Best of our wild blogs: 2 Jun 12

Clean up Pasir Ris on World Ocean Day!
from wild shores of singapore

Oriental Pied Hornbills in urban Singapore
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Catching up with the Festival of Biodiversity
from Lazy Lizard's Tales

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Malaysia: Farmers of the forests

Aneeta Sundararaj New Straits Times 2 Jun 12;

With a number of threats looming, it is vital to document the hornbills’ deversity and ecological requirements, writes Aneeta Sundararaj

THE beautiful Belum-Temengor Forest Complex in Perak is one of the last refuges in Peninsular Malaysia for large mammals such as the Asian Elephant, Sumatran Rhinoceros, Malayan Sun Bear and Malayan Tiger, says Yeap Chin Aik, 36, Head of Conservation for the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS). The forest complex also showcases the world’s largest seasonal congregations of hornbills that make daily evening pilgrimages to the roosting sites south of Temengor during certain times each year.

Describing this enigmatic bird, Yeap adds: “Hornbills are unique because they nest in tree holes. They cannot make these holes themselves and rely on ‘excavators’ like woodpeckers for this.” They are also known as “farmers of the forests” because they play a crucial role in maintaining the forests’ ecosystem. “They are what’s called ‘frugivorous’, which means that hornbills feed on fruit like figs.”

Through dispersal and germination of the seeds from the fruit, hornbills influence the survival rate of several tropical forests tree species and keep the forests as functional as possible.

MNS conservation programme manager Maye Yap, 43, adds that: “Hornbills are very special. When you first go into the forest, it’s very quiet. But when these hornbills begin to flap their wings, the sound can be very loud. During the local migration period, when they can be seen in the hundreds or thousands, the sound these hornbills make can be overwhelming and...” She pauses then adds: “It’s magnificent.”

A sad note enters the discussion when Yeap points out that these hornbills are under threat. “There are generally three kinds of threat: loss of forests, degrading of forests and, being hunted. In Peninsular Malaysia, the hornbills face loss and degrading of the forests. In East Malaysia, they face all three,” he says. The threat to the hornbills’ habitat is mainly due to timber extraction. “Logging often targets the large, old trees, which are the prime nesting trees for hornbills.”

“The problem,” says Yeap, “is that no one champions these hornbills. In Europe, you’ll probably find someone who’s championing a snail. Here, with our wealth of biodiversity and exotic wildlife like marble cats and clouded leopards, hardly any animals have someone to champion them.”

Recognising such threats, MNS’s conservation programme aims to document the hornbills’ diversity and investigate their ecological and conservation needs in the forest complex. Since 2008, MNS has invited the public to support its work in monitoring these hornbills under a specific programme called the “Hornbill Volunteer Programme”. During the programme, volunteers venture into the forests and live amongst the Orang Asli in their kampung.
There are two packages that volunteers can choose from: opt for the first package and you’ll stay for three nights and four days in forest complex. The second package is a trip into the forest that lasts four nights and five days. “A huge part of the proceeds we receive from this programme go back to the Orang Asli people and the kampung,” says Yap.

Keep in mind that for the duration of your stay in the forest, there’ll be no water and no electricity. “This means that for many volunteers, who are 80 per cent urban folk, there’s no Internet and no phone. By 7.30pm, everything is quiet. And they have to do their washing in the river.” Hardships aside, every day you’re in the forest complex, you’ll take part in the daily flight census of the hornbills (once in the morning and once in the late afternoon) and collect relevant data.

In the years since this programme started, data collected by MNS has provided much food for thought. For instance, the number of hornbills recorded fluctuates. “One year, we had thousands. The next year, barely 100. Then next year, the numbers were up again. Why is this so?” asks Yeap. “Maybe, it’s because they’re changing their flight plan. Or the trees are not fruiting.”

Although no conclusions can yet be made, Yeap adds: “Having some data is better than having nothing.”

The magnitude of the challenge in collecting data is further emphasised when Yeap explains that these forests are difficult terrain. “You can view the hornbills in flight about five minutes away from the kampung. If you want to see where they nest, you have to go further into the jungle and hike up a very steep gradient. Also, we rely on the Orang Asli when we’re there and they are losing the knowledge that their ancestors had.”

Notwithstanding the challenges and hardships inherent in this programme, the response of past volunteers has been encouraging. “For many, the experience in the forest complex has been life-changing,” says Yap. She shares some of the many comments MNS has received which range from, “... being disconnected from handphone, email and FB was actually quite therapeutic” to “the simplicity of life... and the sheer joy of beginning and ending each day with the counting of the Hornbills, observing their flight pattern and eating behaviour mid-air”.

