 WETlandsa publication of Sungei Buloh Nature Park |
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5 No 1 Apr 98 Prawn Farming at Sungei Buloh Workshops for Children & for Teachers 5th Anniversary Celebrations: events and messages BabeWatch R(A): Herons at Sungei Buloh Time and Tide Wait for No Man: what you can see at the various tide levels Bird Sightings (Dec 98-Jan 99) |
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prawn farms formerly occupied the area around Sungei Buloh. Not surprisingly
therefore, the history of Sungei Buloh is closely linked to the prawn farming
industry.The waterlogged and muddy mangrove swamps that occupy much of the Park are rich in organic nutrients. These nutrients make excellent food for the prawn fry. Consequently, prawns would naturally spawn in the mangrove swamp. Making use of this knowledge, traditional prawn farmers devised an ingenious and low-cost way to trap and harvest these prawns. This entailed digging a shallow pond of about 1-2 hectares from the mangrove soil. Embankments are build around the pond and a sluice gate is constructed to allow for water exchange. The brackish ponds you see around the Park are the remnants of smaller prawn ponds that have been joined together by the breaking of the embankments between them. With traditional prawn farming, the farmer starts by opening the sluice gate to allow the wild prawn larvae to swim into the pond. The prawn larvae are trapped in the pond when the sluice gates are shut. There is no need for the farmer to feed the larvae as they will feed on the organisms that are already present in the water. All that he needs to do is to regularly flush out the water in the pond so as to get rid of the excrement-filled, de-oxygenated water and replace it with water rich in oxygen, minerals and food. Flushing is done when the water level in the pond is higher than the level of the sea water outside the pond. Thus when the top few planks of the sluice gate are removed, water will flow from the pond to the sea (the prawn fry do not escape as they usually inhabit the bottom part of the pond). When the prawns have grown to a sufficient size, the farmer will harvest then by placing a net at the gate whilst opening it at low tide. The harvested prawns may be sold at the market or kept for the farmer's ow consumption. Birds like the Egrets and Herons are attracted to the area surrounding Sungei Buloh as a result of this prawn farming activity. They were able to feed on the marine life that was left exposed when the ponds were drained for harvesting. Today, even though these prawn ponds are no longer farmed, they are still rich in life and visitors can still see the birds as they forage for food in the ponds just as they had done many years ago. For more about Traditional Prawn Harvesting at Sungei Buloh Nature Park. Sluice gate management at Sungei Buloh Nature Park. Here's a humorous look at prawn farming...!  |
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