Professor of IPB: Indonesia Lack of Taxonomist
With an area of ??5.8 million km square of marine territory, Indonesia is rich of marine biodiversity. Not to mention the availability of public waters in the land area which also supplies the habitat for many types of aquatic biota.
Among the many types of aquatic biota in Indonesia, crustacean resources are one that has ecological and economic benefits. The most well-known crustaceans are lobsters, crabs, fresh water crabs and shrimp. Fresh water crab commodity has the highest production volume from year to year, compared to crab and lobster. Fresh water crab production value is the highest among the three commodities. Its production value in 2015 is IDR 2,845,171,585.
"The scale of the potential of crustacean is not complemented by data collection of the crustacean species itself. Data collection in Indonesia is still not that thorough, so it needs to be reviewed and updated. There’s still a vast resources of potential of Indonesian crustacean biodiversity. There are still deep-water marine ecosystems that have not been explored optimally. However, this potential should also be supported by scientific infrastructure in the form of reliable and dedicated taxonomist. In addition, various studies and research on the biology of crustaceans has been done, but the utilization of biological information (bio information) is not optimal," said Prof. Yusli Wardiatno, MSc in his inaugural oration as a Permanent Professor of the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences (FPIK) at Dramaga IPB Campus (5/5).
In the last two decades, it has been reported as many as 9,280 new species of crustaceans. Even at the beginning of 2018, there were 43 new species that have been reported. 2009 was the year with the highest number of new species finding, which were 787 species. If calculated with the entire species that have been reported, in the last two decades the proportion of new species found is as much as 17%.
"From my literature study and research publication that I’ve done, it turns out that Indonesia's marine crustacean resources that recorded are more than 783 species from 81 families. Exceeded the 2014 LIPI estimation which stated 309 species for marine crustaceans. This difference proves that the data collection of Indonesian crustacean species is still not good," he said.
An example from lack of attention to the biodiversity of crustaceans from the point of view of taxonomy and nomenclature can be seen from one type of lobster categorized as deep-water lobster at Palabuhan Ratu, Puerulus mesodontus. According to fishermen, this type of lobster is commonly found since the 80s. But the name of the species found by Taiwan researchers, namely TY Chan, KY Ma and KH Chu in 2013.
Therefore, since 2009 prof. Yusli and other researchers formed a research group called the Crustacean Research Group with one of its goals is collecting crustacean biodiversity. To date, bioinformation of about 150 species have been recorded.
"We haven’t found a new species, but there is a species that became the first reported existence in Indonesia, namely Puerulus mesodontus. In addition, some species increased their informed existence in Indonesian waters. For example Panulirus femoristriga from Sea of Sulawesi and Seram, P. Polyphagus from Mayalibit Bay (Papua) and from Palabuhan Ratu. Another example is yutuk or sand crabs. Deeper exploration proves that in Indonesia there are six species of yutuk namely Hippa adaclyla, H. admirabilis, H. ovalis, H. marmorata, H. celaeno, and Emerita emeritus. This information becomes a significant contribution to adding data of distribution of a species from Indonesia on the world map, "he said.
Meanwhile, one of the government's attempt in optimizing the management of fishery resources is to establish 11 Fisheries Management Areas (WPP). Based on the results of research conducted Prof. Yusli, the level of crustacean utilization in every WPP is mostly full exploited and over exploited. This fact is a warning to enable the utilization of the crustacean resources to be sustainable.
Therefore, research results that exploring biological information of crustaceans are essential to be used as a basis for the management and decision-making related to crustacean resources, such as information of stock for fishery resource management, as a basis for fisheries sector policy and for input of national regulatory inclusion related to invasive species.
"The future division of WPP needs to be based on stock structure and studies on stock structure. Related to the regulation on the size of catch 3 groups of crustaceans (lobsters, crabs, fresh-water crabs), need more detailed rules by considering the species and/or location of the catch. Supervision on the implementation of established rules should be increased, for example in cases of catching female crustaceans which laid eggs. And regulations related to the entry and spread of invasive species should be a serious concern and technical regulation related to supervision is necessary," he explained.
To support this, it is necessary to encourage the government to generate more taxonomist so that the exploration of the species of Indonesian marine biota becomes more intensive. This will strengthen the facts of Indonesia as a biodiversity hotspot. In addition, it is necessary to designate an institution responsible for making records and data bases for the wealth of Indonesian biota species.
"In the future, the taxonomist in Indonesia is required to play an active role in the discovery of new species for Indonesian fauna in general, and crustaceans in particular. The fact that Indonesia is one of the world's biodiversity centers becomes meaningless without existence and taxonomist proactiveness," he said.