The last word lies with one volunteer whose words underscore the fact that if the current threats to conservation efforts are not addressed, the impact on the hornbill populations in the forest complex could be devastating and irrevocable: A greater awareness of our rich natural heritage, its vulnerability to human intrusion and the need to protect it.

Ultimately to see Temengor Forest Reserve declared a state park (and logging stopped, we saw barges ferrying logged timber a few times a day) and to have really eco-friendly tourism implemented (during our stay there we discovered that boat houses for tourists were lighting up fireworks, with carbide explosion for entertainment. The Orang Asli told us that this has been going on weekly for years). If possible, there should also be exposure to schoolchildren to be involved some way in the programme. After all, they are our future.

Types of hornbills

GLOBALLY, there are 54 species of hornbills. Thirty-one are found in Asia and Malaysia supports 10 species, namely:

• Black Hornbills
• Oriental Pied Hornbills
• Bushy-crested Hornbills
• White-crowned Hornbills
• Wreathed Hornbills
• Wrinkled Hornbills
• Plain-pouched Hornbills
• Great Hornbills
• Rhinoceros Hornbills
• Helmeted Hornbills

Be a volunteer

FANCY doing something different for the school holidays in August and September? If so, do become a volunteer for a programme run by the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) aimed at conservation efforts for the globally threatened hornbills. This adventure will take you into the heart of the beautiful Belum-Temengor Forest Complex in Perak.

What: MNS’ Hornbill Volunteer Programme for 2012

When: Aug 3 to Sept 28

Contact details: Maye Yap (Conservation Programme Manager)

Malaysian Nature Society, JKR 641 Jalan Kelantan
Bukit Persekutuan
50480 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: (60)3-2287 9422
Fax: (60)3-2287 8773
Website: www.mns.my
Email: hornbill.vp@gmail.com

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India: Rare Dugong population is on decline

Times of India 2 Jun 12;

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Ecological Education and Research (GEER) Foundation has suggested that a study should be taken up with the help of deep sea scuba divers to estimate the exact population of Dugong along the India coast.

The population of this rare sea cow is on a decline along the Indian coast.

The Dugong population off the coast of Lakshadweep Islands seems to be extinct as there have been no recent sightings in the region. Officials also said that Dugongs were common in Andaman & Nicobar Islands during the British era, but populations steeply declined later due to poaching and habitat destruction. Dugongs are reported in Ritchie's Archipelago, North Reef, Little Andaman, Camorta and Nicobar Islands. However, large populations are no longer seen and numbers are believed to have been falling since the 1950s.

Officials said that observations made by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute and various other organizations in India have revealed that the dugong populations all over India are declining. At present, it seems that the largest population of dugongs in India is in Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay region followed by Andaman and Nicobar Islands, although the population size is presumed to be very small.

The 2004 tsunami had damaged much of the dugong habitats in the Nicobar regions. Dugong population in Gulf of Kutch is also endangered.

A senior officer said that among the decline of Dugong population was mainly because of vessel strikes, habitat loss and degradation, disease, chemical pollutants, hunting, and incidental drowning in nets.

Dugongs are vulnerable to anthropogenic pressures as dependent only on sea grasses in coastal areas which now have been seriously damaged by fishing, trawling, and dredging. Dugongs have also been hunted for their meat, oil, hide, bones and teeth.

Officials said that the feeding grounds, sea grass beds are highly degraded due to change in the fishing technology. With mechanized boats replacing the non-mechanized boats for fishing in the shallow water there has been a degrading of the sea grass beds and destroying their habitats. Moreover, water pollution and siltation have also hampered this unique dugong habitat.

Officials said that the there was a need to identify other important and potential dugong habitats in the country and to bring them under the Protected Area Network for better conservation planning.

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Warming gas levels hit 'troubling milestone'

Seth Borenstein Associated Press Yahoo News 31 May 12;

WASHINGTON (AP) — The world's air has reached what scientists call a troubling new milestone for carbon dioxide, the main global warming pollutant.

Monitoring stations across the Arctic this spring are measuring more than 400 parts per million of the heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere. The number isn't quite a surprise, because it's been rising at an accelerating pace. Years ago, it passed the 350 ppm mark that many scientists say is the highest safe level for carbon dioxide. It now stands globally at 395.

