Mystery of whales stranding rare insight for conservation
MIRI: Early last month, thesundaypost highlighted the rich marine biodiversity off the coast of Miri. Even world dive industry icon Clement Lee Ngak Yeo from Sabah predicted that Miri in the next five years would definitely become an international dive destination to be reckoned with.
The Whale Shark (Rhincodon typusthree), which is in abundant in Miri, is among the attractions. Clement (Tourism Malaysia Adviser for Diving) himself admitted that the joy of seeing the Whale Shark three days in a row (April 24, 25, 26) was beyond description as it was the first such encounter in his 33 years as a diver.
Miri, with its rich and untapped wonders in the 28 diving sites, too, is the home for over 3,000 species of fish and breeding grounds for 600 of 800 species of coral reefs in the world, making Miri waters the richest in coral reef species as well as marine life. The diving sites cover 100,000km of coral reefs is about 34 per cent of the total worldwide.
Among the mammals besides whale shark found in Miri is rare species of Pygmy Sperm Whale Kogia breviceps, which is also the least understood of all cetaceans (whale, dolphin, porpoise).
The stranding of this rare species in Miri and also in Malaysia poses a great challenge not only in Miri or Malaysia but is a worldwide phenomenon.
A staunch environmentalist and qualified diver, Iqbal Abdollah of the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Miri Branch, was among those who love to see much more done for the survival of the Pygmy Sperm Whale and the like. Reason being, there is little study being done on the mammal and there too is little understanding among locals on the mammal.
On the subject of creating greater public awareness to conserve and protect the whale, he said his random survey in three fishing villages — Kampung Masjid Kuala Baram Miri, Kampung Kuala Sibuti Bekenu and Kampung Kuala Nyalau Bintulu — between December 2015 and January 2016 showed that the level of awareness was very low. Integrated research to conserve and protect Pygmy Sperm Whale The Pygmy Sperm Whale was listed in IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Data Deficient and listed in CITES Appendix II. In Sarawak it is listed in Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998 Part I as Totally Protected Animals in Sarawak..
He said although this oceanic species is widely distributed in tropical and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans it is elusive and rarely sighted at sea.
“Documenting a stranding event is valuable, as it is often the only access possible to rarelyseen species. Sighting of these animals at sea is difficult as there is another specie the Dwarf sperm whales (Kogia simus) which has almost the same characteristic with Pygmy Sperm Whale,” said Iqbal in his paper ‘Recent Standing of Pygmy Sperm Whale in Miri, Sarawak — The Public Perspective’.
The paper was recently presented annual International Conference on Marine Science and Aquaculture from March 23-24 in Sabah. Prior to that, Iqbal presented the paper for further debate during public talk organised by MNS Miri Branch, where he also unveiled the carcass of the Pygmy Sperm Whale that was stranded in Miri late last year.
Iqbal, an Assistant Director of Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia, Miri branch, was among over 100 participants from various universities and institutions from countries including Malaysia, Japan and Singapore, attending the conference. It was to share their latest research findings on fish feed and nutrition, seafood security, climate change adaptations, marine conservation and marine policy. Sighting, stranding incidents of Pygmy Sperm Whale Iqbal who is also MNS Miri treasurer, said Miri’s waters occasionally host at least a few species of cetaceans such as whales, dolphins, porpoises and dugongs.
He said four Pygmy Sperm Whale stranding incidents reported in Malaysia in 57 years’ (from the first reported stranding in Malaysia from 1958 until 2015) showed the sighting of these species is still rare.
The recent stranding occurred on December 24, 2015 when local village people of Kampung Masjid Kuala Baram, Miri found an adult female Kogia breviceps and its calf. Unfortunately, the adult was dead upon their findings and the calf was still alive and immediately released to the sea.
“Thus, this rare opportunity has given us perspective from the public views to increase their scientific knowledge on the animal as well as to raise public awareness on their occurrences in Miri’s water. In 2015, in Miri there were four dead stranding marine mammals found on beach at Miri. An unknown species of cetacean (found together with sea turtles and a crocodile) were found stranded at Kampung Masjid’s beach on April 8 2015, finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides) which stranded at Tanjung Lobang beach on Aug 18, 2015 with estimated length of 114cm and the recent stranding of Pygmy Sperm Whale. All of the stranding incidents reported through social media applications, Facebook and also made headlines in major newspapers in Sarawak and Malaysia. “With the recent stranding event in Miri, this species is likely to be common in Malaysian waters than previously thought. Thus dedicated surveys are necessary to determine distribution and relative abundance of this species,” he said. Causes of Stranding Marine mammals stranding incident occurs throughout the world however, the causes of such events are still not well understood. Many stranding are thought to be linked to the impacts of anthropogenic activities such as shipping, seismic surveys, fisheries activities, military activities, and pollution exposure.
However, stranding may also be due to natural factors such as diseases, old age, trauma and starvation, harmful algal bloom such as Red Tide and parasite infestation and navigational error. In addition, stranding also often occur after unusual weather such as El Nino or oceanographic events. In many cases, the cause of stranding remains unknown. Ordinance on Totally Protected Animals in Sarawak Under Section 29(1) of the said Ordinance, “Any person who hunts, kills, captures, sells, offers for sale or claims to be offering for sale, imports, exports, or is in possession of, any totally protected animal or any recognizable part or derivative thereof, or any nest thereof, except in accordance with the permission in writing of the Controller for scientific or educational purposes or for the protection and conservation of such totally protected animal, shall be guilty of an offence: Penalty (c) in the case of other totally protected animals not mention in paragraph (a) or (b), imprisonment for two years and a fine of twenty-five thousand ringgit.”
Iqbal said public understanding on the existing law concerning these marine mammals but up to what extend could this be understood by them?
More awareness programmes should be held in all fishing villages or coastal communities and to public on this, is recommended so that future stranding or selling of these marine mammals will be reported to relevant agencies.
An act by the public to publish the incidents in social media application should not be punished but be praised. Some may want to be anonymous when giving the information. National Marine Mammals Stranding Network Knowledge on the distribution of marine mammals throughout most parts of Malaysia remains basic and poorly documented even though Malaysian waters possessed rich marine mammals population. However, although there exist the National Marine Mammals Stranding Network in Malaysia but the response by the stakeholders are still very low.
The establishment of the network is crucial and important so that marine mammals stranding are handled most efficiently and appropriate ways to ensure the availability of data and information for future actions.
The public should also be in the network as stakeholders with an appointment of few individuals to bridge the gap between research communities and relevant government agencies.
Active involvement of local non-governmental organisations in marine mammals monitoring, surveys and enforcements should also be encouraged and given recognition. We believed citizen science approach could be adapted to increase the knowledge on handling or manage stranding incidents in the future.
Documenting a stranding event is valuable, as it is often the only access possible to rarely-seen species. Sighting of these animals at sea is difficult as there is another specie the Dwarf sperm whales (Kogia simus) which has almost the same characteristic with Pygmy Sperm Whale. — Iqbal Abdollah, staunch environmentalist and qualified diver