(MY) dolphin spotting

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Tuesday September 5, 2006- The Star

 

Dolphin spotting

 

*Stories by HILARY CHIEW*

 

Don't expect to get a photograph of yourself patting the Irrawaddy dolphin.

This is not the ultra-friendly dolphin that you see on TV bow-riding

(swimming next to the bow of a moving boat) or performing acrobatic stunts

above water.

 

In fact, photographing the Irrawaddy dolphin (*Orcaella brevirostris)* at

the Santubong peninsula in Sarawak is a challenge even to a relatively

experienced dolphin researcher. Marine biologist Louisa Ponnampalam finds

them " elusive and uncooperative " .

 

The University of London student-researcher first learnt of the Sarawak

Irrawaddy dolphin through a blog and decided to pay them a visit during her

summer vacation back home in Malaysia. Her group was not disappointed. They

encountered some 20 dolphins in different groups at the Salak estuary.

 

" Irrawaddy dolphins are certainly a difficult species to photograph as they

seem to have unpredictable surfacing patterns. They are definitely less

gregarious compared with spinner dolphins and are not the most spectacular

cetacean species, " says Louisa, who is pursuing a doctorate in the ecology

of small cetacean in Oman.

 

The tourism industry in Sarawak is currently abuzz with dolphin-watching

tours. Located about 45km north of Kuching, the estuaries of Buntal,

Santubong, Salak and Sibu rivers are quietly attracting scores of tourists.

 

 

" Last year, we recorded 1,008 tourists but this year we are handling between

40 and 50 guests a week and even up to 100 sometimes. It's getting very

popular, " reveals William Choo, director of operations of Kuching-based CPH

Travel Agencies Sdn Bhd, a pioneer in the business.

 

When Choo developed the unique tour in 1998, few in Sarawak were aware of

the dolphins on the state's coast.

 

" After two years, we began selling the package overseas through our agents

and demand gradually grew and it became a hit among the Brits, Swedes and

Australians. It was only in 2003 that local tourists became interested, "

says Choo, 63.

 

CPH conducts up to three cruises a day, using a 115 horsepower 28-footer

fibreglass boat that carries 10 passengers.

 

Raised in Sedungus, an islet in the Santubong estuary, Choo learnt of the

dolphins from angling trips with his grandfather. Creating the dolphin-watch

tour is akin to going back to his roots. Inheriting the 40-year-old business

– the company bears the initials of his father Choo Poh Hin – that

specialises in nature and cultural tours, Choo recognised the potential of

his childhood playground as an eco-tourism product.

 

He began by taking tourists to view mangrove forests, home to wildlife such

as monkeys, leaf monkeys, crocodiles, fireflies, and the dolphins.

 

Choo says the Irrawaddy dolphin is a big draw for Westerners because of its

endangered status and the fact that it is only found in the Indo-Pacific

region (from eastern India to northern Australia), unlike the widely

distributed spinner and bottlenose dolphins.

 

Nature tourism received a boost four years ago when 6,610ha of mangroves was

turned into the Kuching Wetland National Park. Last November, the park was

designated as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar

Convention, an international treaty that promotes wetlands conservation.

 

Responding to the growing popularity of dolphin-watching, the Sarawak

Tourism Board (STB) recently published a booklet *Introducing the Irrawaddy

Dolphins of Sarawak, Malaysia. *Authored by travel consultants Wayne Tarman

and Mike Reed, the booklet introduces the species, where it is found and

it's association with local fishing communities.

 

But there is growing concern over unscrupulous tour operators. " We have

operators hiring inexperienced boatmen who would just barge into the middle

of a pod of dolphins and chase them around the bay. They have no knowledge

on how to approach the dolphins. They scare away the dolphins and there is

always the danger of injuring the animals. We have spotted dolphins with

severed dorsal fins, " laments Choo.

 

One of Choo's workers, Jamadi Ghazali, can spot dolphins from afar, way

before anyone else does. Once he sees the dolphins, he slows down his boat

and cruises slowly towards the pod, keeping a discreet distance of at least

10m.

 

The former fisherman says the fishing community is familiar with the

dolphins as the marine mammal tends to congregate around fishing boats in

the bay where the fish are. Some have become so tame that they would take

fish discarded by fishermen as the nets are hauled in.

 

It is understood that STB is planning a three-day course to address

unregulated dolphin-watching tours.

 

The Irrawaddy dolphin is a totally protected species under the state

Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998, which carries a penalty of a maximum

fine of RM25,000 and a jail term of two years.

 

Sarawak Forestry Corporation senior manager (biodiversity conservation)

Oswald Braken Tisen says: " We will work with STB to come out with a

dolphin-watch etiquette and best practices as uncontrolled tourism

activities might have an adverse impact on the animal. " He adds that some

form of conservation tax may be considered to benefit the species in the

long run.

