Malaysia: Clampdown on giant clam poaching

ROY GOH AND AVILA GERALDINE New Straits Times 4 May 14;

TASTY SPECIES: Locals and foreigners are after Sabah's giant clams

KOTA KINABALU: Prized for their shell and flesh, giant clams are fast disappearing from the seas in Sabah.

Recently, the authorities seized 20 tonnes of giant clam shells off Kota Kinabalu bound for Vietnam, indicating the existence of a large-scale illegal operation to extract and export the endangered species.

The local people's taste for clams, especially their adductor -- the tubular piece often mistaken as a scallop -- is also a concern.

For seven years, the Marine Ecology Research Centre (MERC) established at Gayana Eco Resort on Pulau Gaya off Kota Kinabalu had been cultivating and preserving the giant clams.

The centre faced a huge challenge as it was up against large- scale operations to acquire the shell of the giant clams, which could be sold off as ornaments or other by-products such as traditional medicine and cosmetics.

The flesh of the clams can be eaten and are sold fresh, chilled, frozen, dried or cooked in many markets across the state, even in the heart of here.

MERC project director Alvin Wong said giant clams were listed as rare and endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) of the United Nations.

"The bivalve is also listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) which prohibits trade in there between countries."

There were 10 known giant clam species of which seven found in Sabah. Of the seven species, the Tridacna gigas and Tridacna derasa, can no longer be found locally.

"Our concern is that giant clams are declining in numbers.

"They are a valuable link and heritage to the marine eco-system," Wong said.

He explained that giant clams work as marine filters as they took in harmful waste nutrients like ammonia and nitrate and expelled clean water into the environment.

Since MERC began its operations in 2007, the centre had propagated and eventually released some 2,000 giant clams back into the sea.

Echoing similar worries was Universiti Malaysia Sabah Borneo Marine Research Institute director Prof Saleem Mustafa who said the problem was common in Southeast Asia.

"Giant clams are harvested by indigenous people as well as foreign poachers.

"Many communities in Southeast Asia eat them or market their products.

"Those who have been eating giant clams have developed a taste for the flesh. For them, it is a delicacy," he said.

Saleem stressed that there was no scientific basis to claims that giant claims had medicinal value.

"It is probably a belief passed down from generations among those living by the sea."

Saleem said, however, there was still hope for giant clams as the state government had a holistic and long-term policy to conserve marine biodiversity, where giant clams are considered an important component.

"This is being done by gazetting vast areas of the coastal and marine environment as marine parks where regulations can be enforced," he said, adding out that enforcement was a challenge.

"It is not easy to monitor the whole coastline and to restrain indigenous communities who claim that they are harvesting the clams for sustenance."

He said, this was the reason that there was added focus on creating public awareness and getting cooperation from local communities to preserve the species.

In Sabah, laws on extraction of giant clams come under the purview of the Lands and Survey Department under the Land Ordinance.

Anyone found with giant clam shells can charged with extracting it without any permit, an offence that carries a five-year jail sentence or RM100,000 fine or both.

Lands and survey director Datuk Osman Jamal said the law existed to protect not only the species but also other natural resources from the sea.

"The clams, our reefs and many other natural wonders are our prized assets and we need to look after them."


Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib (left) and officials with 20 tonnes of giant clams that were confiscated last month from nine Vietnamese fishermen in Sabah. Pix by Malai Rosmah Tuah