Bali marine mammal stranding workshop and training

Hands-on demo with the Bali govt and NGOs (photo: Lindsay Porter)

This post is almost a month late, but better late than never. The Bali marine mammal stranding workshop and training was conducted on 1 and 2 May 2013 as a response to the decisions made at national level that several nodal workshops and trainings should be conducted in Indonesia. Four sites are scheduled for 2013: Denpasar (Bali), Kupang (East Nusa Tenggara), Pangandaran (West Java) and Balikpapan (East Kalimantan). We have Bali on 1-2 May. I will travel to Kupang this Sunday for the 4-5 June gig. West Java will be on 3-4 July, and East Kalimantan will be 3-4 September. 

The Bali workshop and training was initiated by the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. I was helping the workshop as a consultant to Conservation International Indonesia. The Ministry invited Dr Lindsay Porter from the University of St Andrews and Mr Grant Abel from Ocean Park Hong Kong to assist us with the first responder aspects. The Ministry also invited Nimal Fernando, DVM from Ocean Park Hong Kong to assist with the veterinary components of the workshop and training. On top of that, I was assisted by Sekar Mira from LIPI (the Indonesian Science Institute) and Februanty Purnomo (Jakarta-based marine mammalogist), both of whom also accompanied me to Subic Bay (see this post too). Overall, we had a good, solid team who helped each other based on our unique capacities we bring onto the table.

The Jakarta Post article on the Bali stranding workshop and training (1-2 May 2013)

Below is the The Jakarta Post article on the Bali stranding workshop and training (1-2 May 2013). Thanks to Desy Nurhayati for the article and to Pariama Hutasoit for helping us out with the media. 

The Bali team before the training (thanks to Sanur Beach Hotel for letting us using the pool)

Sea mammal rescue network established

by Desy Nurhayati on 2013-05-03 

 

The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry established a task force to address incidents of stranded sea mammals.

Tony Ruchimat, ministry director for conservation area and fish species, said establishing the network was crucial to speed up the rescue of stranded sea mammals and to ensure species were handled correctly.

“Based on previous incidents, fifteen percent of stranded sea mammals were found alive and could be saved. However, sluggish and inappropriate responses could cause the rescue effort to fail,” he said during his presentation at a two-day workshop to establish the taskforce.

“Therefore, we need a network or task force, as well as commitment from the related stakeholders to enhance rescue efforts.”

Members of the task force include individuals from the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry, the marine police, navy, as well as NGOs, dive operators, life guards, marine experts, research agencies, university and volunteers.

Barry Brook & Corey Bradshaw's tips on 'How to Write a Scientific Paper'

My former supervisor Prof Helene Marsh pointed out this excellent 2012 blog post by Dr Corey Bradshaw, a paper-production 'machine' who has authored and co-authored God knows too many papers. I think it's a very interesting article, such that I need to post it here for you guys, and also just in case Corey thinks of shutting down his blog one day (nah, unlikely!). I met Corey in New Zealand in December 2011 and I know, any tips from him is equal to gold. 

Thanks Helene for the email and Corey for the great post! The Indonesian translation is coming soon.

Turns out, graphs and tables ARE important for papers (read below). Pic Courtesy of PhdComics

Below is the blog article by Dr Barry Brook and Dr Corey Bradshaw, posted on Bradshaw's Conservation Byte in 2012. Enjoy!

How to write a scientific paper

http://conservationbytes.com/2012/10/22/how-to-write-a-scientific-paper/

  
by Corey Bradshaw

22 10 2012 

Several years ago, my long-time mate, colleague and co-director, Barry Brook, and I were lamenting how most of our neophyte PhD students were having a hard time putting together their first paper drafts. It’s a common problem, and most supervisors probably get their collective paper-writing wisdom across in dribs and drabs over the course of their students’ torment… errhm, PhD. And I know that every supervisor has a different style, emphasis, short-cut (or two) and focus when writing a paper, and students invariably pick at least some of these up.

But the fact that this knowledge isn’t innate, nor is it in any way taught in probably most undergraduate programmes (I include Honours in that list), means that most supervisors must bleed heavily on those first drafts presented to them by their students. Bleeding is painful for both the supervisor and student who has to clean up the mess – there has to be a better way.

Jakarta Expat article

It's been a busy April, such that I haven't got time to post an article. But all is for the better good, for we are going to hold a stranding workshop and training on 1-2 May in Sanur Bali. 'We' as in the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Conservation International (including myself), WWF and a bunch of other cool stakeholders. Will definitely post the news and photographs after the event is done. 

Meanwhile, if you have time (or just being curious), you can have a read at Grace Susetyo's interview of myself at the Jakarta Expat about the cetaceans in Indonesia. Click here or 'read more'  to read the whole article.

Caring for the Sentinels of the Deep
by Grace Susetyo

Much of Indonesia’s seas are being “watched over” by friendly creatures whose underwater singing and dancing never cease to melt the human heart: some 30 species of cetaceans (whales and dolphins). North Bali’s whale watching industry is reported to generate about US$4.1 million per year, or about 40% of the incomes of local hotels in Lovina. But despite Indonesia’s millions of square-kilometres of territorial waters, cetacean conservation has hardly been on top of Indonesia’s agenda.

