Lessons from the Lakeside

A simple efforts often lead to better awareness of environmental conservation. Alimin, 43, has done just that through promoting green tourism In Pela village of Kota Bangun district, Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan.

KOMPAS/SUCIPTO

Alimin, stands on a wooden bridge on Wednesday (27/11/2019) in his hometown of Pela village in Kota Bangun district, Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan, where he has started a village tourism program.

The name Alimin is sure to be mentioned alongside Pela, a fishing village on the shores of Lake Semayang. This is understandable, considering that he is already known among the local community and government officials. Even travelers know him for the sunset panoramas over Lake Semayang he has posted online.

The lakeshore where Pela village sits feels like a seaside beach. The 13,000-hectare lake appears as an orange sea at dusk, but without waves.

Alimin has also uploaded photos showing the daily lives of the fishermen in his village, including their homes. The lakeshore settlement is made up of rows of attractive, wooden stilt houses of around 4 meters tall.

The village also has a kilometer-long ulin (hardwood) bridge that its residents use on a daily basis. There are also floating houses. Alimin’s social media friends area interested in visiting Pela village, especially because it is one of the few areas left in East Kalimantan that is home to the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris), called pesut in the local tongue.

Only about 17 dolphins are left in our village now.

The freshwater dolphins are rarely found in the Mahakam River. In fact, in the 1960s to 1970s, pesut could still be spotted in the Mahakam River in Samarinda, across the East Kalimantan Governor’s Office (Kompas, 22/3/1997).

“Only about 17 dolphins are left in our village now. In 1974, there were many of them. Six dolphins were even taken to Jakarta for breeding,” Alimin said at the end of 2019.

The photos and videos Alimin has uploaded have attracted people from outside Pela, which is not difficult to access. From Tenggarong, the seat of the Kutai Kartanegara administration, it takes about an hour’s drive to Liang Ulu village, from where the trip continues by boat on the Mahakam and its tributaries.

KOMPAS/SUCIPTO

Fishermen throw nets at Semayang Lake in Pela Village, Kota Bangun District, Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan, Wednesday (27/11/2019). Ecotourism grows in the region.

Tourism dilemma

Visitors to Pela village usually want to watch the sunset and the dolphins. However, Alimin believed that tourism could have a negative impact unless it was properly managed. The visitors littered and the villagers behaved like mere spectators. As the piles of garbage grew high, he feared that the dolphin population would decline further from water pollution.

In 2017, Alimin submitted a proposal to the Kutai Kartanegara administration to turn Pela into a tourism village. It aimed to form a tourism awareness group (pokdarwis) to manage visitors. “Visitors and villagers can thus enjoy mutual benefits and maintain the river together,” he said.

After setting up the pokdarwis, Alimin coordinated with the village administration. He urged to impose a ban on fishing by using electricity. Without help, it was feared that the dolphin population would become threatened by reckless fishing practices. Environmentally harmful fishing devices would also disrupt the reproduction of various fish species, like the lais (glass catfish), baung (mystus) and jelawat (sultan fish).

“We want [our] tourism to promote environmental conservation. On the one hand, the fishermen need a lot of fish. On the other, we want to save the pesut as a village icon,” he said.

Today, the villagers are actively contributing to the effort. They round up noncompliant fishermen who practice electric pulse fishing to the village administration to be issued a warning.

We want to save the pesut as a village icon.

When the lake water is low, the fish are slow to reproduce. If electric fishing devices are used, the fish young will perish.

When the waters of Lake Semayang receded in August, it exposed part of the lakebed. Short grass sprouted there and turned into a green expanse. During such times, tourists visited the lake in the late afternoon to enjoy the sunset. The village saw 2,000 visitors in August 2019.

“Fishermen can earn extra income from visitors when fish is hard to catch. They rent out boats to sail the river. Some of them also rent floats for swimming in the lake,” said Alimin.

Led by Alimin, the Pela pokdarwis inaugurated the Lake Festival in 2018, which will be held again this year. The festival features competitions in rowing, net fishing, fishing and catching fish by hand. Anyone can join the festival, including tourists.

Alimin doesn’t see tourism only as a leisure activity. Instead, tourism is also for learning about the life and nature of different places. He also suggested that the pokdarwis build a fishing museum in a relative’s house. The museum displays the traditional fishing tools that the fishermen of Pela use, news clippings and books about the village, as well as native fish species.

When the tourists come, Alimin encourages them to experience the daily life in the village by sailing out with the fishermen early in the morning. “I want them to come to the village not only for vacationing. They should take part in fishing so that they learn about life on the fringes of society. We can also learn from them,” he said.

Alimin

Born: 17 Dec. 1977

Education: Bangun 1 state senior high school

Award: Founder, Kutai Kartanegara Literacy Movement (2019)