The bamboo fish traps, or Kazye Banbou Seselwa, have been part of the Seychellois fishermen’s psyche from the early days of settlement up until now. They are used mainly to catch the Spinefoot or Kordonyen, but are also used to catch most reef fish. It is unfortunately not as popular as it used to be. In days gone by, most islands or villages had their own fish trap fishermen, or tranper kazye. In the village of Grand Anse on Praslin Island, the village where I come from, we had fishermen like Frid Barallon, Arman Kanni, Dovik, Nigel and Jose Mancienne and many more.
Fisherman with his ‘kasye Lavol’ getting ready to go fishing in his pirogue
The Arrowhead Design
The fish traps that are used by our fishermen are of the arrowhead design, made of braided bamboo looking like a mesh having a minimum legal size of 4 cm. The mesh is locally called may kazye. The minimum mesh size is to ensure that undersized fish as well as crustaceans, especially lobster and rock lobster, can easily exit the trap through the mesh.
Types of Fish Traps
There are three types of traps that are traditionally used all over the islands and these include:
Kazye dormi, (lit. sleeping trap) which is set further offshore and left overnight, has a solid reinforced construction and is usually baited with fish.
Kazye Dormi being assembled
Kazye peze (lit. held down trap) is less robust than the kazye dormi and is used mainly by fishermen without boats, who set it at low tide on the nearshore reef platforms. It is usually not baited, but sometimes seaweed and crushed sea urchins are used as bait.
Kazye Peze
Kazye lavol is of even lighter construction and is set around the reefs where rabbitfish are abundant. They are baited with seaweed, land crabs,or tyangoman and left for short periods (two to four hours) before recovery. The soak time, the time they are left in the sea, for the other two types is usually 24 hours.
Kazye Lavol
Types of Bamboo
Although bamboo is very strong and hard in its natural form, however when converted into a thin sliver, it can be very flexible owing to its strong fiber property.
There are a few types of bamboo on the islands and not all can be used for fish traps. The preferred ones are those with thin wall, longer nodes and smaller diameter. These include the green bamboo or banbou ver and yellow bamboo or banbou zonn. The main reason is that slivers or strips made from them are not very brittle and therefore easier to weave than the others and they also take longer to disintegrate.
The larger bamboo like banboudsin (Fr. bamboo de Chine) is normally not used because it is not easy to work with, is more brittle and rots quicker. I have been told that traditionally there is a specific time during the day as well as a time during a moon phase when the bamboo should be picked.
Time of Day to Harvest Bamboo
Traditionally bamboo to be used for fish traps is harvested at specific time of day and this is in early morning or late evening. Our ancestors did not know why, but now we know the reasoning behind this wisdom. It all has to do with the starch content in the bamboo. The more starch content the more susceptible is the bamboo to borers and decay. When considering photosynthesis, bamboo starts transporting starch from the roots into the leaves of a plant in the morning. At the height of the day, this process is at its peak, where the plant is full of starch, making this the least ideal time of day to harvest bamboo.
Time of Month to Harvest Bamboo
Furthermore, the moon phase is also traditionally considered when harvesting bamboo. The starch content within the bamboo is at its lowest between waning gibbous and the third-quarter moon, between the 6th and 8th day after the full moon. This is because of the stronger gravitational pull of the moon. Making this time of year the best time to harvest bamboo.
If the bamboo could not be cleaned straight away, it was stored in the shade by covering it with branches or large leaves. If the bamboo dries too fast, it becomes very brittle and is almost impossible to weave.
Preparing the Bamboo
Making a bamboo fish trap is a skillful activity that takes experience and patience. The first step in the process is to prepare the bamboo. Once the bamboo is harvested, it is necessary to remove all the branches from the stem, also known as the culm, with the help of a knife. The bamboo has to be mature because young bamboo has a very short life in the sea.
The culm is cut into fairly long sections, long enough to be able it to be carried. The outer layer of the skin of the culm should be protected very well to avoid scratching them, as this will create weakness in the strips.
