Shell collectors further impeded by development

Andi Hajramurni ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Makassar   |  Wed, 04/29/2009 1:25 PM  |  The Archipelago

Amid the rapid development in Makassar, South Sulawesi, the fate of cockle shell collectors, better known locally as pa'tude, is growing more uncertain by the day.

The area they search for cockles is gradually getting smaller as the municipality and developers are busily engaged in coastal reclamation and construction projects.

Members of the pa'tude community, who reside along the Losari coast in Makassar, are generally impoverished

About 100 pa'tude families remain, scattered across five subdistricts in Mariso district, such as Mariso, Lette and Buyang. They build their homes along the coast of the Makassar Strait.

According to a pa'tude, Abdul Haris Daeng Sikki, 56, who lives in Mariso subdistrict, there were hundreds of pa'tude before Losari Beach was reclaimed to make way for a road to the Tanjung Bunga area in the late 1990s.

"Before the road to Tanjung Bunga was built, we could gather 10 to 15 liters of cockles. We only needed two hours at most to collect them and the area was near our homes."

At that time, said Haris, they could go to the sea twice to seek cockles - in the morning and afternoon.

The proceeds from selling cockles covered their daily necessities, and they were also able to build homes and buy furniture, despite the price of only around Rp 2,000 per liter.

However, in the past several years, they have no longer been able to depend on collecting cockles due to declining earnings, which did not cover basic necessities.

Some have become construction and port laborers and pedicab drivers, while others have left the area.

Those who stayed behind do not have other options as they lack the knowledge, skills and means to set up business. Most pa'tude have not finished elementary school.

Generally, they inherit the trade from their families, and learn from their parents at an early age.

Another pa'tude, Sudirman Daeng Lurang, 31, said although his earnings were not enough to meet the needs of his wife and four children, he continued collecting cockles because he had no other skills.

"I don't know what else to do, because I have always followed in the footsteps of my parents as a pa'tude."

The only way to earn extra income, he said, was by working on his neighbor's shrimp farm. He sometimes also did odd jobs, such as unloading fish at the fish auction facility.

Working as fishermen is not an option due to the coast's depleting fish population.

"Formerly, every morning and afternoon during low tide, the Losari coast would be full of pa'tude with their bodies partly immersed in water and there would be many cockle sellers," said Basman Tang, a Mariso resident.

"But now this portrait is hard to come by."

Currently, there are very few cockle sellers because cockle stocks have gradually depleted.

The fate of the cockle collectors has further worsened along with the increasing number of buildings around Losari Beach, such as the low-cost flats, the Celebes Convention Center and the Center Point on Indonesia mega-project, which is in the construction stage.

According to Haris and Sudirman, their earnings have sharply decreased as they were only able to collect about 4 liters of cockles.

The price of cockles has risen to Rp 8,000 per liter, due to their scarcity.

To obtain the cockles, the pa'tude must scour Losari Beach up to a kilometer from the usual location.

The condition is exacerbated by the Makassar municipality's recent warning that Losari Beach cockles were contaminated with heavy metals and hazardous to the health.

The pa'tude community hope the municipality will set aside an area for them to seek cockles so they can continue surviving, as well as preserve the community, or else provide them with startup capital and skills training.

"Our level of education is low. If the place where we find cockles is closed, how are we to survive? The government should think about the fate of pa'tude," Sudirman said.

"They say development is for the people, but we have been suffering further instead."

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