MIRI, March 20 -- "Bubuk sudah naik!" shouted the fishermen at Kampung Wireless. The beautiful riverine village, named after a wireless tower erected by the government in the 1930s at the edge of the then Miri town, was a hive of activity on a beautiful morning earlier this month.

Women from different ethnic groups had arrived to buy the freshly-netted bubuk or krill almost straight off the boats that had just returned from waters around Lutong.

Catching bubuk

The call of "Bubuk sudah naik!" traditionally referred to the times when the krill would swarm the coastal shores. About 10 years ago, it was even said that bubuk were so plentiful that they would wash onto the beach and no one cared. Many fishermen caught so much that they just ...