood. Balinese (Hindu) originally do not fish in the sea where demon lives. For them mountain is the holly place where the god lives. The villagers have to live. They will do anything to live. Unless you give them alternative job, they will not stop what they are doing. If you blackmail them, they will use their "POTAS" to protect themselves. This was what my colleague taught me during the time. We have developed backyard hatchery system for the region. The main product at the hatchery was "Bandeng", milkfish. The some hatchery even produce juveniles of Polkadot grouper. People could make money by operating the hatchery. Many young villagers were employed to work at the hatchery. There were hundreds of hatcheries built during the time. But it seemed these were not satisfactory for them. According to the report, they still continue to be "collectors".
Bandeng