ITK IPB Created the Scanner for Whale Shark

Technology of label RFID was one of the cheap technology for labeling the sea animal. One for the biggest fish, that was Whale Shark. In this case, Department of ITK IPB cooperated with WWF-Indonesia to design the electronic fish tags based on microcontroller with the censor of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).

Sea fish expert of ITK IPB, Dr. Hawis Madduppa, told about, “The designating of sea animal or tagging with the electornic censor is increasingly done by the experts in the whole world to trace the movement of the animal.”

Whale Shark that was used to be called Gurano Bintang by the local community had become the iconic species for the National Park of Teluk Cenderawasih (TNTC). To observe the population of whale shark, it was necessary to have the labeling as the attempt to avoid the extinction threat due to the excessive catching or the unwise ecotourism practice.

Student of ITK, Diwa Perkasa, under guidance of Dr. Totok Hestirianoto and Dr. Hawis Madduppa, carried out this study since October 2013. Meanwhile, the observation of the whale shark in 2014 as the introductory activity, was carried out by Mahardika Rizqi Himawan under guidance of Dr. Hawis Madduppa and Beginer Subhan, M.Si.  In the date of 4-6 August 2014, the try-out of RFID toll was conducted in the National Park of Teluk Cenderawasih. This was the joint activity with ITK IPB (Dr. Hawis Madduppa, Diwa Perkasa), WWF-Indonesia (Casandra Tania) and Kalilemon Dive Resort (Mr. Bram).

Since the first try-out, many learning obtained to perfect the RFID too made by ITK-IPB. Hopefully, after the second perfection and trying-out, the RFID tool could be used autonomously by the Center of TNTC and the local community to observe the whale shark in this area.