Update of first semester of 2019

This is Kiluan Bay (Lampung, Sumatra). Gorgeous beyond words...

Justin my new friend kindly advised me to update my blog (“cos it’s awesome!”), so I blushingly agreed. Thank you for the reminder!

So here it is: I’ve been updating a subject on policy analysis at the James Cook University to be taken to masters level for next semester. (“oh, you do policy, Icha?” Apparently, I do… particularly when you think that environmental issues are not going to solve themselves without proper policies in place!).

In March, CETASI (Cetacean Sirenian Indonesia) received some funding from the Conservation Strategy Fund (thank you, CSF!) for conducting an economic study of dolphin watching in Kiluan (Lampung, Sumatra). The project is titled “Dolphin-watching tourism as an alternative or supplemental livelihood to marginalised artisanal fishers in Indonesia". This project will explore whether dolphin-watching tourism can generate direct or indirect employment that provides a sustainable income equal or superior to a fisheries income. The CSF grant established myself as one of the 2019-2020 Indonesia Marine Fellows of the Conservation Strategy Fund.

The 2018 updates

OMG, I have apparently missed the whole 2018 for any updates!

This book has my chapter!

I’m still alive (and healthy, thank you, Universe!) and still working with sustainable tourism, tourism economics and marine mammal issues in general. I was teaching for the second semester at James Cook University, thus it kept me busy during the last half of the year, while the first half of the 2018 was busy with me getting married to my partner in mid-April (we started dating in mid 2010).

I’ve also been collaborating on some papers. Three of them are under review now; one on old stranding paintings with Rodney Westerlaken, the other one on the habitat suitability of marine megafauna in Solor Islands with Muhammad Iqbal Herwata Putra, and the last one is on cetacean bycatch in Gorontalo Sulawesi with Elena Wonneberger, Karim Erzini and Nuralim Pasisingi. Five papers are being cooked as we speak: the first one is on the economics of shark tourism in Indonesia (with Hollie Booth and Muh Ichsan), the second one is on the habitat suitability of cetaceans in Solor Islands with Iqbal Herwata Putra, the third one is on the habitat suitability of cetaceans in Indonesia (with Achmad Sahri and Iqbal Herwata Putra), the fourth one is on the governance of marine mammals in Indonesia (with Achmad Sahri) and the fifth one is on the souvenir sellers in Lovina (with Riccardo Welters, Neil Loneragan and Carol Warren). There’s a batch of data on environmental education that I want to analyse, but I really have to set time for that to make it happen (!).

My project infography (2014-2017)

I've been meaning to make an infograph of my projects with Piktochart, but I haven't made time until just now. Now it seems a good time to make and publish it, considering year end etc. I only have the free account of Piktochart, which is very limited in templates and also sharing options. Not sure if I need to set aside fund for Piktochart subscription, for so far I'm happy with what I have. The more interactive option of this image is below the break (or click this).

New paper on the sustainability of dolphin watching industries in Asia

The title of our new paper

Closing this 2016, my colleagues and I are very happy to announce the publication of our collaborative paper on the sustainability of dolphin watching tourism in Asia in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism. The citation and abstract are below. We have also written a piece in The Conversation (lead author Gerard E. Ryan) here.


Video Abstract - A rapid assessment of wildlife tourism risk posed to cetaceans in Asia from Taylor & Francis on Vimeo.

Bapak, Ibu, rekan kerja sekalian, dengan bahagia dan lega saya sampaikan peer-reviewed publication berikut ini tentang wisata lumba-lumba di Asia yang barusan dimuat di Journal of Sustainable Tourism. Kami juga sudah menuliskan satu artikel di The Conversation (penulis utama Gerard E. Ryan) di tautan ini.

Abstract and citations are below. Abstrak dan sitiran di bawah ini.

BBC Earth article on my work in Lovina

The spinner dolphins in Lovina (Mustika@JCU)

BBC Earth correspondent Lesley Evans Ogden interviewed me last December in San Francisco during the 21st Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals. The interview is now at the BBC Earth website here. I copy and paste the part that has my research below, but the article covers many other aspects of whale watching from other researchers, so it's a really good read. 

Putu Mustika, an adjunct researcher at James Cook University in Australia, and co-founder of the non-profit Cetacean Sirenia Indonesia, has also been exploring how dolphins react to being closely watched by humans in boats. It is a research area she was alerted to by journalists concerned by the practice of boats chasing dolphins.

