The crab pens area

When the tide is low, they may seem like a "sleepy hollows". Seemingly empty and unoccupied, but don’t be mistaken. Hundreds or even thousands of the ‘dwellers’ will come crawling out of it, wading through the muddy mangrove forest during the high tide.

These are the crabs of Sematan mangrove forest. To a Malay village in Sematan called Kampung Trusan Jaya, these crabs are actually the predominant dwellers of the village.

Special ‘bond’ between the crabs and the villagers has been in existence for as long as anyone could remember. From catching and having them for meals, to earning income from selling them.

Now, the people of Kampung Trusan Jaya, will do more than just that. They will learn how to rear crabs in the crab pen complex. Under the Industry Research and Development Grant Scheme from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, Malaysia, 57 individual crab pens were completed in year 2001. It is a project between the Sarawak Department of Agriculture and a non-governmental organization (NGO), Muhandis Industrial Services (MIS) Sdn. Bhd.

Situated at the village, the crab pens are equipped with facilities such as rest area and electric lighting. The size of each pen is 60 feet by 30 feet and can roughly stock about 500 pieces of crabs for each culture period. The type of crab reared in the crab pen complex is of genus Scylla spp., and commonly known as ‘mud crab’, or locally as ketam kalok.

Mud crab’s research centre is situated at Kampung Trusan Jaya. Details on the mud crab are available at the research centre

Crabs are cultured from a size of about 100gms per piece to a marketable size of about 250gms per piece. The culture period lasts for about four months. The culture system used is extremely ecofriendly as the crabs are reared in the mangrove jungle in enclosures within their natural habitat, which has minimum impact on the ecology of the mangrove forest.

Based on research, there are four types of mangrove crabs in the state, which are, mud crab (Scylla olivacea), sand crab (Scylla tranquebarica) and flower crab (Scylla paramamosain).

According to the project’s principal technical advisor, Mohd. Ikhwanuddin bin Abdullah, the government had spent RM300,000 to RM400,000 for the crab pens alone.

"In terms of awareness towards the crab rearing project, more effort are to be made as it is not easy to convince the villagers to quit fishing or stop logging the mangrove trees, just to start all over again with crab rearing activity.

"We understand their dependence on fishing and mangrove logging as their main income generations, and that’s why we are getting them to be involved in the R&D," he further explained.

Kampung Trusan Jaya, located 30 km from Lundu, and 120 km from Kuching, is adopting a concept - ‘One Village, One Product’. Ironically, although the crabs in Sematan are as old as the mangrove forest, commercial activity in its relation has not really been in favor. Presently, fishing and mangrove forest logging are the main income generations of the locals. Lack of interest in mud crab catching and selling could be due to limited catches compared to fishing.

Ikhwanuddin, however believed that with the introduction of such project mentioned earlier on, the villagers will have more confidence in crab business as those involved in it will have a better understanding on how to diversify activities related to crab catching as well as rearing.

Holes where the mud crabs live in and crawl out of it when the high tide rushes in

MIS, together with Department of Agriculture, are involved in R&D within the project area, (located within 1,735 hectares, of Sematan Mangrove Forest). MIS has contributed both in cash and in-kind for the project specifically in providing rearings pens for the mud crab culture project as well as training input. It also provides the market for the cultured mud crabs: the traditional food cottage industry product.

For local market, mud crabs are sold at the price of RM8.00 to RM10.00 per kg. It is most popular among locals due to its big size and solid meat. It is learnt that the crab pens produced about 1 tonne of crabs in a month.

Established in 1997, after its separation from Kampung Tanah Hitam, Kampung Trusan Jaya, has a population of 309 adults and 59 youths (at press time). It is learnt that almost 100% of the local village community monthly income is still below the poverty line (less than RM593 for four persons per household). This village, where the crab research centre is situated, is divided into two areas: Trusan Jaya Hilir and Trusan Jaya Hulu.