So far, only the Arctic has reached that 400 level, but the rest of the world will follow soon.

"The fact that it's 400 is significant," said Jim Butler, global monitoring director at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Lab in Boulder, Colo. "It's just a reminder to everybody that we haven't fixed this and we're still in trouble."

Carbon dioxide is the chief greenhouse gas and most of it lasts about 100 years in the air, but some of it stays in the atmosphere for thousands of years. Some carbon dioxide is natural, mainly from decomposing dead plants and animals. Before the Industrial Age, levels were around 275 parts per million.

For more than 60 years, readings have been in the 300s, except in urban areas, where levels are skewed. The burning of fossil fuels, such as coal for electricity and oil for gasoline, has caused the overwhelming bulk of the man-made increase in carbon in the air, scientists say.

It's been at least 800,000 years — probably more — since Earth saw carbon dioxide levels in the 400s, Butler and other climate scientists said.

Until now.

Readings are coming in at 400 and higher all over the Arctic. They've been recorded in Alaska, Greenland, Norway, Iceland and even Mongolia. But levels change with the seasons and will drop a bit in the summer, when plants suck up carbon dioxide, NOAA scientists said.

So the yearly average for those northern stations likely will be lower and so will the global number.

Globally, the average carbon dioxide level is about 395 parts per million but will pass the 400 mark within a few years, scientists said.

The Arctic is the leading indicator in global warming, both in carbon dioxide in the air and effects, said Pieter Tans, a senior NOAA scientist.

"This is the first time the entire Arctic is that high," he said.

Tans called reaching the 400 number "depressing," and Butler said it was "a troubling milestone."

"It's an important threshold," said Carnegie Institution ecologist Chris Field, a scientist who helps lead the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "It is an indication that we're in a different world."

Ronald Prinn, an atmospheric sciences professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said 400 is more a psychological milestone than a scientific one. We think in hundreds, and "we're poking our heads above 400," he said.

Tans said the readings show how much the Earth's atmosphere and its climate are being affected by humans. Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels hit a record high of 34.8 billion tons in 2011, up 3.2 percent, the International Energy Agency announced last week.

The agency said it's becoming unlikely that the world can achieve the European goal of limiting global warming to just 2 degrees based on increasing pollution and greenhouse gas levels.

"The news today, that some stations have measured concentrations above 400 ppm in the atmosphere, is further evidence that the world's political leaders — with a few honorable exceptions — are failing catastrophically to address the climate crisis," former Vice President Al Gore, the highest-profile campaigner against global warming, said in an email. "History will not understand or forgive them."

But political dynamics in the United States mean there's no possibility of significant restrictions on man-made greenhouse gases no matter what the levels are in the air, said Jerry Taylor, a senior fellow of the libertarian Cato Institute.

"These milestones are always worth noting," said economist Myron Ebell at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute. "As carbon dioxide levels have continued to increase, global temperatures flattened out, contrary to the models" used by climate scientists and the United Nations.

He contends temperatures have not risen since 1998, which was unusually hot.

Temperature records contradict that claim. Both 2005 and 2010 were warmer than 1998, and the entire decade of 2000 to 2009 was the warmest on record, according to NOAA.

NOAA's global monitoring lab: http://esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/

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Best of our wild blogs: 1 Jun 12

FREE Pasir Ris Mangrove Boardwalk Tours on 9th & 23rd June 2012 from Mangrove Action Squad

Celebrate World Oceans Day at Pasir Ris and Tanah Merah!
from Through The Backyards

Stalk-Eyed Flies... It Gets Longer!
from Macro Photography in Singapore and Look Into My (Black) Eyes

Mon 04 Jun 2012: 10am – Nanthinee Jeevanandam on figs & fig wasps in urban Singapore from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS

How to take good scientific specimen photos
from wild shores of singapore

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Malaysia: Land officers under probe over sand theft and smuggling into Singapore

Elan Perumal and Stuart Michael The Star 1 Jun 12;

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating several Pekan district land officers in relation to alleged sand smuggling from Sungai Pahang near Tanjung Agas Oil and Gas Logistic Park into Singapore.

It is learnt that MACC officers have taken from a company shipping dockets, bank-in slips and other documents related to the movement of vessels from the river to the South China Sea.

According to an MACC source, the commission has also obtained evidence of money transactions between private parties and the land officers.

He said the investigation into the smuggling started several months ago following a tip-off from the public.

