Monthly Archives: October 2009

El Squid Tango

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by Núria Forns

Willem, Jane, Roger and I have been in Tioman for 20 days now. As we’ve been regularly doing since we got here, this morning we got on the bum boat and headed out for a couple of dives, which usually come with lunch and tea or coffee, and of course with a few dips in Indo-Pacific waters.  Our dive plans for today were the following: Willem, Jane and Roger would do a 20 meter population count of crown of thorns, while I would do some more fish point outs (FPO) with Katie, the boss, since it seems like I have stumbled upon the most prepared class of volunteers in Blue Ventures.

So, after a while of FPO, where I was getting them all right, by the way :) , the most beautiful scene occurred. A group of about 30 squid, males and females, were performing a series of unusual movements. We first saw them down at ground level where the females were hiding eggs under some hard coral, while the males were hovering right on top of them in what seemed to be a protective position. A few minutes later, they all swam up near the surface, and each and every couple engaged in the most sophisticated courtship dance. They would move back and forward, barely caressing each other, and then they would swim vertically while intertwining tentacles to share genetic information. After another few minutes they went down to the coral again and continued with the egg laying task.

Katie and I were bedazzled by El Squid Tango for a while before we realised we were running out of air.

Notes from the Island

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by Roger Vaughan

I got here to Tioman Island, just off the east coast of peninsular Malaysia, about a week ago.  My routine goes like this: up at 7am, swim in the warm clear water, 8am breakfast in the restaurant next door to my room.   Scuba dive, 2 tanks in the morning, lunch on board the boat, then return to base by 2pm for study sessions on corals, fish species, other reef critters and Malay language.  Dinner at any of several local restaurants – delicious seafood, veggies and noodles, rice, flatbreads, curries, chicken, beef – no pork, as this is a Muslim country. Chat until about 9pm, maybe see a reef video or review the pictures we’ve taken during the day’s dives, then crash under my mosquito net (not that I’ve really needed it) with a good book until I fall asleep anticipating another day.

On today’s dive trip we saw a pod of pilot whales which followed the boat for a while, then dove around a nearby small island removing the pesky crown-of-thorns starfish which prey on the branching corals of the reef.   Their only natural predator is the triton trumpet shell, which has been virtually eliminated worldwide by the shell-curio trade, so the starfish are very numerous.  Our 4 teams of divers removed nearly 100 from the reef today, and it would have been more except that many were deep in the coral and would have required destroying what we are trying to save, in order to remove them.  I got a few coral scrapes, and one or two small pokes from the starfish (they are toxic), but no big deal.

We also saw several huge bumphead parrot fish, a small school of squid, lots of beautiful butterfly and angel fish, spadefish, small barracudas, large groupers and sea bass, acres of live hard and soft coral of hundreds of varieties, and other weird and wonderful creatures often grouped as the “spineless wonders” – sea cucumbers, urchins, shrimp, crabs, shells, giant clams, gorgonian fans, basket stars and on and on.

Last weekend we went on a hike through the rainforest to the other side of the island, and saw amazing butterflies, mouse deer, fruit bats, pottoes, types of birds I’d never seen before, and gorgeous trees, vines and shrubs of all kinds.

Tioman Island has been a National Park under the protection of the Royal Family since the mid-1990s, with a total no-touch, no-take policy for fishing or collecting of any kind, within 2 miles of shore.  The resident population of the island is 3000 people, most of whom earn their livelihoods directly or indirectly from the tourist trade, but there is only one “resort” in the American sense, on the island.  Most visitors stay in small single story local hotels, eat at the village restaurants, and come to snorkel, dive or hike.  The fact that most of the people speak at least some English makes being here very easy – no chance of getting lost or not getting where you intend to go.

But it’s not just about having fun! We are taking an active role in the Blue Ventures Malaysia program too, doing assessments of reef health and risks, developing a series of educational videos on responsible boating, diving and snorkelling practices, working with the local dive and boat operators to insure sustainable practices in their use of the reef, and developing a definitive photo library of fish and other creatures found on the reefs.  We will also assist in teaching English in the local schools, do reef and beach cleanups, and, of course, the crown of thorns monitoring and removal.

By the end of this week our training in fish identification will be completed and my current team of volunteers (me, a British couple in their early 60s, and a young Ph.D. scientist from Spain) will begin contributing to the collection of reef health data.   Our group is rather unusual since most volunteer teams have 6-10 members and often in their 20s and 30s, but we try to make up in experience what we lack in youthful energy.  There is no lack of enthusiasm, as we all look forward to seeing things we’ve never seen before on every dive.

As evening is falling, I am looking out through the palm trees past the tree squirrels and the plumeria trees, wondering how many of the ripening mangoes will wake me during the night by falling on my roof.  The sea is nearly flat calm, with a gentle wave-ripple at the shore that makes falling asleep really easy anytime.   We’ll lay out tomorrow’s schedule before heading off to dinner, perhaps at the seafood barbecue shop just down the main street.  Wish you were here. Don’t you?

