Mak Dara is a former fisherwoman from Dompak, in Tanjungpinang, Bintan. Born in 1953, she spent many years fishing at sea, work she learned from her father, who had no sons and brought her with along him on the boat from a young age. Today, she is better known for her practice of traditional arts as a dancer, performing Joget Dangkong, a vibrant Malay folk performance from the Riau Islands. Yet her profound knowledge of the sea remains deeply rooted in her life and memory

In this video, Mak Dara recalls that the way she understands the sea was passed down carefully by her parents. Since childhood, her parents taught her where the good fishing places were, where certain fish could be found, and how to read the land in order to understand the sea. She explains how she learned from them to find her way at sea by looking at trees on the distant shoreline. These trees served as landmarks and by aligning herself with them, she knew where in the sea she could find coral areas. And where there were corals, there were usually fish. They gather near coral because they feed on lumut, a form of algae, that grow around it. In this way, corals are important to fishers as points of navigation in the sea, and as destinations for fishing, to sustain in their livelihoods.

At the same time, Mak Dara explains, her parents also taught her that places in the sea, especially those with rocks and corals, should be approached with care and respect. Some places were understood as guarded or sacred. When entering such an area for fishing, one should not act arrogantly or speak carelessly. Instead, one asks for permission. As Mak Dara says, Malay people ask permission when passing such places, saying ‘Tabe Datuk’ as a gesture of respect to the unseen ancestors or beings believed to guard them. If this respect is not shown, she says, people may fall ill.

Her account shows that corals are not only important because they attract fish. They are also part of a moral and spiritual seascape, one in which fishing depends on, besides skills and ecological knowledge, also on attentiveness, humility, and respect for the places one enters. In Mak Dara’s memories, corals are places of sustenance, orientation, and reverence all at once.