Smoking while diving on the decline in Sentani

Smoking while diving on the decline in Sentani

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post/Jayapura

Smoking while diving? People may raise their eyebrows when they
hear this for the first time. But not the people who live near
Sentani Lake in Jayapura, the capital of Papua province.

Smoking while diving is common for the Sentani people, who
smoke when diving for fish.

How they do it? Before jumping into the water, Sentani
fishermen prepare all their equipment, such as kalawai and onggei
(two types of spears), wauw (net to collect fish), felfale (a
special net for shellfish), goggles, a cigarette and betel nuts
to chew on. All the equipment is then loaded into a boat and the
fishermen row out into the middle of the lake. Before diving into
the water, each fisherman lights a cigarette and puts on his
goggles. Some chew an betel nut.

Once a fisherman is ready, he jumps into the water with a
spear. Fisherwomen take a felfale to collect shellfish.

Why light a cigarette? A fisherman puts the cigarette in his
lips with the lit end in his mouth and dives into the water with
his mouth shut tight.

When he returns to the surface few minutes later, he turns the
cigarette around to the proper position and smokes in the normal
fashion.

"The cigarette, which stays alight when I dive, helps warm my
body while I'm in the water. I smoke while I wait for a fish to
pass that I can catch with my spear," said James Opuhiri, 34, a
fisherman who learned to swim when he was four years old.

However, the habit is dying out since a growing number of
fishermen are using nets to catch fish. Using a net is more
practical as more fish can be caught in a short time.

Nomensen Ongge, 50, a local figure in Asei Besar hamlet in
Sentani, hopes the government will preserved the habit through
regular competitions to attract tourists. "These days, the
activity is usually done at the request of tourists," said
Nomensen.