Seahorse uses in Malaysia 727
were previously found to be significantly different (Naylor& Parsons, 2018). Women tend to value animals more highly and are more concerned about their exploitation, leading to stronger conservation attitudes; in contrast, men are more inclined to value animals in terms of recreational and prac- tical purposes (Kellert & Berry, 1980). This suggests that gender is another demographic factor that should be con- sidered when shaping conservation messages. From a conservation standpoint, it is positive that most
respondents, including fishers, regarded seahorses as more valuable alive (i.e. in the ecosystem) than when harvested for medicinal or culturally motivated uses. Attitudes towards marine conservation can vary considerably depending on the issue in question (Naylor & Parsons, 2018). The greater awareness of the severity of habitat destruction and ocean plastic pollution amongst the wider public could be because of the increased global media attention given to these issues in recentyears (Barney etal., 2005). However, the lack of awareness of the severity of overfishing and bycatch, including of seahorses, suggests that more efforts are required to promote public discourse on these issues, including amongst fishers. In an earlier study, traders reported a decrease in seahorse
sales and demand because of diminishing interest in consum- ing seahorses as traditional medicine, especially amongst the younger generations (Perry et al., 2010). We corroborated this in another aspect of our study via informal interviews with traditional medicine practitioners and seahorse traders (R.M.Y. Ng, A.C.O. Lim, C.N.B. Henry Chin Siew Lee, N.B. Abdul Majib, M.A. Syed Hussein & A.Y.H. Then, unpubl. data, 2024). These declines could be attributed to reported declines in bycatch volumes by fishers (Choo & Liew, 2005; Perry et al., 2010), driven by overfishing and/or habitat degradation (Perry et al., 2010). Collectively, this evidence suggests that seahorse use amongstMalaysians has decreased and is now generally low. Seahorse uses amongst minority ethnic groups and eld-
erly people in Malaysia were less well documented in the public survey because of the limited ability to reach these groups online. Future survey-based studies should focus on reaching these groups and on including occupational in- formation (Perry et al., 2010; Naylor&Parsons, 2018) to gain insights into these aspects. Regarding the effects of location setting on seahorse use amongst members of the public, there is an under-representation of perceptions from the rural/semi-rural settings. Given the relatively large scale of seahorse harvesting amongst the rural communities of the east coast of PeninsularMalaysia (Choo & Liew, 2005), tar- geted efforts to survey these communities should be under- taken to better understand seahorse uses in these settings. In summary, we found that most of the general public
and fisher respondents in Malaysia do not use seahorses in any way. A minority reported using seahorses as trad- itional medicine, ornaments, pets, for spiritual purposes and for research and in educational display materials.
However, these findings may not be a true reflection of the level of seahorse exploitation in Malaysia considering the significant involvement of Malaysia in global seahorse exportation (Louw & Bürgener, 2020). Socio-demographic variables such as ethnicity, location setting, region, educa- tion and gender also play significant roles in shaping the use of seahorses amongst Malaysians. In terms of manage- ment implications, culturally specific seahorse uses by the public and fishers had been largely overlooked prior to this study. Future conservation and educational outreach measures should utilize our findings to design socially and culturally appropriate campaigns (Bennett et al., 2017; Margulies et al., 2019), setting a precedent for holistic ap- proaches to promoting the sustainable use of seahorses and other marine resources.
Author contributions Study design: all authors; fieldwork: RMYN, ACOL; data analysis, writing: RMYN, AY-HT.
Acknowledgements The research was funded by Yayasan Haji Zainuddin (YHZ; PV008-2021), The Rufford Foundation (34121-1, IF008-2022) and The Incitement through crowdfunding. We thank the members of the public and fishers who participated in the survey; and two anonymous reviewers for their comments. This work forms part of an MSc study undertaken by RMYN.
Conflicts of interest None.
Ethical standards This research abided by the Oryx guidelines on ethical standards. An ethical permit (
UM.TNC2/UMREC – 1225) was granted by the University of Malaya Research Ethics Committee (UMREC).
Data availability The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, AY-HT. The data are not publicly available to preserve the anonymity of the research participants.
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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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