Latest update from the national stranding network

It was approaching 9 pm, and we were still in the meeting room in Bogor

Being a developing country with one of the longest coastlines in the world, myriad human activities and about 35 species of cetaceans and one species of sirenian, Indonesia is a country with high risk of stranding events. Data from www.whalestrandingindonesia.com showed 102 stranding events since 2000-2012; about half of them were unidentified species. Considering Indonesia’s coastline length (over 80,000 km) this number is more likely to be an underestimation than an overestimation. However, until late 2012, Indonesia had no national stranding committee or any action plans to mitigate, reduce or manage stranding events. The stranding of 48 short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) in East Nusa Tenggara Province was a wake-up call for the government to work on the overdue stranding protocol and network. In November 2012, the Ministry of Marine and Fisheries Affairs officially formed a national committee to compose the national stranding protocol and establish the national stranding network. 

On Thursday, 21 March 2013 (after 1.5 days of long meeting in Bogor, hauled till past 9pm...), the national committee has finished the last stranding protocol meeting which produced the final draft of the protocol. The protocol will be published in April 2013 and will be distributed to all provinces in the country. At the same meeting, the committee also discussed the organizational structure of the national stranding network. The national structure will have five sections: 1) data and information; 2) science; 3) live-rescue; 4) post-mortem investigation; and 5) policy recommendations. The live-rescue section will coordinate local stranding networks around the Archipelago. 

The 3rd Southeast Asian Marine Mammal Symposium (and the importance of having a group to call your own)

Participants of the 3rd SEAMAM symposium in Langkawi (pic by Suwat Jutapruet)

I’m a cetologist, and I’m proud of what I’m doing for a living. However, I do have to say that getting funding for mainly marine mammal works is not always straightforward. Nowadays, I still have to do other works (still inside the compound of marine conservation) to stabilise my micro-finance, while also getting $$ for the cetacean works I always want to do. Often, I felt lonely and a bit desperate because of that. I’m one of Indonesia’s very few cetologists, but expanding this ‘business’ seems to be a very hard endeavour. With the dimming ‘glamour’ of species-based conservation since the last decade and the shifting towards ecosystem-based management (EBM), experts on migratory mega fauna species around the world are striving to fit their species of interest into the whole EBM scheme. Whether attaching it to Marine Protected Area, fisheries, climate change issues, etc, anything that will make the conservation of migratory mega fauna species still making sense in the EBM era.  It can work... but really, I cannot say it has been a stroll in the park. 

Most of the time, I felt like doing this all alone. Yes, I do have some friends scattered around Indonesia (in the Marine Mammal Indonesia mailing list we created in 2004), but our conversations have been up and down (which means that I didn’t do my job as the moderator properly). I do connect with them, and I do share similar dreams with them.  But I still couldn't shake off the feeling of doing this alone without any significant support from outside world.

‘Thank God’ for the 48 short finned pilot whales that stranded in Sabu in October last year. I know, it sounds awful and I don’t mean it that way. What I meant is that finally the government realised the importance of pushing forward marine mammal conservation, by way of stranding management. I started to join the national discussions on stranding protocols last December, and started to feel like I can really use my brain for the animals I love the most: the whales and the dolphins.  

Going to Subic Bay (Philippines) last month (4-9 Feb) to learn about stranding management was another refreshing change. I met many passionate stranding rescuers and veterinarians from at least seven countries (Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, China Mainland and HK, Malaysia and Cambodia). I had a lot of discussions about how to improve the Indonesia stranding network with my fellow Indonesian delegates (Sekar Mira, Februanty Purnomo, Efin Muttaqin, and Danielle Kreb – who is a Dutch lady, but might as well a local with her Samarinda accent!). Subsequently, I then became a part of the committee to form/organise the SE Asian stranding network.  I started to feel like I’m part of something bigger than my own fear (of not being able to be a full time cetologist). 

The importance of stretcher, mattress and necropsy for stranding cases

The Indonesia team in Subic Bay. L to R: Efin Muttaqin, myself, Yanti Purnomo, Danielle Kreb and Sekar Mira

I’ve been meaning to write a post about the lessons I received after attending a stranding symposium and workshop in the Philippines last February. However, February has been crazily busy for me (happy busy, not sad busy), so I never got to it. Some comments from Philippe Borsa on the Sabu stranding event today sent me to my working desk now (In fact, I woke up this morning with a mind to write a post about necropsy; Philippe beat me to it with his/her constructive feedback). So, here’s thanks to Philippe.

This post should be subtitled: ‘Or, why you better attend a stranding workshop before claiming you know about stranding’. Mostly, it refers to myself rather than others. For that was really what I felt when I attended the 1^st Southeast Asian Stranding Network Symposium and Workshop in Subic Bay (3 hours north of Manila), Philippines from 4-9 February 2013. I felt like hiding under the table during some country presentations. Thank God for the Whale Stranding Indonesia website, otherwise I – as a delegate from Indonesia – would feel so hopeless due to the lack of success story from my country.  Actually, the WSI website was such a hit that people tend to disregard that Indonesia is still very new with this stranding business. We are still writing up our stranding protocol (looking specifically at a friend of mine who have to finish her round-robin part...), and we are still figuring out how to structure our national stranding network. But still, better late than never.

Now, the title of this post refers to the three most important things I should have realised, but did not, about stranding management (those are not the only important things, trust me). The stretcher and necropsy things I know – kinda, but never realised the full importance of the two aspects. The mattress is a new thing to me, such that I realised that I really have to understand more about the biology of cetaceans and dugongs. And I call myself a cetologist. Sigh.