 

He admits that there is now no conservation programme for marine mammals in

Sarawak waters.

 

A 2001 joint survey by the then Sarawak Forest Department's National Parks

and Wildlife Division and Universiti Malaysia Sabah showed the Irrawaddy

dolphin to be the most common cetacean in Sarawak.

 

Other dolphin species that inhabit the in-shore waters of Sarawak are the

Risso's dolphin, Fraser's dolphin and the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin.

Bigger marine mammals such as Bryde's whale, killer whale, pygmy sperm whale

and sperm whale have also been documented. The survey concluded that the

rich cetacean composition and distribution requires a comprehensive

conservation management programme. That may just happen over the next five

years as the state has requested for research funding under the Ninth

Malaysian Plan.

 

 

 

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Threatened by man

 

FOUND from the Bay of Bengal to Papua New Guinea and northern Australia, the

Irrawaddy dolphin was so named because it was described in 1866 by Victorian

naturalist Sir Richard Owen who discovered it in the Irrawaddy River.

 

The species is not a true river dolphin; it generally inhabits shallow

inshore waters and estuaries. A slow-swimming dolphin, it surfaces in a

rolling fashion, showing only the rear half of its body and keeping most of

its head in the water when it comes up for air. It occasionally lifts its

tail fluke clear of the water before a deeper dive.

 

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) in its last assessment of the species in

1996 noted that global data of the species is deficient. Nevertheless,

different sub-populations that have been surveyed showed it to be threatened

throughout its known range.

 

It said the distribution of Irrawaddy dolphins overlaps areas of intensive

use by humans.

 

Incidental mortality in fisheries is likely the principal cause of

depletion, although degradation of rivers and lakes caused by damming,

logging and mining could also play an important role.

 

In the Mekong delta, nets stretched across channels provide a likely

explanation for the lack of recent sightings. In Australia, the dolphins are

killed in anti-shark nets and gillnets.

 

Capture for displays poses an additional pressure on small, localised

sub-populations such as those in the Mahakam River and possibly the

Irrawaddy River.

 

Recent surveys indicated dramatic declines in range and abundance of the

Mekong and Mahakam sub-populations. The latter was classified as critically

endangered in the IUCN Red List in 2000 after surveys found less than 100

dolphins confined to 300km of the river in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

 

Another small group living at the head of Malampaya Sound in Pahlawan in The

Philippines appears to be geographically isolated. Surveys in 2001 estimated

a population of 77 confined to 133sqkm, rendering it critically endangered

as well.

 

 

 

Source: *The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2006* and *Wikipedia*.

 

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An enduring fascination

 

IT WAS love at first sight and the passion has not waned for Wayne Tarman,

who regularly visits Santubong peninsula for a rendezvous with the elusive

Irrawaddy dolphin which he first encountered in 2000.

 

He professes an addiction to dolphin-watching and though not a marine

biologist, wants to spread the word about the species and raise awareness on

the threats faced by this docile creature.

 

Married to a local and being based in Kuching for 10 years have rewarded

Tarman with sightings of rare dolphin behaviours, including a full body

breach.

 

Sharing his observations on his blog (http://dolphinsofsarawak.blogspot.com)

and aptly giving himself the nickname *pesut, *the local name for dolphins,

the travel consultant reckons that Sarawak could well be one of the global

hotspots for the highly endangered Irrawaddy dolphin as the species is

regularly sighted in a number of river systems and estuaries in the state.

 

Irrawaddy dolphins are among the most vulnerable dolphins in the world as

their habitat of inshore waters coincides with areas of intensive human

activity.

 

Tarman writes in his blog that protecting the Irrawaddy dolphin will require

the concerted effort of a range of stakeholders – government agencies, local

communities, non-governmental organisations, research institutions and the

tourism industry.

 

" Whilst funding is always a problem with any conservation initiative,

international funding may be available owing to serious threats faced by the

Irrawaddy across its distribution range, " he writes.

 

Another concern of Tarman's is the unknown mortality rate of the marine

mammal through by-catch, which could well be the biggest threat.

 

In the occasions when an Irrawaddy dolphin is entangled in nets, it would be

released. If the animal is dead, the carcass is taken back to the village

and consumed.

 

Tarman says there is urgent need for a by-catch monitoring system where

fishermen can report incidents and the relevant agency can track such

happenings and eventually develop counter-measures.

 

He says random surveys at villages indicate about two by-catch incidents a

year but figures could be significant given the big number of fishing

villages along the coastline from Tanjung Datu in the southwest to Limbang

in the northeast of the state.