“The bamboo fish traps, or Kazye Banbou Seselwa, have been part of the Seychellois fishermen’s psyche from the early days of settlement up until now.”
On a reef flat at low tide in the Seychelles, a fisherman wades out to check a trap he set hours earlier. The trap is made not of metal wire or synthetic mesh, but of bamboo strips woven into a hexagonal pattern — a design that predates the arrival of Europeans in the Indian Ocean. The knowledge of when to harvest that bamboo, which species to use, and how to weave the trap so it catches fish while letting juveniles escape, is passed down through generations. This article examines the three traditional bamboo fish traps of Seychelles — the Kazye dormi, Kazye peze, and Kazye lavol — and what they reveal about Seychellois resourcefulness, ecological knowledge, and the pressures facing the archipelago’s artisanal fishery today.
Yes, Seychelles’ bamboo fish traps represent a sophisticated integration of material science and ecological observation. But their story is not a static one — it involves contested sustainability, adaptation to changing fish populations, and a craft that may be as fragile as the coral reefs where the traps are set.
Fishermen in Seychelles use three distinct trap designs, each matched to a specific fishing environment and strategy. The Kazye dormi (“sleeping trap”) is a reinforced, solid construction set further offshore and left overnight, usually baited with fish. The Kazye peze (“held down trap”) is less robust, used by fishermen without boats who set it on nearshore reef platforms at low tide, often without bait or with seaweed and crushed sea urchins. The Kazye lavol is a lighter construction set around reefs where rabbitfish are abundant, baited with seaweed, land crabs, or tyangoman, and left for only two to four hours before recovery. Soak time for the dormi and peze is typically 24 hours.
| Trap Type | Location | Construction | Bait | Soak Time | User |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kazye dormi | Offshore, deeper water | Solid reinforced frame, thick bamboo or timber | Fish | ~24 hours (overnight) | Boat fishermen |
| Kazye peze | Nearshore reef flats | Less robust, lighter weave | Seaweed, crushed sea urchins, or none | ~24 hours | Shore fishermen without boats |
| Kazye lavol | Reef areas with rabbitfish | Lightest construction, minimal frame | Seaweed, land crabs, tyangoman | 2–4 hours | Boat or shore fishermen |
All three designs share the same arrowhead shape and a minimum legal mesh size of 4 cm (40 mm diameter), intended to allow undersized fish and crustaceans — especially lobster and rock lobster — to escape. The mesh is woven in a hexagonal pattern called may in Seychellois Creole, with strips running in three directions for strength.
The Three Traps, Three Strategies
Each trap type reflects a specific relationship between the fisherman, the reef, and the target species.
The Kazye dormi is the most substantial of the three. Its frame is reinforced with thicker bamboo strips or timber — the preferred wood is Bwa Var (Hibiscus tiliaceus, sea hibiscus), valued for its flexibility, resistance to rot, and the fact that it grows in coastal environments. Before nylon or plastic ropes, the same tree was used to make durable rope for tying trap parts together. The dormi is set offshore and left overnight, relying on bait to draw in fish. Its solid construction protects it from predators such as sharks that might damage the trap while trying to reach the catch.
The Kazye peze serves a different community — fishermen who do not own boats. Set at low tide on nearshore reef platforms, it is held down by stones or coral. The trap is often unbaited, relying on fish seeking shelter in the structure. When bait is used, it is typically seaweed or crushed sea urchins, materials readily available on the reef. The peze is less robust than the dormi because it operates in a less energetic environment and is retrieved more frequently.
The Kazye lavol is the lightest trap, designed for speed. It targets rabbitfish (cordonier, Siganidae species), which school around reefs in large numbers. The trap is baited with seaweed, land crabs, or tyangoman (a type of mangrove crab) and left for only two to four hours — a short enough soak that the lighter construction does not need to withstand prolonged exposure to currents or predators. The lavol is the most responsive to daily fish movements, requiring the fisherman to read the reef and the tide with precision.
Some accounts hold that the three-trap system developed gradually as fishermen adapted to different reef environments and economic circumstances. The Kazye peze, for example, may have emerged as a way for landless fishermen to access the fishery without the cost of a boat. This is still debated — the historical record on the evolution of trap design in Seychelles is thin, and much of what is known comes from oral tradition and the practice of living fishermen rather than written documentation.
The Bamboo Intelligence
The knowledge involved in making a bamboo fish trap extends far beyond the weaving itself.
Bamboo for fish traps is harvested at specific times of day — early morning or late evening — when starch content in the culm is lowest. Starch attracts borers and accelerates decay, so timing matters. Bamboo begins transporting starch from roots to leaves in the morning, with levels peaking at midday. The moon phase also matters: the best harvest window is between the waning gibbous and third-quarter moon, roughly the 6th to 8th day after the full moon, when stronger gravitational pull is believed to lower starch content further.
