El Nino 1997 at Kuala Medang
Enter 1997 - at that time, I was still an avid angler and Kuala Medang was definitely one of my favourite haunts. Unfortunately, the extremely prolonged drought of 1997 had its toll on this fragile meeting point of 3 great rivers: The Telom from Cameron Highlands, The mighty Jelai Kecil having for tributaries the Belida and the Ulu Jelai Kecil; and the Serau. Kuala Medang sits at the meeting point of these three rivers and in those days, her banks are populated with bazillion species of freshwater fishes visible to the naked eye.
Then, tragedy strikes as the drought brought Death: for some reason, the people of this quaint village decided to use dangerous and destructive methods of fishing - bombing and electric current. Within one season, a once plentiful river was striped bare of its denizens. Biggest casualties - the once plentiful Kelah, Tor tambroides ( a mahseer). I remember having bought a kilo at RM14.00 back in 1990 but then in 1997 (before disaster) they were still retailing reasonably at around RM30.00 a kilo. Part of this was because there was a sudden surge in demand from the aquarium trade to supply rich town folks with live Kelahs at hundreds of ringgits each, artificially boosting the activities here. Sadly, the locals were too ignorant to realize that they were destroying their own livelihood in the most careless and abundant way. Angling magazines stoking up frenzies about catching the next biggest Kelah as the ultimate angling trophy didn't help either. Finally, the opening of the Betau valley and the accumulated affluence from the Highlands kind of sealed the fate of this once aquatic paradise of Malaysian freshwater fishes. Today, her banks are off limit to fishing but sadly, the fishes never returned. A step too little and too late.
Then, tragedy strikes as the drought brought Death: for some reason, the people of this quaint village decided to use dangerous and destructive methods of fishing - bombing and electric current. Within one season, a once plentiful river was striped bare of its denizens. Biggest casualties - the once plentiful Kelah, Tor tambroides ( a mahseer). I remember having bought a kilo at RM14.00 back in 1990 but then in 1997 (before disaster) they were still retailing reasonably at around RM30.00 a kilo. Part of this was because there was a sudden surge in demand from the aquarium trade to supply rich town folks with live Kelahs at hundreds of ringgits each, artificially boosting the activities here. Sadly, the locals were too ignorant to realize that they were destroying their own livelihood in the most careless and abundant way. Angling magazines stoking up frenzies about catching the next biggest Kelah as the ultimate angling trophy didn't help either. Finally, the opening of the Betau valley and the accumulated affluence from the Highlands kind of sealed the fate of this once aquatic paradise of Malaysian freshwater fishes. Today, her banks are off limit to fishing but sadly, the fishes never returned. A step too little and too late.
The once clear waters of the Jelai River: at the dock of the late Hj. Mat Adam, a boat owner.
Hauling up a 10-kilo Genderak, a catfish that thrives at the rapids of Jelai River.
The late Hj. Mat Adam posing with the fish - I frequently rented his boats for trips up the picturesque Jelai Kecil just for leisure. It is, in my opinion, more interesting than the trip in motorboats up the Tembeling River to Taman Negara.
A 5-kilo Kelah that I bought from Hj. Mat Adam for the table.
The once transparent waters of Ulu JelaiVisit this site to help save the Kelah: http://www.kagum.org
map of Kuala Medang: http://maps.google.com.my/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
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