Most fish trap makers do not use bamboo straight after harvesting. They will soak their cut bamboo in a river or in the marsh for about 15-30 days. According to them soaking makes the culms more subtle and increases their resistance to cracking when dried. After the soaking process, the bamboo is allowed to air dry in a shaded area. They reckon that the bamboo may crack if the drying process is too rapid.
To prepare the strips, the bamboo is split in half. It is then split into quarters. The quarters are split further into strips of about 5-8mm wide, ensuring that all strips are the same width.
Split Bamboo Ready for Thinning and Further Cleaning
The nodes inside the strips are removed. This process requires great care as the bamboo strips can be very sharp.
Prepare the slivers or strips
Thinning the strips
The strips must be thinned to make them pliable for weaving. This is achieved by separating the glassy outer skin, or outer layer of the bamboo, from its fleshy or fibrous inner layer using a small knife. Only the skin is used for weaving. Once all strips have been thinned, they are cleaned further and are ready for the weaving process to start.
Weaving the strips
The strips are woven using a hexagonal pattern. The hexagonal pattern has strips in three directions, creating hexagons in the open spaces in between. A hexagon has six straight sides and six angles. The open space in the hexagon is called ‘may’ in Creole.
Photo showing the Hexagonal Weave Pattern
May derives from the French ‘maille’, meaning mesh, the gap between threads in cloth etc… In Seychelles, the legal size of the bamboo trap mesh is a minimum 40mm diameter.
Woven parts
There are four woven sections to a trap. The flat top and bottom sections are identical in shape and size, the wall and the mouth or funnel.
The structure of the Bamboo Fish Trap
The common parts of bamboo fish trap are:
- frame;
- outer covering;
- entrance funnel;
- door to empty the trap;
- bait holder;
- ballast.
Frame
The frame, which is always placed on the outside of the trap, prevents the trap from being damaged by predators like sharks as well as assisting the trap in not losing its shape during fishing and storing.
Whether a trap has a frame or not depends on the type of trap one is making. The kazye dormi, which is a trap that is set further offshore, has a solid reinforced construction. The frame is made up of thicker bamboo strips or timber. Bwa Var (Hibiscus tiliaceus) also known as sea hibiscus, is the preferred timber because it is flexible; can be bent without breaking and can last a long time without disintegrating. It is a handy timber because it grows in coastal environment and therefore easily available. Its tough bark was made into durable rope which was used to tie all the parts for the kasye together before the advent of nylon or plastic ropes.
Two Traps, one with wooden and one with bamboo frame
The less robust kazye peze is used mainly by fishermen without boats, who set at low tide on the nearshore reef platforms. It has a lighter frame and is attached on two long poles/legs that are tied to the bottom of the frame in a cross format.
Kazye Peze set and legs held down by small coral heads
The poles or legs have three functions:
- They assist in the transporting of the trap on to the reef. The fisherman lifts the front end of the trap resulting in only the ends of the poles touching the ground and drags the trap along.
- They also assist in anchoring the trap. Corals are placed on the two poles to hold the trap down.
- Lastly, they assist in the removal of fish from the trap. The trap is lifted by the front end and made to rest on the back legs. The trap will technically be above water level, and the fisherman gently removes the fish from the trap and transfers it to his kapatya or coconut leaf basket. He may choose to thread them together in a ‘packet’, a process locally known as anfile (Fr. enfiler– to thread). The fisherman always carries with him a heavy stick with a fork at the end. It is with that fork that he keeps the trap propped up.
Fisherman Dragging the Kazye Pese to the Reef Flat
The kazye lavol is of even lighter construction and has minimal frame.
Covering
As already indicated, the traditional traps are made up of woven bamboo, but some modern traps are covered with wire netting. The choice of material depends on availability and cost. However, if wire netting is used the law requires that the funnel is made out of bamboo. The reasoning behind this is that if a trap full of fish is lost, at least the bamboo can disintegrate allowing the fish to ultimately swim free. The top and the bottom piece are of similar dimension and look vaguely like an enlarged head of an arrow, hence the name arrowhead fish trap. The side wall is made of one long piece of braided bamboo that is tied all around the frame starting next to the funnel on one side and ending at the funnel on the other side.