For the spinner dolphins she studies in Lovina, North Bali, there is, as yet, no formal protocol for marine mammal watching. As a result, it is not uncommon for there to be more dolphin-watching boats than dolphins.

Indonesia's National Plan of Action for the Cetaceans

Just a short post to inform you all that Indonesia (the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries) has released its National Plan of Action for the Conservation of Cetaceans. The document is still in Indonesian language. I have the English version of the earlier draft (because I was one of the authors), but we will need time (and funding, I suppose) to translate it into English. Based on the 2002-2010 Conservation Action Plan for the World's Cetaceans (Reeves et al 2003), the document contains strategies to address unsustainable anthropogenic activities (bycatch, blast fishing, direct catch, tourism in the wild, captivity, marine debris, vessel strikes, and competition with fisheries) and disturbance to cetacean habitats (coastal and riverine development, commercial and military sonar, chemical pollution, biotoxin and climate change). The national marine mammal stranding network is also mentioned as one of the action plans. Click here for the document in Indonesian language. (terjemahan bahasa Indonesia di bawah break)

Paper on expenditures of business visitor at the Great Barrier Reef Australia

The Great Barrier Reef

Another paper published last year at Tourism Economics. Still have not got the online version, let alone the printed copy. But the abstract is below. I will update it once the PDF is available.

Mustika, P. L. K., Farr, M. and Stoeckl, N. (2014b), 'The potential implications of environmental deterioration on business and non-business visitor expenditures in a natural setting: a case study of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef', Tourism Economics.

Abstract:

Nature-based tourism can be an important source of income for regional economies, but relies on a healthy environment. Using data collected from business and non-business visitors to Australia’s coast adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef, the authors generate estimates of the potential financial impact of environmental degradation, demonstrating a novel way of testing and controlling for hypothetical response bias. More than 90% of non-business visitors and 67% of business visitors came to the region for at least one nature-related reason. Average daily expenditure was similar for both visitor segments (about $190), but the determinants of expenditure varied. All visitors reacted much more negatively to the prospect of environmental degradation than to a 20% increase in (local) prices, although business visitors were much less responsive than non-business visitors. Adjusting for hypothetical response bias, the authors estimate that substantial environmental degradation could reduce visitor expenditures (and thus local tourism incomes) by at least 17%.  

Update 3 August 2016:

The article received its issue number etc last June. You can download the copy here through the Tourism Economics website, or email me at putuliza at gmail dot com. The Harvard version of the citation is this:

Mustika, P., Stoeckl, N. & Farr, M. 2016, 'The potential implications of environmental deterioration for business and non-business visitor expenditures in a natural setting: a case study of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef', Tourism Economics, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 484-504.

New paper: Evaluating the potential disturbance from dolphin watching in Lovina

Happy New Year you all! Sorry for the silence, I've been trying to publish more paper since the last two months. Slow progress, but it's getting there. Hey, at least I published two papers last year (two is definitely not a big number, bad Icha, bad...), and one of them is this note on Marine Mammal Science with DOI 10.1111/mms/12188.

Mustika, P.L.K., A. Birtles, Y. Everingham and H. Marsh. 2014. Evaluating the potential disturbance from dolphin watching in Lovina, north Bali, Indonesia. Marine Mammal Science. DOI 10.1111/mms/12188.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.12188/abstract

Full PDF is also available at Dropbox.

The marine mammal stranding brochure and poster

Berikut ini adalah artikel tentang brosur dan poster penanganan mamalia laut yang terdampar dalam bahasa Inggris. Klik tautan ini untuk edisi bahasa Indonesia. 

After several months of delay, we are delighted to finally bring you the translated version of the marine mammal stranding brochure and poster, funded by WWF Indonesia. Special thanks to Dinda Prayunita for the design and Nimal Fernando for the editing. So far, we have no plan to mass-print this English edition. However, high-res PDFs are available upon request for individual printing. 

the brochure, 1st page

The final report for the cetacean bycatch study, funded by the International Whaling Commission

Berikut ini adalah abstrak dan tautan untuk laporan akhir cetacean bycatch di Paloh dan Adonara Indonesia yang didanai oleh the International Whaling Commission. Di bawah ini adalah artikel bahasa Inggris. Untuk bahasa Indonesia, klik tautan ini. 

