Fisheries Status and Trends of Key Species ofPulau Payar Waters

Alias, M. & Mohd. Saupi, I.Resource Branch, Fisheries Research Institute, 11960 Batu Maung, Pulau Pinang.

The objective of this paper is to asses the status and trends of the fishery resources around PulauPayar as exploited by the handline fishermen, and to ascertain if there are any significantcontributions of the marine park to the fishery. Analysis ofthe landings from 1979 to 1994 showedthat Kedah's average annual landings had dropped by 12% from 102,500 tonnes in the 79-86period to only 74,000 in the 87-94 period. Trawl is the most important fishing gear in term ofamount offish landed. Kedah fishery is part ofthe west coast fishery, its landings depend not onlyon its own level of exploitation, but depend on the level of exploitation of the neighbouring states.The annual landings from handline and longline fisheries declined from the beginning of thefishery in 1970, but seemed to have recovered after 1988. The production dropped from around600 tonnes in 1970 to only about 50 tonnes in 1988. It increased to about 300 tonnes in 1994.Generally, the landings as well as the catch rates of the target species of the handline fishery inKedah are on the increase. However, from the survey conducted, the biomass ofthese fishes for thewest coast were declining.

Kedah is one of the important states for fisheries on the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. In1970, Kedah landed more than 50,000 tonnes of marine fish and contributed about 14 percent tothe total West Coast landings (Fig. 1.1). Since then, The landings continued to increase reaching itsmaximum in 1982 where about 149,600 tonnes offish were landed, contributing about 39 percentto the total West Coast landings. The landings decreased subsequently and never recovered. In1994, only 72,600 tonnes of fish were landed, contributing only 16percents to the total West Coast

40 t 16000035 c:Jlandings 14000030 -+- % of W. Coast 120000

25J 10000020 8000015 6000010 40000

5 200000 0

Fig. I.!: Landing Trends of Kedah Fishery (tonnes) and its Contribution (%) to the WestCoast Fishery.

Kedah's commercial fishing began in 1970's, through the introduction of the trawles purse seines.With the introduction ofthese mechanised fishing gears, the landings had increased tremendouslyas the results of improved fishing efficiency. The landings however began to declined from 1982onward. This clearly showed that Kedah experienced two different stages or phases of fisherynamely, the development phase from 1970 to 1981 and, the over-exploitation phase then onwards.Other states on the west coast were also experiencing similar changes in their fishing industry.However, the pace of fishery development in each state was never the same. As a result, thecontribution oflandings from every state to the west coast fishery varied from time to time.

Analysis of the landings from 1979 to 1994 showed that Kedah's average annual landings haddropped by 12% from 102,500 tonnes in the 79-86 period to only 74,000 in the 87-94 period (Fig.1.2). Its order in terms of fish landings on the west coast had dropped to the third place. Perak onthe other hand, remained as the main contributor to the west coast landings. Its landings hadincreased from 121,200 tonnes to 195,000 tonnes during the same periods, contributing about 42%to the present west coast landings. Selangor which is also a major contributor, had replaced Kedahas the second important contributor after Perak. Its landings had increased about 4% from 59,300tonnes to 92,800 tonnes in the same period.

200000180000160000140000120000100000

80000600004000020000

o

079-86087-94

.t= C) -'" 0 c ro 1§ro c ~ ":5 ~ -'"al ro C) ro roc Q) C C).D~ Cl: a.. ro Q) E Qi coQi Z Q) ::2 0:J (f) (f)ro .t=

:; 0a.. ...,

ro "2 "2 .£ :E ~ 1;j"0C Q) c .~.~ ~J9 c Qi2 '-ro ro -'jl~~ ~:a t-~

._ ro .t= 1;jro-'" ~:J :J -:J :85- a. a. a.:Ja.

I ...c=="l I:J ~ "5 -~ ~ '5 c.D ro:J '0 -'" ]1ro 2 ~'5 'n;.D c ro

5-~.D :J :Ja. g-~ m Ul ~ 'en-'" ~ ~5- E

:Ja.

Fig. 1.3: Contribution of Kedah's landings (%) by gear to the total west coast landings in twoperiods, 1979-86 and 87-94.

'" ~ "2 .!; ~ ~ rn'E e Q) <Il "'- e ~.3 ~~ i':a t- ~ 1i;rn -"" -"" 32~ rn-"" 5- :J ~5. 0. 0.-""5.

:J Ol ~ _0) 0) :5 e.0 e .l'1~ e g':5 '":J '0 2 'ffi.0 '"e .0 ae :J ~ .~g-~ rn <Il

-"" ~ ~5- E:J0.

Fig. 1.4: Contribution ofKedah's landings (%) by gear to the west coast landings of similargearin two periods, 1979-86 and 87-94.