“We have scrutinised the movement of vessels in Sungai Pahang right up till the sea and opened up a file on the alleged sand theft three months ago.

“The private company was found to have falsified dockets on movement of barges and other vessels to escape the authorities,” he said.

The source also said that the documents gave the impression that the barges were dumping waste material 30 nautical miles off the coast when they were actually transporting sand to Singapore.

“We believe that the culprits have been smuggling sand worth millions of ringgit into Singapore for over a year,” the source added.

Yesterday, The Star reported that a private company, engaged by the operator of the Tanjung Agas Gas and Oil Logistic Park in Pahang, was being investigated for smuggling sand into Singapore.

The company was contracted to carry out sand reclamation and dredging work in and along Sungai Pahang to complete the infrastructural development of the park, which has a planned area of 1,710ha.

It was also reported that the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency had arrested more than 10 foreigners in a recent raid and seized a dredger, six barges and two tugboats.

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Wildlife galore

Straits Times 26 May 12;

At the National Parks Board's (NParks') first Festival of Biodiversity this weekend, visitors can appreciate Singapore's natural heritage and take part in guided walks and exhibitions. The Straits Times looks at some species that were unearthed by marine and rainforest surveys across the island.

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Indonesia: Fishermen revive coral reef in Bali

Antara 31 May 12;

Denpasar, Bali (ANTARA News) - Two hectares of damaged coral reefs off the Serangan beach in Denpasar, Bali, have been rehabilitated during 2003-12 by Pesisir Karya Segara, a group formed by local fishermen.

"The rehabilitation was targeted for an area of five hectares. However, since 2003, we have managed to revive only two hectares by planting seeds of coral reefs," Pesisir Karya Segara member I Wayan Patut said here on Thursday.

He added the rehabilitation effort was being made in collaboration with the private sector, which involved the planting of 32 seedlings of branched coral reefs.

"In addition to planting the seeds of the coral, we also released 36 seahorses which will likely attract more marine fish species into this region," Patut noted.

He explained the gradual rehabilitation of coral reef over five hectares was part of a 15-year plan and was expected to finish in 2018.

However, Patut added, the process was not easy, particularly because of the difficulties involved in procuring planting equipment and seeds.

"We are grateful to the government and private institutions that are concerned about the preservation of coral reefs near Serangan beach," he said.
(T.KR-LWA/INE/KR-BSR/S012)

Editor: Priyambodo RH

COPYRIGHT © 2012

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Indonesia: Sumatran elephant dies at Riau conservation park

Antara 31 May 12;

Pekanbaru (ANTARANews) - A Sumatran male elephant was found dead at Tesso Nilo National Conservation Park in Riau province on Thursday, the park chief said.

"We think the elephant died a day ago," Head of Tesso Nilo National Conservation Park Kuppin Simbolon said here on Thursday.

The body of the elephant was found by the park`s officials and members of the Riau`s WWF on Thursday morning, he added.

Kuppin noted the tusks of the elephant were still intact and the cause of its death was not yet known.

"A team of doctors from Riau Nature Conservation Service is now heading to the location to investigate the cause of the elephant`s death," he stated.

Local sources said the elephant died at Sei Tapak, Lubuk Kembang Bunga village, Pelalawan district, Riau. The area has oil palm plantations belonging to local residents.

Including the recent finding, the number of elephants found dead in Riau in 2012 has reached four. Earlier, the three elephants that were found dead reportedly belonged to a wild elephant group of Tesso Nilo park.
(Uu.A014/INE/KR-BSR/S012)

Editor: Priyambodo RH

Three rare elephants found dead in Indonesia
AFP Yahoo News 3 Jun 12;

Three critically-endangered Sumatran elephants have been found dead in an oil palm plantation in western Indonesia and are believed to have been poisoned, an NGO said Saturday.

Villagers found the dead animals on Thursday in a government-owned oil palm plantation in the eastern part of Aceh province. They were estimated to be four and five years old, local environmental group Fakta said.

"We suspected that they died after consuming bars of soap laced with poison we found near the carcass," the group's chief Rabono Wiranata told AFP.

"It seems that the elephants have died around one week," he said.

The animals are usually either killed by villagers, who regard the beasts as pests that destroy their plantations, or by poachers for their tusks.

Early last month, two other Sumatran elephants were found dead in the west of the province.

There are fewer than 3,000 Sumatran elephants remaining in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, marking a 50 percent drop in numbers since 1985.