Fishing boats in Paloh, West Kalimantan (@Putu Liza Mustika 2014)

The followings are the abstract and link to the final report of cetacean bycatch in Paloh and Adonara Indonesia, generously funded by the International Whaling Commission. Our many gratitudes to Dr Toni Ruchimat as the Director General of the Capture Fisheries of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries for his support and introductory letter. Our many gratitudes as well to WWF Indonesia, particularly Dwi Suprapti, DVM and Agri Aditya who have taken us everywhere in Paloh, West Kalimantan during our field work. We would also like to acknowledge Dr Danielle Kreb (RASI Foundation) and Dr Tara S. Whitty who had conducted their independent cetacean bycatch studies in East Kalimantan prior to this study. Dr Whitty had also provided us useful suggestions during the design phase of the work. Our thanks are also extended to our research assistants (Emitha Wulandari, Tyas Woro Prasasti and Abdul Hamid Sidik) for the data collection and data entry.

If the link is not working, do contact me at putuliza at gmail dot com for the PDF.

A pilot study to identify the extent of small cetacean bycatch in Indonesia using fisher interview and stranding data as proxies

Final report to the International Whaling Commission

By Putu Liza Mustika¹, Februanty S. Purnomo², and Simon Northridge³

1, 2 Whale Stranding Indonesia

3 School of Biology, University of St. Andrews, United Kingdom

Abstract

This study examines the extent of artisanal fishery bycatch of cetaceans at two locations in Indonesia. The study locations were at Paloh (West Kalimantan) and at Adonara (East Nusa Tenggara); each site represents different gear types and different cetacean species. We used three methods: semi-structured interviews of fishermen; examination of stranding data and direct observations. The work was preceded by a workshop to identify signs of fishing gear interaction on cetacean stranding cases in Bali in November 2013, followed by direct observations and interviews from late February to early May 2014. 

Laporan akhir cetacean bycatch yang didanai oleh International Whaling Commission

The followings are the abstract and link to the final report of cetacean bycatch in Paloh and Adonara Indonesia, funded by the International Whaling Commission. The article is in Indonesian. Click here for the English version.

 

The Lamahala beach in Adonara, East Nusa Tenggara (@Februanty Purnomo 2014)

Berikut ini adalah abstrak dan tautan untuk laporan akhir kegiatan pemantauan cetacean bycatch di Paloh dan Adonara yang didanai oleh the International Whaling Commission.Terima kasih banyak untuk Dr Toni Ruchimat sebagai Direktur Jenderal Perikanan Tangkap di Kementerian Kelautan dan Perikanan atas dukungan dan surat pengantar resmi dari beliau. Terima kasih juga kepada WWF Indonesia, terutama Drh Dwi Suprapti yang telah mengantar kami melakukan ke mana-mana di Paloh, Kalimantan Barat. Kami juga mengucapkan terima kasih dan menghargai hasil kerja Dr Danielle Kreb (RASI Foundation) dan Dr Tara S. Whitty yang telah melakukan penelitian bycatch cetacean secara terpisah di Kalimantan Timur beberapa tahun sebelum riset kami dilakukan. Dr Whitty juga telah memberikan masukan kepada kami saat perancangan riset ini. Kami juga berterima kasih kepada para asisten riset kami (Emitha Wulandari, Tyas Woro Prasasti and Abdul Hamid Sidik) yang telah membantu pengumpulan data dan data entry.

Jika tautan tidak berfungsi, silakan hubungi saya di putuliza at gmail dot com untuk PDFnya. 

A pilot study to identify the extent of small cetacean bycatch in Indonesia using fisher interview and stranding data as proxies

Final report to the International Whaling Commission

By Putu Liza Mustika¹, Februanty S. Purnomo², and Simon Northridge³

1, 2 Whale Stranding Indonesia

3 School of Biology, University of St. Andrews, United Kingdom

Abstrak

Dokumen ini mengkaji tangkapan samping mamalia laut dalam perikanan tradisional di dua tempat di Indonesia. Studi ini dilakukan di Paloh (Kalimantan Barat) dan Adonara (Nusa Tenggara Timur); setiap lokasi mewakili alat tangkap yang berbeda dan spesies mamalia laut yang berbeda pula. Studi ini menggunakan tiga metode: wawancara semi terstruktur dengan nelayan; pemeriksaan kejadian terdampar dan pengamatan langsung. Kegiatan ini didahului oleh pelatihan untuk mengidentifikasi tanda-tanda interaksi alat tangkap pada kasus mamalia laut terdampar pada bulan November 2013 di Bali, yang diikuti dengan pengamatan langsung dan wawancara pada bulan Februari sampai dengan Maret 2014. 

