This
week, our Malaysian community workers and our international
volunteers have been making shark hiding reefs. This is the TRACC
version of proactive marine conservation. Our philosophy is that if
we see a problem, then we should work towards a solution.
From
the plastic recycler, we aquired a number of large flat trays which
were ideal for the roofs for caves for sharks. We attached crate
reefs filled with plastic waste (cutup water bottles) which increases
the surface area for sponge and cryptic organism settlement as well
as providing a myriad of small spaces for post larval and juvenile
fish crabs and other tasty small organisms to hide. The design gives
a sheltered cave environment similar to the caves we have seen being
used by bamboo and coral cat sharks. The upper surface of the cave
and the crate supports will be planted with corals which will
eventually completely camoflage the artificial reef structure.
During
our surveys, it was noted that there was a lot of food for benthic
sharks such as coral cat sharks, brown banded bamboo sharks epaulete
sharks and nurse or leopard sharks. Unfortunately the sharks are
rare if not completely absent from the reefs where we are working.
When the proposed new Marine Protected Area, Tun Mustapha Park MPA is
finally gazetted then we hope to witness an increase of fish life as
the overfishing is brought under control. With sustainable fishing,
we should eventually see an increase in small sharks numbers. We
hope that a demonstration of the value of community action such as
our SGP/GEF project near the Tip of Borneo (Simpang Mengayu) will
lead to more projects around the region using the techniques we are
developing to improve and rebuild the reefs close to each village.
The
whole assembly of the shark cave reefs is fixed to the sea floor by
glass bottle reefs attached to each corner. Because of the size the
reefs were assembled on land and then taken underwater in pieces.
The various parts were put back together and large cable ties were
used fix all he components into place. The area of seabed chosen has
considerable wave action so the reefs were staked to the seabed using
steel rods. A total of 12 shark cave reefs were made and positioned
in three different areas.
The
finished shark cave reefs look suitable for lobsters as well as
bottom living sharks, only time will tell which marine creatures take
up residence.