WWF changed the Sumatran elephant's status from "endangered" to "critically endangered" in January, largely due to severe habitat loss driven by oil palm and paper plantations.

Conflicts between humans and animals are increasing as people encroach on wildlife habitats in Indonesia, an archipelago with some of the world's largest remaining tropical forests.

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Malaysia: Marine cops foil mangrove bark smuggling

The Star 1 Jun 12;

KOTA KINABALU: A regular patrol along a river in Sabah’s east coast netted the police Marine Operations Force (MOF) a haul of about seven tonnes of illegally harvested tangar or mangrove tree bark.

State MOF chief Asst Comm Abdul Manaf Othman said their patrol vessel was carrying out surveillance around Sungai Tagahang, about 40km from Sandakan, when the personnel spotted a boat laden with the tree bark at about 4.15am on Wednesday.

Upon seeing the police, the individuals in the boat tried to speed off and when they realised they could not outrun the MOF vessel, they jumped into the sea and escaped.

He said MOF personnel, however, managed to detain a 45-year-old man on the boat who turned out to be a Filipino national.

ACP Manaf said the man’s arrest and seizure would be referred to the state Forestry Department as the offence came under the Forest Enactment 1968.

Authorities here are facing an uphill task to protect mangroves along Sabah’s east coast from tangar strippers, most of whom are from southern Philippines, where the bark is used in the manufacture of alcoholic beverages.

Mangrove areas around Pulau Banggi as well as those in the Pitas and Beluran districts are the most susceptible to thieves.

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Australia: Reef dugong numbers hit 20-year low

Andrea Frost ABC News 30 May 12;

A researcher in north Queensland says the number of dugongs on the Great Barrier Reef is at its lowest level in 20 years.

Professor Helene Marsh says last year's cyclones and flooding damaged much of the dugong's habitat on the reef.

She says latest observations shows the mammals have migrated north to waters off Cape York.

"I think that obviously some animals died - there were record numbers of animals found dead last year, but I actually think that a lot of animals have probably left the area for greener pastures," she said.

Professor Marsh says commercial development is the dugongs' greatest threat.

"Habitats in a pretty bad state after the cyclones and floods last year and is threatened by port development," she said.

"The major sources of mortality are things like vessel strike and adults accidentally being caught in fishing nets."

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Shark-finning: Clear and present danger

Environmental groups warn that some shark species could be wiped out in only a few years never to return
Derek Baldwin Gulf News 1 Jun 12;

Dubai The stench wafting in the 42 degrees Celsius heat at Deira Fish Market is enough to make a stray cat retch as pools of blood collect beneath a loading island slathered with hundreds of freshly killed Gulf sharks.

As the sun dips below the Deira Corniche horizon, a ritual rarely witnessed by outsiders plays itself out as dozens of pectoral and caudal fins, hacked from black-tipped sharks, are snapped up by buyers hungry for lucrative trade with dried-seafood brokers in Hong Kong.

According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the UAE is the fifth largest exporter of shark fins to Hong Kong, where the virtually tasteless marine appendages are a high-end, brothy delicacy in soup served at luxury social gatherings.

The culinary war on global sharks for their fins has decimated shark stocks by up to 90 per cent at inshore reef systems around the globe, say experts, leading to the deaths of more than 70 million sharks every year.

If the trend continues, environmental groups warn that some shark species could be wiped out in only a few years.

“For you, these fins for Dh150 a kilo,” mumbles a ruddy faced man lording over the butchered shark fins at market. “Bigger fins? Bigger is Dh200 or Dh300. Tell me.”

The man boasts he can handle orders of any size but points out that the price remains the same for high-volume fin orders, fresh or dried.

Enter the dark side of the shark fishing industry in the UAE, where Dubai-bought fins are flipped for a much higher price in the Far East, with one large fin fetching up to 1,000 euros (Dh4,689.6). A bowl of shark-fin soup can command up to 80 euros and is sought-after for its cartilaginous texture.

The cultural importance of the dish lies within the ability of hosts of banquets or weddings to show respect to guests through an expensive broth served for centuries by the Chinese elite and now by the country’s growing middle class.

Banned in September 2008 by the UAE Ministry of Environment and Water, shark-finning is the practice of hacking off the fins of live sharks caught at sea and releasing to certain death the predators back into the deep.

Tonight, however, at the fish market the sale of fins is legal because the sharks they once belonged to landed at the market whole and intact. Shark-fishing season is open from May 1 to December 31 in UAE waters.