My 2006 masters thesis on Lamalera whale hunting

I did my Masters by research at the James Cook University in Australia from mid 2003 to late 2005. It was a rather painful journey; I enjoyed it, but not as much as I enjoyed my PhD life. But still, it was the first time I totally enveloped myself in research once more after about six years of dormancy. And I learned a lot from it, particularly about the use of social qualitative research. The 'funny' thing was, when I was doing my undergraduate study, I snorted (yes, snorted!) at students reading sociology and anthropology. But after working in WWF Indonesia for six years and did two years of masters (most of it based on social qualitative research), nowadays I cannot imagine my life without my better understanding of qualitative research.

Stranded whales: National Geographic Indonesia & Raffles Bulletin of Zoology

I wrote a collaborative paper back in 2009 on stranded cetaceans in Indonesia, triggered by a stranded humpback whale in Bali (the presence of humpback whales in the Archipelago were previously thought to be a myth). The paper was my first paper in every real sense, so the editors had slight (!) difficulties in shaping it to a decent published form. But, after so many agonizing months, it was published in the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. And, boy oh boy, was I so proud of it!

Mustika, P. L. K., Hutasoit, P., Madusari, C. C., Purnomo, F. S., Setiawan, A., Tjandra, K. & Prabowo, W. E. 2009, 'Whale strandings in Indonesia, including the first record of a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Archipelago', The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 199-206.

Below is the abstract of that 2009 paper:

What do the tourists think of dolphin watching in Lovina?

I happen to be a Balinese. Yet, despite Bali being a touristic island, I always wondered why I wasn't interested in learning about tourism. Perhaps I am fed up with the hustles and bustles of tourism in Bali, particularly in south Bali. But when faced with the chaos that is Lovina, I realised that I would not be able to solve anything if I refuse to understand what tourism is. Or to that extent, what the tourists think and do, regarding the dolphin watching industry in Lovina.

So here's the second paper that I published from my PhD, discussing what the tourists think of dolphin watching in Lovina.

Mustika, P. L. K., Birtles, A., Everingham, Y. & Marsh, H. 2012, 'The human dimensions of wildlife tourism in a developing country: watching spinner dolphins at Lovina, Bali, Indonesia', Journal of Sustainable Tourism,   pp. 1-23.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669582.2012.692881
 

How much does the Lovina dolphin watching industry worth?

Okay, first of all, I'm not an economist. Heck, I even made a big elementary mistake that will guarantee a life time ridicule at my naivette (or stupidity?), particularly from a particular economist-turned-life-partner of mine. But still, I could not revisit the past and recollect the data, can I? All I can do is humbly accept the mistake and commit myself of not repeating it again. Which I solemnly swear.

Nonetheless, the Universe worked Its magic, and here's my first PhD paper on the economics of Lovina.

Mustika, P. L. K., Birtles, A., Welters, R. & Marsh, H. 2012, 'The economic influence of community-based dolphin watching on a local economy in a developing country: Implications for conservation', Ecological Economics, vol. 79, no. 0, pp. 11-20.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800912001693
 

My PhD abstract

The following is the abstract of my PhD project, titled 'Towards Sustainable Dolphin Watching Tourism in Lovina, Bali, Indonesia'. Anyone interested in the PDF copy of my thesis, do email me. I owe my gratitude to many people, but notable among them are Prof Helene Marsh and Dr Alastair Birtles from James Cook University. Dr Mark Hamann and Dr Riccardo Welters also lent huge help during the last lag of my thesis.

Mustika, P. L. K. 2011, 'Towards Sustainable Dolphin Watching Tourism in Lovina, Bali, Indonesia (unpublished thesis)', James Cook University.

'Towards Sustainable Dolphin Watching Tourism in Lovina, Bali, Indonesia'
by Putu Liza Kusuma Mustika
James Cook University
Townsville - Australia

This research studied dolphin watching in Lovina, North Bali, Indonesia in the theoretical context of quadruple bottomline sustainability and the prism of sustainability to investigate the biological, social, economic and managerial elements of the sustainability of the industry.