When I was in Tarakan, early this year, the village head (VH) of one of the villages in Berau called me. I know this man for a long time. First time I met him when I did a social economy survey for CIFOR in 2004. I spent one night in his house and doing some interview, together with my colleague. Since that he contacts me regularly. In 2005, I lost contact with him. I met him again in the one of the meetings held by UNMUL in Berau in 2009.
He told me couple of time that he had a plan to build a tambak in Batumbuk area. He had already several ponds around the village. But the production was not that good, he said. So, that’s how he come up with the plan to build another tambak. He was the one who manage the rotation of using the excavator, the machine that used to dig a hole in a soil.
Here are some conversation that we made through the telephone.
Rini: how are you? Where are you now?
VH : I am in Derawan. Refreshing. Together with my wife.
Rini: That's nice. Greeting to Ibu. So, how’s your plan to build the tambak?
VH : yeah…. I am still waiting my turn. I’ve been waiting for around 6 months. There are still a lot of people who are using the machine. People trust me to manage the using of the machine around, so would be not nice if I am using the machine before the other finish. Beside that, the operator just came back from Java. So… yeah, I am waiting. I am still with my plan to build 30 ha.
Rini: that’s big. How much do you spend to rent the machine?
VH : around 50.000 rp per meter2 (circa 5 US$/m2), Nett. why? Do you want to build a tambak here? Come to build tambak here. The cost would be the same as you build a house in Java. If you have a plan to build a tambak, you have to be quick. In few months, the area around here will be full of tambak.
Rini: Yeah…. I will think about it. By the way, have you ever been invited by WWF in one of their meeting?
VH : yes, I did. Together with the other village head. I attended the meeting couple of time. We were discussing about which area that are allowed to build a tambak and fishing ground. According to them, we have to build tambak at least 200 meters from the river bank. This does not make sense. It’s too far. 30 meters from the river bank is already to far for us.
Rini: did you share this information to your people in the village?
VH : yes of course. Every time the meeting finished, I came back to the village and discussed about this with the villagers.
Rini: What did they think about this?
VH : that’s what they think. That, maximum, for us, tambak should be located 30 meters from the river banks.
Based on the map of MPA issued in 2005, most of the delta area located in this village, mostly nipah/mangrove forest, is inside the MPA. And based on the government regulation, those mangrove forest should be protected. Converting the mangrove forest to be a shrimp pond should not be allowed. But, those people who wants to open a new pond just need a permit from the head of the village, who sometimes do not aware with those regulation, or if they know, they don’t care about that: “as long as you have money to build and “share”, you are most welcome to open a tambak in my village”.
