KOTA BELUD: On a late Friday afternoon, children’s laughter echoes along the shallow banks of the Kadamaian River in Kampung Tambatuon, a small interior village in Kota Belud on Sabah’s west coast.
For the families here, the river is more than a familiar sight because it has supported their livelihoods for generations and it is something they have worked hard to protect.
More than 30 years ago, the community began enforcing the Tagal system, a traditional river conservation practice that restricts fishing in designated zones and allows harvesting only at specific times.
Village Tagal committee chairperson Jahim Singkui recalls how the river once faced severe pressure from destructive fishing methods, including the use of generators. Before the community revived Tagal in 1992, fish populations had dwindled and the river was beginning to lose its life.
“We realised that if we did not act, the river would continue to decline. People here depend on it for almost everything and when the community understands that, they will come together to protect it,” he said.
Under the Tagal system, the river is divided into red, yellow and green zones, each determining whether fishing is prohibited, controlled or allowed. The colour zones help prevent overharvesting and ensure the river is managed collectively.
Jahim said the river’s recovery has been remarkable. He noted that even after floods, the fish always return. Before Tagal, he remembers the pelian were only the size of a finger. Without the community’s intervention, he believes the species would no longer exist in Tambatuon.
Today, the results are visible.
Clear river water irrigates more than 150 acres of paddy fields belonging to almost all 400 families here. The river also supplies households and small gardens, making it central to the village’s survival.
As the river recovered, visitors began streaming in. Some come to bathe, others to experience the chance to touch the pelian fish that swim freely in the shallow water. The pelian, a Sabah kelah species known scientifically as Tor douronensis, is native to Borneo. During peak months, up to 500 visitors may arrive, providing a modest source of income through small tourism activities.
But Tambatuon has also lived through a period of deep fear.
In 2010, a major development proposal to build a dam upstream threatened to submerge parts of the village. Several kampung faced relocation and residents worried they would lose their land, paddy fields, and the river that had shaped their lives.
“People were afraid of having to start again from zero. Our homes, our crops, and our history are here. Moving away would have meant losing everything,” Jahim said.
Villagers later received a letter last year from the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) confirming that the dam project had been cancelled. The decision brought relief, but also caution.
“We are grateful for that decision, but decisions can change. We hope whoever forms the next government will continue to respect that choice. We need the river and we want it to remain as it is,” he said, adding that many villagers believe several former assemblymen lost support in past elections because they backed the dam proposal.
