Meet the Team - Muhammad Ghozaly Salim (Egin)
January 2023
Egin in his home country, Indonesia.
Egin is the Mobula Project Indonesia Co-Leader and he has answered all of our questions about his background, the challenges he faces in the conservation field, and what inspired him to get involved in mobula ray conservation…
1. Tell us about your first manta/devil ray encounter.
My first encounter with a devil ray had my feelings mixed. I saw a dead devil ray lying in the fishing port area. On the one hand, I was feeling happy to finally meet the object of my research, but I also couldn´t help feeling very sad when I saw such a beautiful creature lying dead. However, my second encounter with mobulid rays after that was my favourite because I got to dive and interact with both mantas and devil rays at the same dive site in Indonesia.
2. How did you come to found / be involved with Indonesia Mobula Project
Devil rays were the object of my research during my undergraduate thesis. I was the first student to research devil rays at my university back then. Since then, I have fallen in love with these rays. Two years after graduation, a friend introduced me to Betty as the head of the Mobula Project Indonesia. And since then, I am thrilled to be able to contribute to activities to support the preservation of devil rays in Indonesia.
Egin collecting data on mobula rays at fish markets, Indonesia.
3. What legacy would you like to leave in your field of research/conservation?
There is a dream where the fishing community, as our primary partner in the field, has a better understanding of conserving endangered animals, especially devil rays. They can pass their knowledge to fellow fishermen and future generations. As well as increasing the welfare of the fishing community while maintaining the principles of sustainable fisheries, to work together to achieve healthy oceans and a thriving community that benefits people and the environment.
4. What is the most challenging part of your work?
Devil rays are bycatch in gillnet fisheries operating in the Bali strait waters, and an economic value is attached to them. The meat of these rays, along with other species of rays, is used to make smoked fish skewers locally. The biggest challenge is to invite fishers and the rest of the community to understand the condition of the devil ray populations and the importance of conserving these species in the ocean. The next challenge is raising public awareness not to use devil rays as a source of animal protein given that overfishing has caused populations to become endangered, especially because Indonesia has thousands of other fish species that are at a lesser risk of extinction that could be used instead. We will be launching a new phase of our project to provide such an incentive through market based solutions.
Egin at the office!
5. What is the most surprising thing you have learnt about manta/devil rays?
We can estimate the age of devil rays from their vertebrae! One thing that I never imagined before being involved in this project. We found that devil rays can migrate very far within Indonesia, from the Bali Strait all the way to Eastern Indonesia. They can swim thousands of kilometres. Devil rays can also swim to depths of more than 1000 meters, which makes them an important link between the shallow and deep ocean.
6. If you could ask people to do one thing to help - what would it be?
Please join the campaign to help protect devil rays. We will be introducing our new project focusing on market-based solutions shortly and hope to receive your support to make tangible change happen. These beautiful creatures, the devil rays, face similar threats as manta rays; and overfishing is currently worrying for their survival in a country where only manta rays are protected. Let's work together to increase public attention to protecting these endangered species. Choose your seafood wisely and avoid consuming endangered fish species because market demand is a substantial motivating factor for fishermen to keep catching devil rays or to retaining them in nets when we have found they can be safely released and survive (in over 80% of cases until now).
Muhammad Ghozaly Salim (Egin)
Project Co-Leader, Mobula Project Indonesia