Generally, landings of any state depends on the rate of exploitation which changes with the thendevelopment in fisheries. As Kedah fishery is part ofthe west coast fishery, its landings depend notonly on its own level of exploitation, but depend on the level of exploitation of the neighbouringstates. In exploiting the fishery resources, trawl seem to be the most efficient fishing gear. As it isso efficient, it can easily exploit resources which have been previously exploited by other fishinggears, especially the traditional gear. Catches from the traditional gears declined after theintroduction ofthe trawl, except the anchovy fishery. Anchovy, which is a selective resource that isbeing exploited only by the anchovy purse seine, is abundant in Kedah's water, especially aroundLangkawi and other small islands, including Pulau Payar.

The waters around these islands are important fishing grounds for both traditional and commercialfishermen from the mainland and as well as from Pulau Langkawi. Fishing activities carried outaround the islands include drift-netting, purse-seining, handline fishing and the use of traps.Among the key target species are anchovies, redfishes and groupers.

Pulau Payar, Pulau Kaca, Pulau Lembu and Pulau Segantang, which are coral islands have beengazetted as marine parks. Among the objectives of establishing the marine park is to protectspecies which are endangered or vulnerable to fishing. It also allows for the natural regenerationof aquatic life which been depleted (Ch'ng, 1990).

Since a marine park, some area around Pulau Payar was closed for fishing. The traditionalfishermen especially those using handlines were very much affected by the move, as they had tofish outside the park. However, if the park is protected, it will enhance the regeneration of fishresources and the fisheries could benefit from this.

The objective of this paper is to asses the status and trends of the fishery resources around PulauPayar as exploited by the handline fishermen, and to ascertain if there are any significantcontributions ofthe marine park to the fishery.

Historical data were used as the prime source of information. Apart from analyzing the catch datafrom commercial landings, the catch data from past trawl surveys were also analyzed.

Pulau Payar is located on the west coast ofKedah, between Pulau Langkawi and the mainland. It issurrounded by three other small islands which are Pulau Kaca and Pulau Lembu in the northeastand Pulau Segantang in the southwest. The centre point of the Pulau Payar fishing ground islocated at latitude 6° 3'N and the longitude 99° 59'E, which is between Pulau Payar and PulauSegantang.

There are about 52 fish landing centres in Kedah (Fig. 2.1). However not all the landing centres areused to land fish from the Pulau Payar fishing ground. Fisherman from the Kuala Sala landingcentre travel a maximum of23 nautical miles to the Pulau Payar fishing ground.

KUALAMUDA20. Tanjung dawai21. Sungal Batu22. BanMerbuk23. Segantang Garam24. Sungal Petanl25. BatuUntang26. Kola Kuala Moda

KUBANG PASU1. Kuala Sanglang2. Kuala Kerpan3. Kuala Tunjang

KOlA SETAR4. Kuala Jenun5. Kuala Kuar6. Tongkang Yard7. Kuala Kedah8. Kuala lebengau9. Kuala Kangkong

10. Kuala 5aIa

VAN11. Kuala Bangka12.SuogaiUmau13. KualaSedaka14. Dulang

15. YaoKecil16. Sungai Udang17. Van 8esaf

16. KamptJllg Rual19. Singkirlaut

27. BukitPenjal'824 28. TeluIl.Nipah

29. Telu+.Amboi30. Kg. Pulau Ssyak31 . Sungal Meriam

32. Kg. Paya33. Kuala Sg. Muda

Fig. 2.1: Fish landing centres in five districts surroundingthe Pulau Payar marine park.

The annual landings from handline and longline fisheries declined from the beginning of thefishery in 1970, but seemed to have recovered after 1988. The production dropped from around600 tonnes in 1970 to only about 50 tonnes in 1988. It increased to about 300 tonnes in 1994 (Fig.2.2).

700

600500

f!l 400a~ 300

100o

70

From the monthly catch data of handline fishery obtained from landing centres since 1986, thebiomass in term of monthly catch rates for all species (kg/boat/day) appeared to have declined butrecovered in 1994 (Fig. 2.3). The catch rate in 1994 ranged from 3.8 to 74.5 kg/boat/day, with anaverage of 21.1kg/boat/day (Table 1). This was the highest recorded average catch rate in theperiod observed. In terms of monthly variation, the biomass appeared to be higher during April(Fig. 2.4). In term of fishing area, the biomass appeared to be higher in the areas close to PulauPayar (Fig. 2.5).

Table 1: The catch rates from handline fishery in Kedah(1986 to 1994)

86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94--,Min 2.5 4.0 1.7 3.0 5.5 4.0 3.8Max 38.2 32.2 23.4 20.5 20.8 28.3 74.5Avg 9.6 9.6 10.6 7.0 8.7 8.5 21.1

80•70

60 •50 •40 ;. •30 +. •r · ·20 •• t •~. .JI j:110 I •

0 •0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

About 31 different types of fish were landed. They can be grouped into 22 different families orcategories. A list ofthese fishes according to their order of importance are as shown in Table 2.

