Yet another mis-catch on the part of the fishermen, as we refer to the article in NST today depicting a Magnificent Manta Ray (Manta birostris) weighing a ton that got caught off Sungai Pagar, Labuan & the ‘amazing catch’ featured on 17 March 2007, the giant stingray which was caught at Asajaya in Kota Samarahan near Kuching. As part of an ocean-loving community, the Malaysian Sport Diving Association representing the dive industry, is disturbed by these ‘accidental’ captures which would remove a large part of the ecosystem by preventing the reproduction cycle of batoids (order of stingrays). The ray is most likely to be a mature, reproductive female as the females of this order of animals are generally bigger than the males. Rays are ovoviviparous, which means they eggs are hatched inside the female & are born alive. Removing any mature rays in the sea especially one of that size, would upset the cycle of life in the sea & hurt tourism related industries when divers come from all over the world just to see one magnificent creature that might be endemic or migrate through our waters only. Mantas have an average wingspan of about 6.7 metres, making them one of the largest animals in the ocean. They have a life span of 20 years & can only reproduce from age 8 onwards. Is there value in capturing such a gigantic ray? Would the fishermen be able to fetch a price handsome enough to warrant the death of these graceful animals? What would they do if no one buys the meat, which is probably too tough or stringy to beedible & the animal is left to rot without ever serving anyone any purpose??? Manta ray night dive operations off Kona, Hawaii, produce over 2.5 million in revenues annually through eco-tourism. In contrast, a single dead manta ray in Indonesia sells for approximately US$160. From the perspective of a diver & the dive industry, a diver would pay to see mantas & seeing a gentle giant in the water surpasses all thrills one would get on land & the industry thrives upon conserving & safe guarding these inhabitants in order to attract divers from everywhere to experience the same thrill.
We also read with horror, how illlegal Chinese fishermen on a trawler were able to catch 78 turtles of which only 6 were alive at the point of arrest yesterday (28 March 2007). Today, we read of a second illegal poacher originating from Hainan, having caught 260 turtles off the waters of Mantanani in Sabah. Only 20 of them are still alive. We shudder to think what might happen to the resident dugong there. We applaud the efforts of the enforcement for their action but how many poachers can we prevent if members of the public who happen to chance upon them, not want to make an effort to report the crime?? Turtles are very much a part of the wonderful marine ecosystem in which divers flock to & dive with them. And turtles migrate to the food source in Philippines & Bali & would return to their place of origin upon reaching 7 or 8 years of age, often remaining there till they become sexually mature at 30 years. This means that the reproduction rate is slow & determined by the surviving ones. Only 1 in 1000 hatchlings would survive to adulthood. Which adds to the fact that we will never, ever, see turtles in this great a number over a given place for a long, long time. Sad fact, but itcan change with education & awareness.
With each ray, shark, turtle, whale, dugong & dolphin caught, the flame within the diver diminishes for there is only one chance of seeing a great creature for a diver & for that one chance only, the diver keeps diving. It is a great matter of concern, to us, the people who form the dive industry, for them, the fishermen who makes a living off the ocean & for the creatures that don’t stand a chance from the commercial harpoons & powerful winches, that the sea is depleted of its resources & there is no education or awareness for sustainable fishing to effect a harmony between divers who love to see the creatures & fishermen who catch them.
In expressing our grief & anger over such accidental catch which is by no means a crime & incarceration by poachers, we hope to establish an incident as well as crime-reporting approach by the public to the relevant authorities in view of such unnecessary catch & create a sustainable fishing alliance with the dive tourism industry in order to re-populate our waters with the giants that once roamed here.
read about it in nst and star with total and utter disgust. when will they ever learn…
p/s lovely images, pummkin.
Thank you, Moggie! This was sent to all the press rooms & I thought what better way to perpetuate the message than to put it here for all of you? It is your interest in my subjects that keeps me blogging.
Seacam & Antonio, your comments are lost in my server migration which took me several days to import, export, reupload & reconfigure. At the point of your posting, I was viewing the site using two separate computers at the same time but pointing to the different servers. You have commented on the old server!!! Nevertheless, I’ve read them, and thank you for sharing my displeasure in seeing our sees raped & plundered. Even if it happened in the Philippines, I will still be just as upset!
You have been a busy girl – marking around with servers and what not.
I have had talks with some of the authorities in charge of ‘educating’ the fishermen but it seems like a very slow (maybe even reluctant) process in getting the conservation message to them. Yunno, lah. Gov’t agencies. It will be good if NGOs and divers help spread the message.
One encouraging news is that at Lankayan, the owners have taken the initiative to protect the reefs around their area by offering the fishermen some other alternative source of income (eg. working for the dive resort)
My gut feeling is that we will see our marine resources ending up in the same state as our forests. It’s all for some quick bucks. Sad!
Sorry, one more thing – I enjoy the songs from your blog site. Sometimes I use them as background music.
Cheers!