Whaler Sharks - seafdec.org.my

S h a r k s a n d R a y s o f B o r n e o
1,100 new fish species from the Indo-Malay archipelago, including a large number of
chondrichthyans, and produced the historically important Atlas Ichthyologique des Indes
Orientales Néerlandaises. Many of Bleeker’s 12,000 or so fish specimens are catalogued
at the Natural History Museum in Leiden, Netherlands. Other famous 19 th C
ichthyologists, including Richardson, Günther and Kaup, also made important contributions
to our knowledge of this fascinating fauna.
Cartilaginous fishes are relatively diverse in both marine and freshwater environments
of Borneo. The region is the type locality for Pristis zijsron, Carcharhinus borneensis,
C. sealei, Lamiopsis tephrodes and Sinobatis borneensis, as well as 10 new species
discovered recently, i.e. Orectolobus leptolineatus, Cephaloscyllium sarawakensis, Glyphis
fowlerae, Rhynchobatus springeri, Okamejei cairae, Okamejei jensenae, Himantura lobistoma,
Pastinachus gracilicaudus, Pastinachus solocirostris and Pastinachus stellurostris. Until recently,
this fauna was poorly known and accounts by field scientists in the mid-19 th C
produced only patchy records of the region’s elasmobranchs. Cantor (1849) compiled
a catalogue of Malaysian fishes that included 28 species of sharks and rays. Basic
information, such as collection details, morphological traits, distribution within the
region and basic biology, were not collected. In the early 20 th C, Henry Fowler
and Albert Herre provided supplementary data on elasmobranchs from the region,
especially from Sabah and Sarawak. Fowler, in particular, considered most of Bleeker’s
new rays to be invalid. During a series of ad hoc surveys in the early 1990s, several of
Bleeker’s species were rediscovered in fish markets of nearby Java rekindling interest in
the taxonomy of the group.
Environmental pressures
About 120 million people, whose livelihoods depend directly on fishing, live along the
coasts and islands of the Coral Triangle. This large population is placing huge pressures
on the marine environment through a range of fishing activities, many of which are
unreported and unregulated (but not illegal, particularly fishing activities of the numerous
artisanal fishers, where marine fishes are considered as “free common-good resources”).
The live fish trade, supplying dominant markets in Hong Kong and China, takes some
30,000 t/yr of reef fish worth more than US$150/kg out of the Coral Triangle, with
Kota Kinabalu the main base in Malaysia. As well as supplying restaurants, these fish also
enter the ornamental fish trade and many are caught by illegal cyanide fishing. Due to
dynamite fishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by other South-
East Asian countries, and over-harvesting of invertebrates such as triton, sea cucumber
and giant clam, the area’s coral reefs and associated ecosystems are being increasingly
threatened. While there are some Marine Parks in the region, the lack of enforcement
reduces their effectiveness. However there are some recent encouraging initiatives. In
March 2008, the Asia Development Bank provided a US$1.5 million grant for environmentalists
and respective governments to protect the forests and seas of Brunei, Indonesia,
Malaysia and the Philippines.