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“If I ask you where to find a fish, what would you say?” So starts starts Dr. Josie South, lecturer and researcher at the University of Leeds. “In the sea, rivers, lakes or streams? What if I told you there are fish in the forest, beneath the leaves? Beneath what you think is solid ground is a teeming world of life. These peat swamps of Bangka Island, Indonesia are the only home of the bubble-nest building Betta burdigala. This is a unique habitat that is unfortunately being rapidly destroyed.”
South has been working with Dr. Veryl Hasan, researcher of aquatic biodiversity at Airlangga University, Indonesia, and stars in a beautiful new film –Sanctuary – about the IUCN SSC Asian Species Action Partnership, Mandai Nature and SHOAL-funded project to conserve the Critically Endangered species.
Beneath the leaf litter of Bangka Island’s dwindling peat swamp forests, the crimson Betta burdigala survives in acidic, oxygen-poor waters by breathing air through a specialised labyrinth organ. Its only known habitat, a small strip of peat swamp forest, is being cleared for palm oil plantations, and with the loss of the forest comes a loss of hope for the wild population.
SHOAL are working closely with South and Hasan, along with their teams and Universitas Bangka-Belitung and National University of Singapore to protect these special fish and their habitat through captive breeding and identification of possible sanctuary sites.
As South says, “Our captive-breeding and reintroduction programme is nothing without a dedicated protected area which can buffer the fragile population from any threats.”
Sanctuary is an urgent call to action to protect the remaining Betta burdigala habitat before it is lost forever. To learn more about this urgent project, check out our project page.
A GoFundMe page is currently live, raising vital funds to purchase the land rights to some of the remaining Betta burdigala peat swamp habitat, preventing the land from being sold for palm oil plantation. Contribute here.
Watch the film:
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