NGO urges more studies on the shark population
Published on: Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: The State Government has been urged to conduct more research on the shark population in Sabah's waters despite a decline in the number of sharks and rays landed around the State.Recently, the Fisheries Department disclosed that the number of sharks and rays landed around Sabah was down from 3,431.58 tonnes in 2012 to 1,788.46 tonnes in 2016.The department attributed this to increased security efforts and adverse weather conditions.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sabah Shark Protection Association (SSPA) Chairman Aderick Chong said while it is true that fishing effort has reduced, SSPA believed the existing threats to sharks, such as overfishing and climate change, must not be discounted. "The landing assessment is not fully representative of the population of sharks in our waters, and further research on population dynamics, ecology, spawning and aggregation areas need to be encouraged," he said, in a statement.He proposed that since sharks and rays are generally bycatch, it is crucial that a bycatch mitigation plan is put in place to ensure efficient fishery operations."The department's effort to analyse landing trends in Sabah is laudable and important in the steps towards managing sharks but more needs to be done.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We hope that the full results of the department's study will be made available, especially if this includes detailed records from every fish market around Sabah, which would be invaluable for shark conservation programmes. "We would welcome the opportunity to meet with the department to discuss the study and explore possibilities to ensure that we have healthy shark and ray populations to keep our oceans in balance," he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sharks are vital to the health of Sabah's marine ecosystems in Sabah and as apex predators, they have a special role of weeding out the old and sick in fish populations. This ensures the long-term health of the fish stocks and provides balance to the ecosystem. Sharks have been shaping the oceans for the past 450 million years – the biodiversity of fish species and behaviour such as schooling - which fishermen rely on – is a response to shark predation over the years. Taking sharks out of the ecosystem would not protect the population of other fishes but rather cause imbalance in the ecosystem, and impact the fish stocks.Chong said losing the shark population would be disastrous for the tourism industry in Sabah, which is the single biggest employer of Sabahans in the State.Thousands of people travel to Sabah; particularly to the iconic Pulau Sipadan and Mabul each year to dive with sharks and rays, providing valuable tourism ringgit not only to dive centres but also hotels, restaurants, taxi drivers and shops all over Sabah. If the exploitation of sharks and rays continues to the point where they are not commonly encountered, Sabah risks losing the millions of dollars brought to the State annually. This is particularly the case for species such as the scalloped hammerhead, a globally endangered species, which is one of the major drawcards for dive tourists coming to Sabah. "That they are still seen here is incredible. Sabah waters may represent the last safe haven for these rare animals and we should afford them more protection," he said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
