10.8   Bamboo Stake Trap

                  The bamboo stake trap is commonly termed “fish corral” and are of two types: the ordinary bamboo fish corral and the combination drive-in-fish corral. These two types vary primarily, in the materials used, and methods of guiding the fish school to the terminal pound.

                  The ordinary fish corral consists of three parts: leader, playground and terminal pound or cod end. The leaders are made of bamboo stakes, netting, wire or branches. Their length varies from 10 to 400 meters, depending on the size of trap and the bottom topography. Usually, there is only one leader but in some fish corrals, 2-3 leaders may be found. The main leader is usually positioned perpendicular to the shore and the entrance faces the current at ebb tide. The leaders guide the fish into the playground which is a heart-shaped or C-shaped enclosure constructed of bamboo, coconut tree or wooden stakes driven into the sea bed, with a polyethylene or nylon monofilament netting cover. The fish are guided to the terminal pound where they are scooped out, or caught by a liftnet or spear. The cod-end or terminal pound is semicircular with a bamboo or palm-tree stake frames covered by polyethylene or wire netting.

              The drive-in fish corral is mainly operated along the sheltered coastal waters of South Cotabato , Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao provinces. It is set at about 20-30 meters deep and is used to catch skipjack and yellowfin tuna that come near the shore. The leader consists of 3-5 bamboos which are bundled together as raft. The length of the bamboo is about 9 meters and is 50-80 mm. in diameter. The rafts are connected to each other by rope. One end of the leader is tied with the cod-end or terminal pound while the other is anchored by stones. The length of the leader is 225 meters and set almost parallel to the coastline. Attached, beneath the rafts are vertical ropes with split coconut or palm fronds as scaring devices. The length depends on the depth of the water where the rafts are anchored. The semicircular shaped terminal pound is located at the slope of the shore. It has 30-50 coconut trunks (10-20 meters long) which are driven to the sea bed at 3-4 meter intervals as the posts for the polyethylene netting cover. The front of the pound is also provided with coconut posts leaving a 16-meter entrance opening at the center. A net measuring 18 meters long by 16 meters deep is hung at the entrance opening.