Two bamboo species are preferred for traps: green bamboo (banbou ver) and yellow bamboo (banbou zonn), both chosen for their thin walls, longer nodes, and smaller diameter. The larger banboudsin (bamboo de Chine) is generally avoided — it is harder to work with, more brittle, and rots faster. If bamboo cannot be cleaned immediately after harvest, it is stored in the shade and covered with branches or large leaves. Drying too fast makes the bamboo brittle and almost impossible to weave.
Most trap makers do not use bamboo straight after harvesting. They soak the cut culms in a river or marsh for 15 to 30 days, which makes the material more supple and increases resistance to cracking during drying. After soaking, the bamboo is air-dried in shade. Rapid drying causes cracking. Once ready, the culm is split into halves, then quarters, then strips of about 5 to 8 mm wide. The inner nodes are removed, and the glassy outer skin is separated from the fibrous inner layer — only the skin is used for weaving.
If you visit the Seychelles and want to see a bamboo fish trap being made, ask at the Seychelles Fishing Authority in Victoria, Mahé, or local fishing cooperatives on Praslin and La Digue. Some older fishermen are willing to demonstrate the craft, though it is a skill that takes years to master. Avoid handling the traps you find on beaches or reefs — they are active fishing gear, and disturbing them can cost a fisherman his catch.
The weaving itself produces a hexagonal mesh with strips in three directions. The legal minimum mesh size of 40 mm diameter is written into Seychelles fishing regulations, but older traps were made with smaller meshes — the shift to 40 mm is a relatively recent conservation measure. A completed trap consists of four woven sections: a flat top, a flat bottom (identical in shape and size), a wall, and a funnel-shaped entrance. The frame is placed on the outside, not only to maintain the shape but to protect the weave from damage by predators.
A Fishery Under Pressure
The traps are ingenious, but they operate within a fishery facing serious sustainability questions.
The Seychelles artisanal trap and line fishery provides between 4,500 and 8,000 tonnes of catch per year, most of which is consumed locally. High-value species such as Lutjanus sebae (bourgeois) are exported to international markets. A 2021 assessment of catch and effort data from 1990 to 2019, conducted by the Seychelles Fishing Authority, found that most of the country’s artisanal fisheries are overexploited, with catch rates and total landed catch decreasing as fishing effort has increased.
However, the picture is not uniform. Trap fisheries targeting cordonier (rabbitfish, Siganidae species) are currently being fished below sustainable limits. Cordonier is the fourth most landed species group across all artisanal fisheries, and its fast population growth rate and high resilience to fishing pressure have kept it relatively healthy. The mixed reef fish group caught by traps — which includes over 30 species with varying life histories — is above sustainable limits. Mass coral mortality throughout the inner Seychelles has altered the available biomass of these species, contributing to both increases and decreases in catch rates depending on the location and species.
A common outsider misconception is that “traditional” automatically means “sustainable.” The bamboo fish trap is a highly selective piece of technology — the mesh size allows undersized fish to escape — but the pressure on Seychelles’ reef fish populations comes from the total number of traps deployed, not from the design of any individual trap. The tradition itself is not the problem; the scale of modern fishing effort is.
Handline fisheries, which comprise the majority of landed catch from artisanal vessels, show a different pattern. Average handline catch rates declined between 2005 and 2019, with outboard vessels showing declines for 8 of 12 targeted species groups. The assessment identified four key stocks requiring urgent attention: carangues (handlines), bourgeois (handline), jobfish (handline), and cordonier (trap). The report recommends investigating harvest controls and key habitat protection for these stocks, including size limits and protection of spawning aggregation sites.
Seychelles’ artisanal fisheries do not presently have harvest controls. The assessment notes that catch-based reference points should be accompanied by fishery-independent observations, information on population structure, and fishing ground maps. Routine biological monitoring — including size and age estimates, spatial analysis of fishing grounds, and spawning habitat mapping — will be necessary to inform appropriate management measures.
Context and Comparison: Traditional Knowledge Meets Modern Management
The bamboo fish trap sits at the intersection of inherited craft and contemporary fishery science — two knowledge systems that do not always align.
Traditional vs. Scientific Knowledge
The moon-phase harvesting of bamboo, the preference for Bwa Var timber, and the hexagonal mesh pattern all represent generations of empirical observation. The legal minimum mesh size of 40 mm is a modern regulatory intervention that formalizes — and standardizes — what was previously a matter of individual craftsman’s judgment. Some older fishermen argue that the fixed mesh size does not account for local variations in target species size, while fishery managers point to the need for enforceable standards.
| Aspect | Traditional Practice | Modern Management |
|---|---|---|
| Mesh size | Set by craftsman based on target species; varied by location and season | Fixed legal minimum of 40 mm |
| Harvest timing | Bamboo cut at specific moon phase and time of day to minimize starch | No equivalent regulation |
| Fishing effort | Self-regulated by number of traps a fisherman could build and maintain | No harvest controls in place |
| Species targeting | Knowledge of reef habitats and fish behavior used to select trap type and bait | Catch limits proposed for four key stocks |
| Material choice | Bwa Var timber for frames, bamboo species matched to trap type | Nylon ropes and plastic floats increasingly used |
The Creole Vocabulary of Fishing
The names of the traps — dormi, peze, lavol — are in Seychellois Creole, a language that evolved from French-based plantation creole with influences from Malagasy, African languages, and English. The term kazye itself derives from French cage (cage), and the word may for the hexagonal mesh openings. The specific vocabulary of trap-making — the names of bamboo species, the stages of preparation, the parts of the trap — is a linguistic repository of environmental knowledge that is increasingly at risk as younger generations enter different trades.
