One hand clinging to his boat's gunwale, Harun Muhammad
submerges himself, eyes and ears wide open underwater as he
"listens" for fish sounds emanating from the blue depths.
Harun is one of Malaysia's last "fish listeners," and he and his
apprentice son Zuraini are believed to be the only active
practitioners of this mysterious and dying local art.
"When you listen, it is like through a looking glass -- you can
see mackerel, sardine," said Harun, 68, who has fished the Setiu
lagoons on Malaysia's rural east coast his whole life.
"For us, we only look for gelama (a type of croaker). But in the
schools of gelama, there will be other fish. The gelama is the king
of fish."
Other fish listeners have passed away, retired or turned to
modern fish-detection technology as the traditional practice has
retreated in the face of dwindling catches and proliferating
undersea noise.
Studies show Malaysian waters lost 92 percent of fishery
resources between 1971 to 2007 due to overfishing.
"You can't copy our technique. You must gain the skill and learn
the lay of the waters," said Harun.
"The wholesalers tell me, 'if you're gone, there will be no more
gelama'," which fetches up to 10 times the price of similarly sized
fish.
- Sounds fishy -
"Pak Harun", as he is known locally -- "Pak" is a Malay
honorific similar to "Uncle" -- finds it hard to describe exactly
how fish sound, but likens it to pebbles being dropped into
water.
"They have a voice. This sound is this fish, that sound is
another. When someone is new, they can't tell one fish song from
another."
Harun and his crew of a dozen can go nearly a week without
hearing gelama -- which invites scepticism about the claimed
fish-listening ability.
But experts in sonifery (fish sounds) say sailors have long
heard sounds of whales and fish through boat hulls.
"Scuba divers often do not hear anything because their breathing
and bubble exhaust makes so much noise. However free divers, or
divers using quiet re-breathers, can hear much better," said
US-based marine ecologist Rodney Rountree.
Former fish listeners describe a range of techniques. Some claim
they can feel changes in water temperature.
For Harun, it is a multi-sensory experience requiring eyes wide
open.
"After a while, it is as if you can see. Even though the fish is
very far, you can sense it in that direction and you go there. Only
when you get close, you can hear the fish clearly," he said.
Though he sports a slight paunch on his sun-darkened frame under
a spiky white head of hair, Harun remains sprightly despite his
years, deftly clambering in and out of his boat in search of fish
sounds.
Once he pinpoints a school of gelama, his crew -- who have hung
back with engines off -- motor forward, drop their nets and strike
the sides of their boats to spook the fish into the mesh trap.
"You think it's just stupid fish but they can see you coming.
When they hear the sound of the boat, they run. The fish cry or
shout and then their friends swim away," he said.
- Listening in vain -
Landing a rich catch was easy when stocks were abundant, Harun
said.
But after decades of overfishing, he now "listens" up to several
dozen times under the scorching equatorial sun before catching a
snippet of gelama song.
Modernisation, including sand dredging, aquaculture, factories
and fishing trawlers have transformed the Setiu wetlands, a rich
but threatened coastal ecosystem centering on a 14-kilometre (9
mile) long lagoon along the South China Sea.
The state of Terengganu is seeking to make it a protected
park.
But Harun's catch is increasingly unpredictable, averaging about
$2,000 per week gross, leaving little left over after all crew are
paid, and fuel, maintenance, and other costs are deducted.
"Each year, the catch has reduced. But I'm not good at anything
else, so I still have to do this," said his son and apprentice
Zuraini.
Malaysia ranks among the top consumers of seafood in the
world.
Intergovernmental industry researchers Infofish say Malaysians
eat an average of 56.5 kilogrammes of seafood per person annually,
more even than Japanese.
The global average is 20 kilos.
WWF-Malaysia chief Dionysius Sharma said overfishing threatens
to leave Malaysian waters "vast and barren".
The organisation warns Malaysia's waters could run out of
seafood by 2048.
Despite the long odds, Zuraini, 44, said someday he will train
one of his own sons.
"I don't want to see this practice die off," he said.