Update from Belo Sur Mer

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Everything is going well with the dive surveys at our new site in Belo and on the islands so far. This week we had some great weather again, which allowed us to survey a further 3 sites around the islands of Nosy Be, Nosy Angoraoke and Nosy Tania. These sites have proved to be more intersting than first thought. Unfortunately not due their diverse coral cover and burgeoning fish populations but their now near desolate state following a recent cyclone as many are now left with large expanses of bare rock and rubble. It will prove to be interesting over the coming years to investigate how resilient these reefs are in the wake of this damage. Fishermen that stayed on the island throughout the cyclone period told us that after the cyclone there were large numbers of sea cucmber, octopus, lobster and other marine creastures washed up on the beaches of Nosy Be. It appears that this cyclone caused large amounts of damage which will be interesting to see if/how the systems recover from this.

Following our return to Belo, Mr Alain ( local hotel owner) arrived to ask for our assistance after he had spoken with the mayor and president. Some Chinese collectors were staying at another local hotel and had asked local fishers to collect ‘Salabato’ (Chitons), ‘Tsilatsilake’ (Pen shells) and ‘huitre’ (Oyster). Also with them was their malagasy aid, who told us that they had come on holiday to the area for a couple of days and decided to take some of the local produce for food. (4 rice sacks and a cool box full). The amount that they collected, in conjunction with the fact that they had brought with them an aquarium oxygen pump (not something many people carry with them on a short break) alerted us to the fact that this was probably not the case and they were probably intending to sell this produce, although this claim cannot be proven. They of course did not have any official papers to say they were entitled to collect this produce. Thomas spoke with all of the fishers, the collector, and the owner of the hotel and we decided that the best thing to do would be to consult directly with the president of the fokontany, as he is the local authority.

Following the meeting the president and vice president, came to see the collection and speak with the collectors assistant. This is when the story changed and the malagasy assistant handed the phone to the president and told him to speak with the ‘minister of fisheries’ who proceeded to say that the official papers allowing them to collect such products was with him in Tana. ‘So they are collectors after all?!’ Without evidence to the contrary the president felt that he could not punish the collectors and so they have proceeded to Morondava with their produce. However we have spoken with someone at MNP who will hopefully ensure that the car is brought to the attention of the correct authoroities in Morondava when it arrives this afternoon.

This is an important encounter as it shows that the local community at present doesn’t have an understanding of the effects of this type of collection of marine products, nor is there currently any local or other law that allows the local community to protect theses resources from exploitation, whether collectors have a permit or not! This week has given us a good insight into some of the threats that the marine resources face here in Belo and out on the islands.

Andavadoaka Theatre

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So Ariane and I have one day left here in Andavadoaka, I can’t really believe it. Time here is a bizarre phenomenon, it goes quickly but you feel like you have been here for ages!

We have experienced so much here, we have travelled by all means imaginable, listened to incredible life stories, seen medicine practiced with few resources, played volleyball, learned about fish, seen baobabs, produced and participated in a play and last of all, experienced life as it is in the rural depths of Madagascar. All this has been so much more than I ever expected from my medical elective.

The play we produced was part of a research project that we ran alongside the FISA project within BV. We were looking at the barriers to young women in accessing the clinic with the aim of facilitating greater awareness of the options available to them. It was decided that one of the best ways to educate this group would be through theatre, and even more appealing, would be drama performed by Vazaha (us)! After meeting the Nahooda’s (a ceremony with village elders to introduce ourselves and gain permission to stay in the village), where we attracted quite a crowd I had no doubts that the advice would be wrong!

So, after setting up focus groups and identifying issues that the younger population had preventing them from accessing FISA, Ariane and I set about producing a short play. We were so pleased when the new expedition volunteers were all really enthusiastic to get involved. We decided to base the play on a young couple who had been advised by their parents, who had struggled to feed their many children, to be careful and wait until they are ready before starting a family. We basically mimicked the walk from the village to the clinic in Andava, with the couple encountering various people and their concerns and thoughts about FISA along the way. The couple maintained an optimistic and open view point the whole time, finishing the play with a consultation with Fanja, the clinic co-ordinator. All volunteers and many of the staff each had a part to play and after a few rehearsals and attempts at speaking some Malagasy lines we performed on Saturday afternoon. We had put posters up in the village advertising the play for 3 pm, although we were well advised that we should expect to wait at least half an hour before the village would wake up from their ‘siestas’ and make their way!

Oh boy were they right, we ended up waiting until around 4.45 pm! Can you ever imagine having to wait for the audience back at home! It was so amusing and truly epitomises the Malagasy way of life. There is no need for speed or worry, they just do things when they do, when they feel like it… why not hey! Never the less the play was great and everyone involved was fantastic, so big thankyou’s all round!

My time here has been so different from any other travelling experience I have had so far. I feel incredibly privileged to have had the opportunity to not only observe the Vezo Malagasy way of life, but live it. I never imagined seeing and doing so much here, least of all directing a play!