ENGLISHNAME

Jenahak,Tanda,Merah

3 SCOMBRIDAE Spanish Tenggiri,mackerels, AyafTongkolTuna/Bonito/Kawakawa

4 HAEMULIDAE Sweetlip Gerut-gerut

Jack,Trevallies,Scad,Queenfish,Runner,Pom ano

Alu-alu/Kacang-kacang

Aji-aji,Cermin/Sagai/Cupak, Cincaru,Kerepoh,Perata, Rambai,Talan

~··~.'-'~'.-".'l

. ..•.

10 PLOTOSIDAE Eel catfish Semilang

~tr*~

11 MISC Miscellaneous Ikan CampurCOMMERCIAL commercialFISHES fishes

12 CENTROPOMIDAE Sea bass Siakap

~ "--'.'.'_ ..._.-

~ ...

16 CHIROCENTRIDAE Wolf-herring Parang~

~0

17 RACHYCENTRIDAE Cobia Aruan Tasik

~~

18 GERREIDAE Silverbiddies Kapas Laut

Threadfinbream

22 MiseTRASH FISHES

Miscellaneoustrash fish

Landings by species and fishing gear for the state ofKedah was only available for up to 1983 fromthe Fisheries Statistics. The landings seem to have improved after 1981, after been graduallydeclined for about 10 years (Fig. 3.1.1). In 1983, the landings was about 100 tonnes, which was thehighest. Based on the catch rate data obtain from the landing centres, the present trend of thebiomass in Kedah waters is on the decline (Fig. 3.1.2). The catch rates reduced from 6kg/boat/dayto only 1kg/boat/day in 1995. From the survey, this group of fish were found to be abundant inwaters of 40m depth in the were west coast ofPenang (Fig. 3.1.3). Although the biomass ofthis fishin Kedah waters are declining, the biomass for the whole west coast was increasing, as shown bythe survey data. The catch rates had increased from as high as 2kg/h in 1984 to as high as 8kg/h in1983.

Fig. 3.1.1: Annual landings (tonnes) of SERRANIDAE from handline andlongline fisheries ofKedah.

SERRANIDAE

6

5 J4

3

2

o86

Fig. 3.1.2: Monthly catch rates (kg/boat/day) of SERRANIDAEfrom handline fisheries ofKedah.

400 400SERRANIDAE

• b

•350 350 • ••• •

• • •• •300 300 •II

250 250

Fig. 3.1.3: Guide to the spatial and temporal distribution of SERRANIDAE fishes in theWest Coast, a: map ofthe trawl stations, b: catch rates (kg/h) by latitude, c: catchrates by longitude, d: catch rates by depth (m), e: range of catch rates from thesurveys conducted.

Landings of fish from this family consisted mainly of the species Lutjanus johni (Jenahak). Oneother species included was Lutjanua malabaricus (Merah). The landing trend for this group of fishwas similar to Serranidae, where the landings had increased to as high as 60 tonnes in 1983 (Fig.3.2.1). The biomass ofthis fish in Kedah waters was also on the increase from about lkglboat.dayin 1992 to 4kglboat.day in 1995 (Fig. 3.2.2). In the west coast, the fish was found to be abundant indeeper waters (60m) offPerak's coast (Fig. 3.2.3).

Fig. 3.2.1: Annual landings (tonnes) of LUTJANIDAE from handline andlongline fisheries ofKedah.

LUTJANIDAE

5

5

4 J4

3

3

2

2

Aj0

86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95

Fig. 3.2.2: Monthly catch rates (kg/boat.day) of LUTJANIDAE byhandline fishery of Kedah.

200 2005950 6000 6050 6100 0 10 20 30 40 50

LUTJANIDAE C LUTJANIDAE d

45 45 •40 4035 3530 3025 25• •20 • 20 •15 1510 10 •

5 5• -0 05950 6000 6050 6100 0 20 40 60 80

LUTJANIDAEe

45 •40353025 •20 •1510 • •5 • • •• ••0 • I • I I -Jul-83 Nov-84 Mar-86 Aug-87 Dee-88 May-90 Sep-91 Jan-93

Fig. 3.2.3: Guide to the spatial and temporal distribution ofLUTJANIDAE fishes in the WestCoast, a: map ofthe trawl stations, b: catch rates (kg/h) by latitude, c: catch ratesby longitude, d: catch rates by depth (m), e: range of catch rates from the surveysconducted.

Generally, the landings as well as the catch rates of the target species of the handline fishery inKedah are on the increase. However, from the survey conducted, the biomass of these fishes for thewest coast were declining.

Ch'ng, K. L. 1990. National marine parks, Malaysia: Policy and concepts. Risalah Perikanan Bil.40. Dep. of Fisheries, Min. of Agriculture, Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur.