Protected areas
Several steps were undertaken towards the establishment of a protected area in Pesut Mahakam Habitat, such as participatory community mapping of zonation boundaries, village and (sub-)district meetings, that finally (on 27/01/2020) led to a District Decree (SK Bupati, No. 75, 2020) for the establishment of the Aquatic Conservation Area of Pesut Mahakam Habitat or Kawasan Konservasi Perairan Habitat Pesut Mahakam, encompassing a total area of 43.117 ha, including rivers, lakes but also swamp and riparian forest habitat as they all contribute to regeneration of fish resources.
The conservation area used a bottom-ups approach and got the approval of 27 villages living inside the area. The goal is not only to secure the Mahakam Pesut (habitat) but also protect other biodiversity, contribute to the fisheries sector, food security and the welfare of the people living in the reserved areas. This can be achieved through better fish-resources management and improvement of the water quality by maintaining the natural function of swamps and riparian forest instead of large-scale conversions into palm oil plantations.
Next, RASI aims to conduct a series of workshops at (sub) district and national level with as outcome the official adoption and enactment of a 5-20 years management plan and to obtain a national protection status under the Ministry of Fisheries. Second, RASI aims to secure additional important buffer habitat of the PA mostly consisting of (peat) swamps (forest), through districts or a provincial decree, as Essential Ecosystems in Kutai Kartanegara and Kutai Barat districts.
Community patrols
Since, November 2019 RASI trained, equipped and supports 5 local community patrols to monitor dolphin movements and document illegal fishing activities that are consequently reported to law-enforcing authorities. Since the start of these patrols for some areas a 50-75% decrease in illegal electro-fishing was observed.
Pinger Distribution
Acoustic pinger trial studies are ongoing since December 2018 until the end of 2021 to test the efficacy of pingers to keep dolphins away from gillnets at a minimum distance of 10-20m so that they can still feed in the same area undisturbed. 40 pingers have been distributed to fishermen whose nets have known to be preyed upon by dolphins to measure its efficacy. So far, the results indicate that dolphins stay away from the nets but remain in the area. RASI plans to expand the number of pingers in the Mahakam, as an alternative tool to prevent dolphins from gillnet entanglements. RASI is also lobbying for revision of regulations regarding to gillnets and to either 1) ban all gillnets inside the dolphin PA, or 2) ban gillnets with > 4 cm mesh size only. In both options, nest would need to be replaced with alternative fishing gear.
Wildlife Protection
Besides ongoing awareness raising campaigns and socialization in villages on protected animal species, RASI also conducts socialization and direct release with owners of protected species together with BKSDA. Species that were released included protected bird species such as lesser adjutant, grey-headed fish eagle, white-bellied fish eagle.
Stranding Rescue (Training)
During a stranding training workshop in 2015 with participants from 3 sub-districts and during interviews with c. 100 gillnetting fishermen in 2019, dolphin release methods from gillnet entanglement and translocation for dolphins trapped in shallow nearly dried up swamp lakes, were socialized and or practiced. Over the years a total of 7 dolphins were safely rescued from swamps and 10 dolphins released alive from gillnets.
Follow our conservation work on our FB page / group: Rare Aquatic Species of Indonesia, instagram: yayasan_rasi, youtube-channel: Yayasan Konservasi RASI.
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