SAHABAT Alam Malaysia (SAM) is heartened to learn from the D’Residence Residents’ Committee the presence of otters at their gated community.
Being cute and intelligent, otters are a sight to behold and people are fascinated by their antics.
Sea otters reside near the shore, inhabiting shallow coastal waters, and occasionally venturing ashore.
Sightings of otters have been commonly reported by the media in Penang.
Significantly, the report of a family of 10 smooth-coated otters residing in the highly polluted Sungai Pinang means that the fish have come back due to a new lease of life for the “resurrected” river.
The smooth-coated otter is listed as a vulnerable species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature and a totally protected species under the Malaysian Wildlife Conservation Act 2010. While sea otters are vulnerable to natural predators, their population is significantly impacted by human factors as well.
Direct conflicts with humans, such as entrapment in fishing traps and nets, pose a major threat to sea otters.
Most fishermen use fishing gear that can trap sea otters and cause them to drown.
Since sea otters eat the same shellfish as humans, such as sea urchin, lobster and crab, they often find themselves in the same areas that fishermen tend to harvest. Some view sea otters as competition and a threat to their revenue.
Pollution on land runs off into the sea, contaminating the sea otters’ habitat. This can affect their food sources, as well as harm them.
Sea otters are often contaminated by toxic pollutants and disease-causing parasites as a result of run-off in coastal waters.
One of the things sea otters can do better than any other marine mammal or marine animal is to indicate the health of the nearby shore’s marine ecosystem that supports them.
They monitor not only the ecosystem’s health, but also diseases and toxins that are harmful to human beings.
SAM is disheartened to learn that the seafront at Bayan Mutiara is being reclaimed for development. The sea otters and other marine life are likely to be affected by habitat degradation and loss.
Developments, such as land reclamation, sewage, dredging and dumping, degrade the
environment and destroy valuable habitat.
SAM urges the government and local planning authorities to assess how reclamation projects will impact the otters.
These include habitat loss or degradation in or near water bodies, disturbance to resting and feeding places, disturbance to their usual routes forcing otters to use roads or bridges where they are likely to be killed or injured, and changes to water quality, which affect food sources.
SAM calls for future reclamation projects to be scrapped taking into consideration the preservation of endangered animals, such as sea otters.
S.M. Mohd Idris, President Sahabat Alam Malaysia, Penang