Fun Dive at North Tip

The diversity at North Tip

The biodiversity at North tip has changed dramatically since May. Bluespotted ribbontail ray, nudibranch, bumphead parrotfish at the size of approximately one meter, humphead wrasse and the redtooth triggerfishes definitely grabbed my attention throughout this dive. Evidently, the photo above shows the diversity of fishes at approximately 30 meters. The redtooth triggerfishes are seen gracefully swimming about in the open blue water.

Redtooth triggerfish are one of the most diverse fish at North Tip.

Blue spotted ribbon tail ray at North Tip.

Furthermore, humphead wrasses have not been seen for more than five months. However, they were recently seen again in mid-August. During this fun dive, an adult humphead wrasse was just swimming peacefully past us. It was definitely a sight to see as I have never seen a humphead wrasse swimming in the ocean but rather I will always see these wrasses in Chinese restaurants, cramped up in small tanks ready to be slaughtered.  TRACC has so far bought and released 15 juveniles :-)

Humphead wrasses and Bluefin Trevally at North Tip.

(This blog is written by Natalie Chai)

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Dinner anyone? Endangered Humphead wrasse for sale!

Female humphead wrasse on Sipadan

In Jan 2016, we have just surveyed all the known live fish trade holding tanks and there are approximately 126 individual Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) of sizes from 20-60cm for sale in all the live fish cages close to Semporna.

Really this shocking for 2 reasons.:-  1 there should be many more fish when the wholesale price is US$50 (Rm200) per kilo.  2 There should not be any of these fish for sale. The species is classed as endangered by the IUCN Red list Endangered A2bd+3bd
and protected from export by Malaysian fisheries.  BUT there is no protection within the country.

Malaysians would not eat tigers, elephants or orang utans but endangered marine life :- fish, shark or ray is obviously acceptable

The IUCN red list justification and TRACC observations suggests that the effort from many thousands of fishers results in occasional catches of a few individuals each month or even each year, (IUCN Red list 2016).  The current population of juveniles in fish cages is thought to represent many thousands of hours of fishers searching reefs to catch and remove the last few individuals.

Adult male Humphead wrasse can exceed 1.5m (6ft).
The fish is female until it reaches around 1m
and then it changes sex to become male.

There are only a few of these fish left, Malaysia is proud of its status as a part of the Coral Triangle yet the biggest fish on the reefs is being allowed to go extinct with no attempt at protection.

Between 1996 and 2000, TRACC marine surveys of North Borneo (Sarawak, Sabah & Brunei) spent over 5000 hours underwater. Of 365 sites surveyed, only 11 individuals of the species were found on reefs that were not totally protected. The surveys determined that there were 3 spawning aggregation sites for Humphead wrasse in Sabah (Pulau Layang Layang, Sipadan and Balambangan island)).  A fourth aggregation site was suspected but no breeding activity was seen.
Fishermen interviews and market survey information in 2003 suggested that historically there were more than 50 spawning sites around the coast.

Where have all these fish gone?

Studies on healthy reefs have shown that there are normally 10-20 individuals in each hectare (10,000m2) of reef.  In Semporna district alone the unfished population was probably 350 X 100 x 10 = 350,000 fish (reef area sq km, hectares in 1 sq km and 10 fish).  The population now is less than 1000 so 349,000 fish from Semporna alone have been killed.  That is a very serious measure of overfishing; 349 killed 1 alive!.

Big female fish with no hump.

A re-survey for sharks and other large fish in 2011-2013, with over 10,000 survey hours suggested that only one Humphead wrasse spawning aggregation site at Sipadan MPA was still functional. The populations in Layang Layang and Balambangan have been seriously reduced and we could find no evidence of spawning.  There is however a possibility that SIMCA - Lankayan island has been protected and may have developed a breeding population.  Additional reef surveys by WWF 2009 and TRACC 2013 showed that HHW were effectively extinct in the Semporna region.

Even though scientific surveys could find no Humphead wrasse the price is so high (RM200/kg) that the fishing continues. Small numbers of small HHW (15-25cm) are caught occasionally around the Sabah coast ((where are their parents???)) and these baby fish are all kept alive and transferred to floating fish cages for on-growing and eventual sale to the live fish trade.

TRACC purchased 6 individuals in 2013 (more) and 4 individuals in 2015 from the live fish trade aquaculture cages.  These small individuals (approx 20-25cm) were released back into the wild on Pom Pom Island which is a community protected area.  The rescued fish are seen on a regular basis and are clearly growing.  None of the fish are reproductive size in Jan 2016.

The species is a charismatic icon for healthy reefs,  every book on coral reefs includes photos of Humphead wrasse.  Is the legacy of our generation that we took photos but ate all the Humphead wrasse to extinction?

There are a few of these fish left that have not been eaten, we hope to use the remnant population to repopulate an area, advocate for more effective MPA and create an action leading to a policy change so that the species is totally protected under Malaysian law.

Talk to us if you want to rescue a humphead wrasse which we will release and care for.  Of course we would like you to come and dive to see your fish.  :-)

We have also rescued sharks from the fishermen and will buy more in 2016 -->>more info

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Endangered Humphead wrasse almost extinct in Semporna

Where have all the big fish gone?  Long time passing?  where oh where! Fishermen ate them everyone, long time ago!  (with apologies and thanks to Bob Dylan)

Large sub adult male humphead wrasse on
Sipadan island, the only place on the east coast
of Sabah with a breeding population.