The Seychellois Creole names for the three traps encode practical information: dormi (sleeping) signals the overnight soak, peze (pressed/held down) describes the weighting method, and lavol (flight/volant) suggests the quick, light deployment. This is a language that describes technique, not just objects.
Bamboo versus Wire
While bamboo traps remain in use, many fishermen have shifted to wire mesh traps, which are cheaper to produce, require less skill to repair, and last longer. The shift is not uniform — some fishermen argue that bamboo traps are more selective because the mesh is more flexible and can be adjusted, while others prefer wire for its durability. The Seychelles Fishing Authority’s catch data does not distinguish between bamboo and wire traps, so the precise proportion of each in the active fleet is unknown. What is clear is that the knowledge of bamboo trap-making is becoming less common, and the craft may be losing ground to economic pressure and generational change.
- The three trap types — Kazye dormi, peze, and lavol — each reflect a specific fishing strategy and ecological niche, not a single “traditional” method.
- The knowledge of bamboo harvesting and preparation involves precise timing based on moon phase, time of day, and species selection — a form of applied plant science that predates formal biology.
- The trap fishery faces sustainability challenges, but these are driven by overall fishing effort and habitat loss, not by the design of the traps themselves.
- The craft of bamboo trap-making is generational knowledge that may be declining as synthetic materials and other livelihoods reduce its economic relevance.
Questions Readers Ask
Are bamboo fish traps still used in Seychelles today?
Yes, but they are less common than they were a generation ago. Many fishermen now use wire mesh traps, which are cheaper and require less skill to maintain. Bamboo traps are still made and used, especially by older fishermen and in communities where the craft is actively taught.
Are the traps sustainable for fish populations?
The minimum mesh size of 40 mm allows juvenile fish and crustaceans to escape, which makes the traps more selective than many other fishing methods. However, the total number of traps deployed has increased, and some reef fish species are above sustainable limits. The cordonier (rabbitfish) targeted by Kazye lavol is currently fished below sustainable limits.
Can I buy a bamboo fish trap as a souvenir?
You may find bamboo fish traps sold as decorative items in markets in Victoria, Mahé, and at craft shops on Praslin and La Digue. Be aware that functional traps are regulated fishing gear — buying a trap does not entitle you to set it in the water without a fishing license. The Seychelles Fishing Authority can advise on regulations.
Why is the bamboo harvested at a specific moon phase?
Starch content in bamboo is lowest during the waning gibbous to third-quarter moon, roughly 6 to 8 days after the full moon. Lower starch makes the bamboo less attractive to borers and less prone to decay. This knowledge is part of traditional material science, passed down orally.
Is the craft of trap-making dying out?
Some accounts suggest that the number of fishermen who can weave a bamboo trap from harvest to finished product is declining. The skill takes years to learn, and synthetic materials offer a faster, cheaper alternative. However, there are efforts to document the craft through oral histories and cultural heritage initiatives.
Beyond the Trap: What the Kazye Reveals
The bamboo fish trap is not merely a fishing tool. It is a record of environmental observation — the moon phases, the bamboo species, the reef habitats, the behavior of rabbitfish and lobster — compressed into a woven object that can be set in the water and retrieved the next day. The three trap types show that Seychellois fishermen did not apply a single method to every environment; they developed specialized tools for specific conditions. That kind of localized, adaptive knowledge is fragile. It depends on the reef being healthy, the bamboo being available, and a younger generation willing to learn the craft. The kazye is a window into a way of understanding the sea that is still alive, but not guaranteed to remain so. For a deeper look at how Seychellois culture connects people to the natural world, read about the island legends that carry similar knowledge through story.
Sources and further reading
The Creole Melting Pot. “The Bamboo Fish Traps of Seychelles — Kazye Banbou Seselwa.” 🔗
Seychelles Fishing Authority. “Assessing Key Fish Stocks of Seychelles Artisanal Trap and Line Fishery.” 2021. 🔗
Related reading on IslandHopperGuides
Seychelles History Unearthed: A Journey Through Colonial Echoes and Independence Dreams — the historical context in which bamboo fish traps developed.
The Kreol Language: A Linguistic Tapestry Woven from Cultures — the language that names the traps and encodes the knowledge.
Seychellois Kari Coco: A Taste of Community Unity — the cuisine that the fish traps supply.
Seychelles Traditional Dance: A Celebration of Movement and Identity — another living tradition shaped by island life.
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