Seahorse uses in Malaysia 723
FIG. 1 Study sites across Malaysia by region: (a) Peninsular Malaysia (west, east and south coasts) and (b) Borneo. The inset maps show the location of the study areas within Southeast Asia.
respondents, one-third were 41–50 years old and most (88.0%) were from the Malay ethnic group (Table 1). A total of 21.0%(n = 250) of respondents reported using
seahorses, themajority being men (90%, 225). Amongst the seahorse users, 20.8%(52) were public respondents and 79.2%(198) were fishers. Amongst the public respondents, 5.9% of Malays (12), 15.1% of Chinese (37) and 2.7%of Indians (3) reported using seahorses. Amongst the fisher re- spondents, 39.1% ofMalays (190), 10.9% of Chinese (6) and 11.1% of Indians (1) reported using seahorses. Amongst the
Malay seahorse users, most were fishers (94.1%, 190); where- as amongst the Chinese and Indian users, themajority were members of the general public (86.0%, 37 and 75.0%, 3, respectively; Fig. 3). The only reported seahorse use by re- spondents from the Indigenous (n = 60) and other (n = 16) groups was a single Malaysian Siamese fisher (Fig. 3). A small fraction of the fishers interviewed (2.4%) had used seahorses in the past but no longer did so. Reasons for this cessation of seahorse use included changes in the tradition of using seahorses for spiritual purposes, shifts in opinion regarding the tradition, shifts in perceptions through increased awareness of conservation aspects, lack of sea- horse catches and the complexities of keeping live seahorses as aquarium fishes. Consumption status (yes or no) of seahorses was related to the ethnicity (χ2 = 77.56,df = 3, P,0.05) and gender (two-tailed P,0.05) of respondents in both the general public and fisher groups. Amongst seahorse users, 34.4%(86) reported consuming
seahorses for medicinal purposes, 55.2%(138) for other pur- poses and 10.4%(26) for both medicinal and other pur- poses. The two most common motivations for consuming seahorses for medicinal purposes were to treat diseases (73.2%) and to maintain health and prevent diseases (68.8%). Other reported motivations were cultural beliefs, the pleasant taste of seahorses and views on seahorse-based traditional medicine (e.g. compared to using modern medicine, using seahorses in traditional medicine was perceived as being more effective and having fewer side effects, or the current health condition of the respondent was perceived as not sufficiently severe to necessitate modern medication). Proportionally,more Malay respondents reported medi-
FIG. 2 Ethnic composition of the 637 general public respondents and 552 fisher respondents from the (a) west, (b) east and (c) south coasts of Peninsular Malaysia and (d) Borneo.
cinal use of seahorses than other ethnic groups. The primary traditional medicine uses of seahorses were to treat asthma (n = 45 respondents) and skin conditions (41) and to strengthen the body (22). A comprehensive list of reported medicinal uses of seahorses is available in Supplementary Table 2, and direct quotes relating to seahorse use by
Oryx, 2024, 58(6), 720–729 © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605324000425
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