A partly assembled Kazye showing the parts
Funnel
The funnel, or lagel kazye (Fr. la geule) allows the fish to enter the trap. The trap has only one funnel, also made out of bamboo located within the’ V’ of the arrowhead trap. The entry hole at the inner end of the funnel is directed downwards and is also constricted. This prevents the fish from escaping once they are in the trap.
Old fisherman making Funnel of the Bamboo Fish Trap
Door flap
The flap which allows the fisherman to remove the catch is in fact part of the top cover that is not permanently tied down. It is located at an edge near the top end of the frame and held closed by a short rope that is loosely threaded. This allows it to be easily undone so that, when the trap is placed on its side, the catch will fall through and into the pirogue.
Baiting
Bait is normally secured in the trap in two different ways. Large, solid pieces of fish, etc. are tied into the trap with wire or twine hanging from the inner roof of the trap. If small pieces of bait such as small fish are used as bait, they are placed in a bait container called dadak made from wire, plastic or synthetic netting to hold them together and in place. As I have already mentioned, not all traps are baited especially where the reef fish that are targeted use the traps for shelter. However, in most cases the placing of bait in the trap gives an added reason for the fish to enter.
Location of the bait
The relationship between the funnel and the positioning of the bait is critical in getting good catches. The bait has to be positioned so that a fish entering to take it cannot back out through the funnel or find the funnel exit and escape. Depending on the type of fish being targeted, the bait is placed off-centre from the funnel and well to the back of the trap. However, it is important not to place the bait so far towards the back that fish are attracted away from the funnel.
Sometimes burley or lasomir (Fr. saumure) is also placed in the trap. This is to further attract the fish. The burley is made up of chopped fish bones, fish heads and land crabs, mixed with sand and tied in coconut cloth, or tanmi, and hanged in the trap. On the outlying islands pounak was regularly used. Pounak is called copra meal is English and is the residue that is left over after the copra has been milled and all oil has been extracted.
The traditional bait that are used are the tyangoman or land crabs, mouk (a type of mussel that has more or less gone extinct), and fish heads.
Ballast
Ballast, usually made up of a small granite rock, is tied on the outside of the five corners of the arrowhead trap at the bottom end. It prevents tidal currents from moving the trap from where it is set as well as ensures that the trap sits the right way up when set. Kasye peze has no ballast as this will make it too heavy to carry to the reef. As mentioned before, it has two long pieces of timber attached to it looking like legs on which corals are strategically placed to set the trap firmly in place.
Rigging
Once the trap has been constructed, it must be prepared for the fishing operation. Buoys or floats will mark the location of the pot, so buoy lines and bridles must be attached to the trap for setting and hauling. Appropriate rigging is also important to ensure that the trap lands the right way up on the bottom. The length of the buoy line will vary with the trap type, the tidal range and currents in the fishing area. The usual length of the buoy line is about one-and-a-half times to twice the water depth being fished but may be greater if there are strong currents. Floats or buoys are attached to the line so that the fishermen can find their trap, retrieve it and remove the catch. The size of buoys or floats varies with the depth and current.
Soaking new traps
Most new traps will not bring in many fish. This may be because a new trap has foreign odour coming from the materials used. They are therefore allowed to soak in the sea for a while to allow the smell to dissipate and for it to start having algae growth locally known as lavaz.
Part of the Kazye with Algae Growth or Lavaz
How does the trap fisherman set his traps?
The trap fishermanm, or tramper kazye, takes many factors into consideration when setting his traps. Through experience, he has developed the capacity to understand how the fish will react to his traps. A key factor in successful fishing with traps is the location in which he sets them. This positioning will depend on the types of fish he is targeting.
For fish that live under reefs or rocks and do not venture far from their shelter (e.g. rock lobsters, rock cod), he will place the trap close to where they are sheltering. For fish that live in the sea grass and and crustaceans that live in burrows in the sand or mud, he will set his traps in areas where they are in greatest concentrations.
In all these cases, he also takes into account the tide and current, and locate his trap so that the current does not carry the smell of the bait away from his target.
Hauling
A small video of a trap being hauled
The future of the Bamboo Fish Traps