In only the first month of the season there seems to be no end to the legal shark harvest as scores of refrigerated trucks with Dubai plates deliver their quarry to market.

Smell of money

How one can withstand the overwhelming odour blanketing the fish market? One shark trader overseeing the unloading of his daily catch was glib. “The smell of money is worse,” he said. “Once you get used to the smell of money from a good catch, it’s highly addictive. You can’t stop.”

A final count of his catch yielded 30 black-tipped sharks which fetched almost Dh25,000 in an on-site auction surrounded by middle-men operators.

A quick count up and down the loading island, referred to as the “Gargoor side” at the market, revealed more gory details. One lot contained 22 sharks, another 11 large sharks, while another double row contained 139 sharks of all sizes and ages. Deep into the night, trolleys, tendered by registered fish-market workers, ferried dozens more to waiting traders as reefer trucks rolled into the parking lot

Shark catch studied

Cambridge University PhD candidate Dareen Almojil was knee deep in the blood and guts of the maritime bounty. Wearing plastic gloves, she tagged the sharks as part of her efforts to estimate the local shark population. Almojil also collected blood and tissue samples. The catch of the day rounded up four Gulf varieties of shark for Dareen to study from the black-tipped and spinner to spot tails and bull sharks.

“The sharks here are from Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, with most coming from Abu Dhabi today,” said Almojil, a Kuwait native.

Dareen lauded the UAE government’s initiative to ban finning.

By forcing commercial fishing companies to land whole sharks, fewer sharks are being taken because traditional fishing methods take longer. In contrast, the practice of cutting off fins only and dumping sharks back into the sea is quicker and can cut through shark populations with deadly efficiency.

“They have to land these as whole fish,” she told Gulf News in the thick of the market frenzy. “By taking the whole body, they really limit the catch. We still need new regulations, new size limits.”

One of the upsides of procuring fins from government-regulated shark-fishing facilities is that buyers know the fins were taken legally using government-approved methods. “The problem, otherwise, is that when you buy dried shark fins, you don’t know if the sharks were finned or not,” she said.

According to media reports, there has been a drop, globally, in shark-fin prices by up to 20 per cent since late last year, which some conservation groups attribute to heavy environmental campaigning during the last decade.

“I think it’s more about younger people in China now being more aware of the shark-finning problem,” Dareen said. “Chinese youth are not serving shark-fin soup at their weddings like they used to.”

Several vendors at the 180 separate fish stations at Dubai Fish Market said the prices of sharks in the UAE have declined. A vendor at the market showed Gulf News about a dozen baby sharks for sale, noting that the smallest could be had for Dh25 or Dh50 for a slightly larger one.

Fin demand growing

Keith Wilson, marine programme director of Dubai-based Emirates Marine Environmental Group (EMEG), said prices may have dipped but demand continues to grow as the gap between the rich and poor in China — the mainstay market for shark fins — narrows.

“The market in China is ever increasing because there are now 300 to 400 million middle-class Chinese,” Wilson told Gulf News. “Now they can afford it.”

Some experts peg demand for the fins growing by five per cent annually.

Other new trends in the Far East, he said, such as “pounding up shark cartilage and using it as an anti-cancer medicine”, are also depleting shark populations to the brink of collapse, especially in areas such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia.

As inshore shark populations collapse and inch towards imminent extinction, relatively healthy inshore shark populations along Arabian shores face a similar future, he warned, if more measures are not taken to stop the killings.

“At the current rate of capture, I can’t see it being sustainably exploited here,” Wilson said. “It won’t take long to get through these stocks.”

The concern is not only for the 30 or so shark species that call Gulf waters home.

Shark-fin demand has led to a surge in the taking of shark giants such as the six-metre long Great Hammerhead sharks — the largest of their kind — from the relative shallows of Oman.

Wilson pointed out that their larger fins are more highly sought, leading to an influx of the Hammerheads from Oman into the UAE, from where they are shipped to Hong Kong.

“If they’re being caught in Oman, it’s not an offence,” he said. “They come in from Oman, are traded and shipped.”

Only three shark varieties — Great White, Basking and Whale — are not legal to be commercially harvested, in keeping with Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Oman is one of the very few places left on earth where there is a healthy population of Great Hammerheads, Wilson said, a stock that is threatened by over-fishing as females take years to reach maturity and give birth only to a small number of pups every year.

“It can’t take this rate of exploitation,” he added.

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