Scary fact--- The biggest wrasse and one of the most charismatic fish on a coral reef is almost extinct in the Semporna region.  

TRACC divers have just finished (Dec 2013) a coral reef survey of Timbun mata island, a large volcanic island (70km long) to the north of Semporna. The ocean surrounding Pulau Timbun Mata is not legally protected but the land is technically a forest reserve, there were plenty of big trees but the mangrove was definitely being harvested close to Semporna.

On the north side the island has a fringing reef with quite steep slopes. Severely bombed in parts but there were a few remote areas which still had good coral cover. While the sea bed cover varies with the amount of blast fishing and other variables there was at least 50% live seabed at all the offshore reef sites to the north of Timbun Mata. In many places, the living reef cover exceeded 80% and was very biodiverse with a wide range of different species.

Fish pots made of wire have decimated
reef fish populations in some areas.
  This pot is upside down.

Surprisingly there were no HHW seen on any of the 150 transects at 50 different locations around the island. Groupers, snappers sweetlips and grunts were all noticable by their absence. There were almost no commercial fish.  

The low fish diversity and abundance is most probably related to the widespread use of fish pots. At some sites more than 5 fishpots /100m were recorded. There were very few fish of commercial size at any site. Blast fishing was widespread and there is a clear gradient of blast fishing from high close to the villages to low at the reefs further from the villages. Some reefs were reduced to rubble with very low fish and coral diversity and abundance, however most reefs were patchy with blast damage confined to the shallower reefs. Reefs at 10-15m were relatively intact with high coral cover and diversity.

Femaile Humphead wrasse have no hump
But have a characteristic eye stripe

We are not the only survey team to find very few HHW in the Semporna area. A study by a team from WWF- Malaysia surveyed 35 sites with 64 transects during 2008/9 covering all unprotected reef types across the entire Semporna reef system. There were no humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) observed during any of these surveys. The only populations of humphead wrasse in Semporna were found on the reefs of Sipadan which are protected from fishing and destructive fishing practices by the presence of Sabah Parks and divers. There is a very small population of humphead wrasse on Pom Pom Island following the introduction and release by TRACC of 6 individuals rescued from a live fish restaurant. (MORE)

 

Other species are also severely overfished, very few grouper (Serranidae) or other commercial fish were observed during the surveys. These results from Nina Ho and Ken Kassem in 2009 and from TRACC in 2013 indicate severe overfishing of these commercially and ecologically important species.

There is a small population on Pulau Sipadan, where does it get its recruits from?  The island is too small to hope that larvae find their way back to the tiny island.  From the TRACC surveys around the whole coast it is clear that there is no other population upcurrent from any of the Semporna islands.

More info on humphead wrasse and the live fish trade.

If the humphead wrasse of Sipadan die because of recruitment failure then the species will be regionally extinct and will deserve to be upgraded from endangered to critical (IUCN red list).

 

Ho, Nina & Kassem, Kenneth. (2009). Reef Status of Semporna Priority Conservation Area. Kota Kinabalu,

Malaysia: WWF-Malaysia

Rescued humphead wrasse Cheilinus undulatus

Tracc (Tropical research and conservation centre) on Pom Pom Island Semporna, have just rescued 6 humphead wrasse ( also called mauri wrasse, Cheilinus undulatus) from a certain death as the main course for dinner in a live fish restaurant. The volunteers and staff agreed not to drink any beer for a week but to put the same amount of money into a kitty to purchase the folorn looking baby humphead wrasse. TRACC as an organisation agreed to match the volunteers beer fund and together we were able to find enough money to buy all 6 of these endangered fish.

Growout cages full of Humphead wrasse in 2002,
 in 2013 there were 6 fish in this cage

Growout cages full of Humphead wrasse in 2002,
 in 2013 there were 6 fish in this cage

The IUCN endangered species list (the Red list) (Endangered A2bd+3bd ver 3.1) lists humphead wrasse as endangered but TRACC surveys around Semporna and the whole Sabah coast found very, very, very few. Apparently a normal population is around 10 individuals per hectare but in our 370+ hours of surveys on Pom Pom Island and other nearby islands in the Semporna district we found a population of less than 1 individual per sq km. That is a reduction of more than 1000 times - definitely severely endangered. A normal reef should have 10 individuals in a hectare (about the size of a football pitch) but during multiple dives on many different islands and reefs we saw an average of 1 small HHW in each 100 hectares. The information we have for Semporna district is scary but it is not unique, ask any diver and the numbers of humphead wrasse on any reef that is not 100% protected and the answer is always zero. In our area at least, the fish are severely endangered if not regionally extinct and definitely need protection.

The Juvenile HHW fish were transported to Pom Pom Island in a large dustbin filled with seawater and released onto the reef crest at around sunset. The next few days were a bit harrowing as the divers searched and reported none seen.

Small female Humphead wrasse

HOWEVER, I am pleased to report that at about 5 days later we have now seen 2 of the rescued juveniles and they seem to be behaving normally, wandering around the reef and looking for food. Still very shy to hard to approach and get a good picture.

Apparently the fish becomes mature at about 6 years, so our juveniles have a long way to go and we hope to see them many times over the next few years.

As the voice of the rescued fish I would like to thank TRACC and my fellow volunteers for contributing the cash to rescue these 6 fish.

TRACC also rescued coral cat sharks this year :-)

Aug 2013