Elasmobranch fishing and trade in Sarawak, Malaysia, with implications for management

Booth, Hollie; Chaya, Faith; Ng, Sylvia S. W.; Tan, Veni; Rao, Madhu; Teepol, Batrisyia; Matthews, Elizabeth; Lim, Annie Pek Khiok; Gumal, Melvin

doi:10.1002/aqc.3688

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…)-are regularly caught as part of fishers' overall livelihood strategies (Simeon et al, 2020). This is representative of other SSFs in Indonesia, and in the Global South more generally (Booth, Chaya, et al, 2021;Gupta et al, 2020;Haque et al, 2021). Using this case study, we show how the results can be used to inform intervention strategies to change bycatch-relevant behaviours, which are fit for the social and economic context in which they are implemented.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

A socio‐psychological approach for understanding and managing bycatch in small‐scale fisheries

et al. 2023

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Fisheries bycatch is the greatest threat to migratory, long‐lived marine animals. Addressing bycatch ultimately requires changing fisher behaviour, yet social and behavioural sciences are rarely applied to bycatch mitigation, with an absence of theory‐informed behaviour change interventions. Moreover, mitigating bycatch is particularly challenging in small‐scale mixed‐species fisheries (SSFs), where perceptions of target and non‐target vary widely, and all catches have economic or subsistence value. Such fisheries are ubiquitous throughout the world's oceans, and bycatch mitigation in these contexts necessitates a people‐centred approach. We seek to address this gap, drawing on well‐established theories from behavioural and social sciences. We first typify bycatch as a spectrum rather than a clearly delineated component of catch, where the position of a species on this spectrum depends on fishers' beliefs regarding the outcomes of bycatch‐relevant behaviour. We then outline an approach to ‘diagnose’ fishers' underlying beliefs about bycatch, using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB): a widely applied and empirically tested theory for predicting and changing behaviour. Finally, we illustrate the approach using an empirical case study, exploring fishers' beliefs regarding bycatch‐relevant behaviour for three endangered elasmobranch species in a small‐scale gill net fishery in Indonesia. Our findings show how the TPB can help to understand fishers' underlying beliefs regarding bycatch, and facilitators/inhibitors of bycatch mitigation, to inform behaviour change interventions. We emphasize the need to understand the human dimensions of bycatch, especially in SSFs, where technical fixes alone will be insufficient to change behaviour. Rather, interdisciplinary approaches are needed to align fishers' needs with conservation objectives. Our bycatch spectrum and the TPB could be widely applied for disentangling drivers of bycatch in other SSFs and designing interventions which support more effective and socially just marine conservation. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

A socio‐psychological approach for understanding and managing bycatch in small‐scale fisheries

et al. 2023

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“…The authors' search of online news and social media reports yielded 29 confirmed captures from 2014 to 2022 across Malaysia. Adding these to the reports published by [12,34,38,39] brought the total reported captures of giant freshwater whipray in Malaysia to 61 between 2011 and 2022 [10]. Then et al [10] noted that most individuals were captured with bottom trawls and hook and line.…”

Section: Malaysiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pollution and bottom trawls may be particularly significant to this species in Malaysia given its association with clean water and the high number of individuals captured by trawls [10]. Booth et al [39] documented a large market for elasmobranchs in Sarawak, with over 26,500 individuals worth 125,000 USD traded annually.…”

Section: Malaysiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Key threats to giant freshwater whipray across its range were identified as high fishing pressure, unmanaged artisanal fisheries, lack of legal protection, habitat degradation, pollution, dams, and bottom trawls, among others, e.g., [10,16,36,39,47]. Adams et al [59] noted that, because of capture-induced parturition, the population-level impact from fishing is likely higher than would be expected from the number of catches alone.…”

Section: Data Gaps Emerging Threats and Steps Towards Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Review of the Conservation Status and Ecology of the Giant Freshwater Whipray (Urogymnus polylepis) across Its Known Distribution

Campbell,

Onboundisane,

Kong

et al. 2023

Water

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The giant freshwater whipray is a large-bodied stingray species that is listed as endangered across its known range from India through Southeast Asia. However, little is known about the species’ ecology, biology, and conservation status. We reviewed all available literature, articles, and reports on the species found through database and internet searches in order to consolidate and update information on the giant freshwater whipray. We found that remarkably little research has been done, and most existing information on the species is derived from fisher catch reports. Whiprays of 300 kg or more have been reported in most countries where it occurs. The available evidence suggests that this species is endangered across its range by numerous threats, including fishing, bycatch, bottom trawls, pollution, and habitat destruction and fragmentation. Various reports indicate declines in population size, genetic diversity, and body size. Relatively stable populations may persist in the Maeklong River, Thailand, the Mekong River in Cambodia, and insular Southeast Asia. More work is needed to understand the species’ spatio-temporal distribution, reproductive behavior, migration patterns, and general ecological and biological characteristics in order to inform effective management and conservation plans. Due to difficulties in sampling this rare species and monitoring fisher catches, partnership and collaboration with all stakeholders, including local fishers, government officials, and researchers, is essential to produce conservation gains for the giant freshwater whipray.

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“…Within the SEA region, Malaysia is one of the top countries with rich biodiversity of elasmobranch species. To date, there are at least 70 species (19 families) of sharks and 91 species (11 families) of batoids that have been reported to occur in Malaysian waters ( Supplementary Materials Table S1 ) [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Although new species are continuously discovered, the populations of sharks and batoids have gradually decreased over the past decades [ 18 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advancing DNA Barcoding to Elucidate Elasmobranch Biodiversity in Malaysian Waters

Loh

Lim

Then

et al. 2023

Animals

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The data provided in this article are partial fragments of the Cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 mitochondrial gene (CO1) sequences of 175 tissues sampled from sharks and batoids collected from Malaysian waters, from June 2015 to June 2022. The barcoding was done randomly for six specimens from each species, so as to authenticate the code. We generated barcodes for 67 different species in 20 families and 11 orders. DNA was extracted from the tissue samples following the Chelex protocols and amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the barcoding universal primers FishF2 and FishR2. A total of 654 base pairs (bp) of barcode CO1 gene from 175 samples were sequenced and analysed. The genetic sequences were blasted into the NCBI GenBank and Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD). A review of the blast search confirmed that there were 68 valid species of sharks and batoids that occurred in Malaysian waters. We provided the data of the COI gene mid-point rooting phylogenetic relation trees and analysed the genetic distances among infra-class and order, intra-species, inter-specific, inter-genus, inter-familiar, and inter-order. We confirmed the addition of Squalus edmundsi, Carcharhinus amboinensis, Alopias superciliosus, and Myliobatis hamlyni as new records for Malaysia. The establishment of a comprehensive CO1 database for sharks and batoids will help facilitate the rapid monitoring and assessment of elasmobranch fisheries using environmental DNA methods.

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Elasmobranch fishing and trade in Sarawak, Malaysia, with implications for management

Cited by 9 publications

References 49 publications

A socio‐psychological approach for understanding and managing bycatch in small‐scale fisheries

A socio‐psychological approach for understanding and managing bycatch in small‐scale fisheries

A Review of the Conservation Status and Ecology of the Giant Freshwater Whipray (Urogymnus polylepis) across Its Known Distribution

Advancing DNA Barcoding to Elucidate Elasmobranch Biodiversity in Malaysian Waters

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