Four-month ban on birdnest harvesting at Niah Caves

Sarawak Tribune
8 February 2002.

Harvesting of birdnests will be stopped for four months from early February to the end of May this year in a drastic move to rebuild the population of swiftlets at the Niah Caves.

The Director of Forests Sarawak revealed this in a statement issued yesterday.

He recalled that the Niah Great Cave was once Sarawak's largest producer of 'black nest' by the tonnes.

Sadly, the huge population of 1.7 million swiftlets in 1935 had dwindled by as much as 90 percent over the past decades due to over exploitation of their nests, with the pace in nest collection having accelerated since 1987 following an increased in demand.

Previous measures to save the black-nest swiftlets and the birdnest industry at Niah did not produces the desired result but with the inception of the DANCED/ SWAMPI project in September 2000, the Sarawak Forest Department is giving it another try, this time armed with a sound management plan based on results of years of biological research.

The new plan calls for conservation of the swiftlets through improved management with participation of the local communities that comprised four main stakeholders : the Penan/Muslim licensees or birdnest owners, the Chinese birdnest traders, the workers or cave guards comprising mainly Iban, and the Forest Department.

All the stakeholders participated in a dialogue held at Niah National Park in November 2001. Among the many resolutions reached was the unanimous agreement to stop harvesting birdnests for four months to allow the production of one generation of young swiftlets namely 30 days for the hatchling to grow until they leave the nests.