COURTESY OF THE ANDAMAN (3)
TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / SEPTEMBER 2019 35
caused by land clearing has also
affected their habitats.
So, in a sea of turtle-, coral- and
native flora–conservation refrain,
the Andaman’s gamat program is an
unconventional one that puts a
critical and overlooked issue on the
environmental radar.
Husein says that trials were
conducted at the end of last year to
uncover the best ways to help the
gamats reproduce asexually. In a
natural spawning environment, the
sperm and eggs are released at only
specific times, so this can be a
relatively slow process. “neighbor ing countr ies” to be as high
as RM100 per kilogram, 10 times
more t ha n in Ma laysia.
“Since the 1990s, Langkawi’s sea
cucumbers began becoming
endangered, as people have been
collecting them for gamat oil,” says
The Andaman’s lead coral curator
and marine biologist Hidayah
Husein, who oversees the Gamat
Regeneration Project. “Most
conservation programs in Malaysia
are on turtles, which are already
endangered. The sea cucumber is not
close to extinction yet, but few
studies are done on it. So we have the
chance to do something about its
depletion before it’s too late.”
According to a 2008 report by the
Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations, the
Establishment of Marine Parks
Malaysia Order 1994 prevents the
illegal collection of marine
organisms in marine parks, but
there are no quotas or minimum size
benchmarks to protect sea
cucumbers from being over-fished in
other areas. Other than the
establishment of a two-hectare eco-
sanctuary in 2007 off Pulau Singa
Besar on the northwest coast of
Malaysia, little else has been done to
stem the indiscriminate harvesting
of sea cucumbers in Langkawi’s
waters. Sedimentation of the coastsBut in cisterns next to the coral
nursery pool, sea cucumbers are
made to go through a literally tight
situation in order to induce
multiplication. Each one is tied in the
middle between its posterior where
the anus is located, and the anterior
where the mouth is. This induces
stress on the animal and it undergoes
a fission process where it splits itself
into two. The anterior continues
eating to restore nutrients that would
regenerate the internal organs,
including the development of a new
anus. The posterior remains
motionless while it undergoesTime to release
the gamuts.The Andaman’s
coral nursery.Sea corals
blooming in the
nursery.