Village Fishing Competition A Success
By Shafiyi Azahari

Bandar Seri Begawan - A total of 227 fishing enthusiasts came to Kampong Sungai Matan for the 2006 fishing challenge.

The event, which was organised by the village's committee with an aim to promote the village as a tourist destination, lasted seven hours since it opened at 8 am.

Village head Pengiran Abdul Rahman Pengiran Zainal said the competition was held for the first time in 1999 and this year's was the fourth and it was also held at the same location.

He said the number of people taking part in the fishing contest surpassed their projected target of 200 participants and was a great success. "Some participants came from Tutong, Temburong and Kuala Belait and even the neighbouring countries,"said Pengiran Abdul Rahman, a former employee at the Fisheries Department, Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources.

Participants coming from outside Brunei Darussalam showed a degree of success in the organiser's aim to promote the village as a tourist destination in the country, he said.

"Apart from the tourism benefit of the contest, villagers also had the chance to introduce the locally-produced food items such as belacan or tahai as well as increase their income through the sales," he said.

Fishing on a hot and sunny day do require a certain level of patience said the deputy chairperson of Sungai Matan village committee, Awang Ishak Ismail.

"There must be patience and fishing takes time," said Awang Ishak, who is also a fishing enthusiast.

He also praised the senior citizens aged 55 and above for participating in the competition. He added the event could also be a gathering to help promote the positive aspects of village life while preventing social ills.

The challenge was divided into five categories, first fish' caught in 30 minutes, biggest fish caught, most fish caught by a team of four and two other categories especially for the local villagers.

Mohd Ismail won "the first to catch a fish" category in 17 minutes and he brought home $100 and a fishing rod.

Shark Team won the most fish caught with 21 fishes while the runner up was the Family of Yusof with 17 fishes and the sec. and runner-up team was "Lanchang Kuning" with 13 fishes.

Brunei-Muara District Officer Dato Paduka Awg Mohd Yussop Bakar was guest of honour at the prize presentation ceremony. Dato Awg Mohd Yussof said in his speech that the event organised by Kampong Sungai Matan was a platform for uniting and fostering relationships amongst villagers, regardless of the diversity in their background. Proceeds gained from the participants’ entrance fee will go to the care of the orphans at the village as well as the village committee finance fund for future community events. The 227 fishing-enthusiasts, both young and old, praised the village organisers of the event.

"This year's competition is by far the most encouraging so far,"said Pengiran Abdul Rahman. The village has also identified some 29 types of fish that can be found around the village's river such as selungsong, kitang, sumbilang, buntal, kerapu, gulama and kapas-kapas.

Fish baits that were used included prawns and small fish such as temanong, tamban, aur-aur and basong-basong. Kampong Sungai Matan has around 445 villagers living in 60 houses.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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