By Wong Ee Lynn
Committee Member, Kuala Lumpur Bar Environmental Law Committee
The desire to conserve a species or an important habitat seldom comes from the perusal of academic literature alone. For a person to feel strongly enough to want to protect a specie, direct contact is often necessary. It was with these goals in mind, namely, to foster an awareness of Malaysia’s natural heritage in members of the KL Bar; to encourage KL Bar members to take an interest in conservation issues; and to instill a spirit of voluntarism in members of the KL Bar, that a seahorse data collection volunteering trip was organized to the Pulai River Estuary in Johor on 2nd – 3rd August 2008.
The seahorse and pipefish data collection and monitoring project is initiated, coordinated and run by Save Our Seahorses (SOS) Malaysia, a non-profit research and conservation organization, and the Malaysian Nature Society Marine Special Interest Group. The two organizations have committed themselves to long-term conservation and protection of seagrass meadows in Malaysia, especially the threatened 40-hectare seagrass bed at the Pulai River Estuary. Volunteering trips are conducted for 6 months every year to bring volunteers to the seagrass bed to increase awareness of the unique ecosystem of seagrass meadows. Volunteer help is essential in conducting surveys, as research organizations often cannot afford the funds to engage professionals to carry out the monitoring and data collection work.
The volunteering work entailed a variety of duties including the cleaning up of beaches and islands, seagrass mapping and survey work, and the collection, tagging and release of seahorse and pipefish. 12 intrepid members of the Bar and their guests had signed up for the volunteering trip, but the preparatory work was not without its challenges. When the event was first announced in the State Bar e-group, the KL Bar Environmental Law Committee received an email from a certain corporate body with an interest in the protected area, denying us permission to enter the Pulai River Estuary. Upon conducting our due diligence with the relevant government departments, SOS project leader and marine biologist Choo Chee Kuang and the ELC organizing committee learned that the aforementioned corporation has no jurisdiction over the area at all. Three considered replies later, we were on our way to Johor for our volunteering and nature appreciation trip.
Providence must have smiled down on us that weekend, because it turned out to be a wonderful volunteering experience for all. Friendships between the participants from the Bar and the project coordinators were formed with uncharacteristic speed.
Upon checking in at the Euro Hotel on Saturday, we adjourned to lunch at a nearby banana leaf rice restaurant. We then proceeded in a convoy of 4 cars to the Kukup Island National Park, where we did the suspension bridge and canopy walk and then walked along the boardwalk to the mudlobster nests. We spotted Lesser Adjutant Storks, White Bellied Sea Eagles, Brahminy Kites, monitor lizards, fiddler crabs, giant mudskippers, blue-spotted mudskippers, blue crabs, volutes and all sorts of mollusks and arthropods.
We took the last boat out of Kukup Island National Park and proceeded to visit one of the floating fish farms, situated just off the coast of the National Park and in themselves hotbeds of biodiversity. The fish farmers keep marine fauna in temporary captivity in conditions almost identical to that of the fauna's natural environment to display to visitors. We saw cat sharks, bamboo sharks, prehistoric- looking oysters, sea stars, horseshoe crabs, a blue-spotted stingray, large crabs that curled up into balls and played dead when handled and volutes of all sizes and colours.
In the evening, after a seafood dinner, Choo conducted the standard briefing on seahorse habitats and population density and on the duties of volunteers at the lobby of Euro Hotel for the benefit of the trip participants. The participants retired to their rooms early as we had to be up by 5.00 a.m. the following morning.
We were up and on our way to the Pendas Jetty before daybreak on Sunday. After ensuring that everyone had put on their lifejackets and dive boots, we roared off in our speedboats across the waters, past the Second Link and pulled up close to the seagrass bed.
The participants were divided into teams and informed of the areas they were supposed to comb. We saw many thorny sea cucumbers and sea snails, and a few sea pens and anemone.
The team had spotted and tagged 4 seahorses and 3 alligator pipefish so far and watched as the marine biologist, Ooi, tagged the seahorses with subcutaneous elastomer injections. Right before we were summoned back to the boats due to the rising tide, we found our final seahorse of the day, a pregnant male. We watched Ooi extract a baby seahorse from the male seahorse's pouch using a pipette. The purpose of this sacrifice is for genetic studies, in order that we may learn ways to help the seahorse population multiply and thrive.
The sea level was rising by the minute and the seagrass bed would soon be inundated and invisible again. We staggered our way to the boats. Our next destination was Pulau Merambong, a Ramsar site. Pulau Merambong is a beautiful uninhabited island housing a few mysterious tombs and graves, and a great many secrets. The coast was full of rubbish brought in by the tides. We produced two packets of biodegradable garbage bags and encouraged everyone to help clean up the coast to the best of our ability.
It was sad to be reminded afresh of what a litterbug nation we are, but the participants kept their sense of humour about it and would call out to each other: "What brand of shampoo bottle did you find? I got a Rejoice and a Dove!" and "I found a bike tyre! Anyone missing a bike tyre?"
The boatmen told us that we were already running on full capacity and could not haul the rubbish back with us, but Choo assured us that he would be back tomorrow with a smaller team of volunteers to bring the rubbish back to the mainland.
Our final stop was the SOS Research Centre. The participants were dumbfounded to find that our 'Research Centre' was a mere wooden kampung house with basic equipment and minimal furniture. Welcome to the world of environmental activism in Malaysia, guys!
SOS Malaysia had a little ceremony to hand out souvenir t-shirts and certificates of appreciation to the participants who had volunteered their Sunday in aid of the cause of marine and seahorse conservation. Our volunteering stint in Johor had enriched and educated us immeasurably and had heightened our appreciation of our vulnerable marine ecosystem.
For more information, please visit http://www.sosmalaysia/. org and sign the petition to save the Pulai River Estuary from unsustainable industrial activity and port development.
