'Seahorses are cute. They mate for life," says Wansiri Rongrongmuang, a seahorse speciality diving instructor.
Born in Bangkok but now living in Phuket, Wansiri learned how to scuba dive while at work at an international environmental organisation. An avid environmentalist, she acquired a master's degree in environmental governance from Germany, and is active in Thailand's environment and conservation movement.
For the past two years, Wansiri has committed to a rare, but valuable scientific research project: calculating the number of seahorses throughout the coastal areas of the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea.
Her interest in seahorses arose when she had a chance to assist a researcher who worked for Project Seahorse, a marine conservation organisation co-founded by Zoological Society of London and the University of British Columbia in Canada to combat threats to seahorses across the globe. Project Seahorse has worked with the Department of Fisheries to monitor seahorses in Thailand.
"Seahorses consume zooplankton, which are bottom-dwelling organisms," she said, adding that their existence can indicate whether other marine life on the upper layers of the food chain can survive.
Sadly, seahorses are often netted as a bycatch. Their numbers are also declining because of poor fishing practices, overfishing and habitat loss. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed 38 seahorse species in its Red List of Threatened Species while the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) categorises seahorse in its Appendix II, meaning it is closely monitored, especially for international trade.
Wansiri is currently conducting her research based in Aow Po in Phuket.
"Aow Po is not a dive site, but a fishing area where locals always get seahorses in their fishing nets. So I intend to keep diving in that spot to monitor seahorses for one year," she added.
How did you get involved in Project Seahorse?
It started when I became a research assistant to a PhD candidate from the University of British Columbia in Canada in 2013. The student worked for Project Seahorse and came to conduct her field research in Thailand because we are the biggest seahorse exporting country in the world, accounting for about five million or more than 80% of six million exported seahorses globally. Most of the seahorse exports are dried and sent to China for traditional Chinese medicine. Live seahorses are sold to aquariums.
The researcher wanted to know the population of seahorses living in the sea of Thailand, and where they are imported from, and exported to.
How did you conduct the seahorse research?
The field research consisted two parts and was conducted between 2013-2014. The first was to find the seahorses; we dived from Ranong to Satun, and also from Pattaya to Nakhon Si Thammasat in the Gulf of Thailand in order to record their location, type and size. The other part was to interview fishermen to know how many seahorses were caught in their fishing nets and what types they were, to determine if the bycatch had become more or less than previous years.
How many species of seahorses did you find in Thailand?
We found seven species, which are common seahorse, three-spot seahorse, tiger tail seahorse, hedgehog seahorse, kellogg seahorse, Japanese seahorse and spiny seahorse.
What do you do when you find a wild seahorse in its habitat?
First I have to classify groups of seahorse according to whether they are smooth or spiny, then identify species by noticing its shapes and spines on its coronet, eye, cheek and nose. Then I have to know if a seahorse is female or male and notice if the male pouch bears its brood. Then measure its length and take pictures of them with a ruler.
Where did you find seahorses?
We started with spot checks in some provinces recommended by the Department of Fisheries. During the first three months, we found only eight seahorses — in Trang and in Pattaya. It was a big surprise that the number we found in the wild was so low. So we decided to ask for more information from other parties such as the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, and we expanded our focus areas from coral reefs to seagrass and sand beds.
We were able to find more seahorses. In Pattaya, we saw spiny seahorses anchor themselves on pencil sea urchins. There were tiger tail seahorses in Aow Nang, Krabi and three-spot seahorses in Koh Samui and coastal areas of Surat. The islands of Koh Pu and Koh Siboya in Krabi, Kata beach in Phuket, as well as the mangrove forest at the mouth of Sikao river in Trang also have seahorses.
Seahorses are difficult to find. We did around 100 dives, but found less than 100 seahorses. Sometimes, we found only one seahorse in a day.
How did you become a seahorse speciality instructor?
Project Seahorse wanted to continue seahorse monitoring in Thailand after the researcher returned to her country. The project conducted a training workshop in Phuket and trained us — diving instructors — about the seahorse and its important role in our ecology and how to record scientific data. There were about 20 of us in the first batch certified as Seahorse Specialty Instructors. Only three of us were Thais.
How can people participate in Project Seahorse?
They have a website called iSeahorse.org where divers can report sightings of seahorses worldwide. It has online materials to identify species of seahorse. It also instructs how to record findings, so the data can be useful for further research and conservation management.
As a seahorse speciality instructor, I can teach those who want to be a seahorse diver. I have also created a Facebook fanpage: (www.facebook.com/iSeahorseThailand) to share information about wild seahorses found in Thailand. I then forward the information to iSeahorse whenever new data is submitted.
