AS efforts are being enhanced globally to protect and conserve wild-life to prevent extinction, Sarawak is resorting to commercial culling to control booming saltwater crocodile (estuarine crocodile) numbers.
A 2012-2014 survey by the state showed that major rivers were populated with between six and 12 crocodiles per kilometre.
Sarawak Forest Department deputy wildlife controller Engkamat Lading said efforts in protecting and conserving the reptiles through the decades had led to a huge hike in its numbers in the state’s rivers.
Not only has it exceeded the numbers for conservation , but it has also increased human-crocodile conflict.
“No one knows the actual number of estuarine crocodiles in Sarawak, but based on the survey in 2014, it may be as high as 180,000 or more — that is when you multiply the estimated total length of rivers, estuaries, creeks, lakes, swamps with average densities of the species,” he said.
Batang Lupar, Batang Sadong, Batang Samarahan, Batang Kemena, Batang Baram, Batang Krian, Sungai Santubong, Sungai Sebuyau, Sungai Bakong and Sungai Bako were among rivers with a high crocodile density, Lading said.
The reptile is a protected species, hence, the public were barred from hunting, trading, exporting and importing it. It could be traded only with a licence issued by local authorities.
Therefore, Malaysia has downgraded the reptile from Appendix I to Appendix II, meaning the animal can be culled for commercial purposes — to control its numbers.
The move was approved by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in October 2016.
Lading said 60 licences had been issued since 2017 to allow the culling of estuarine crocodiles for commercial purposes.
“We don’t have the full data yet… but not more than 100 crocodiles have been reported (as being culled) to us thus far.”
To ensure that culling is done in a sustainable manner to prevent the reptile from going extinct, Lading said each licence holder could only hunt based on the approved quota and the rivers assigned.
He said hunters were not allowed to slaughter and sell crocodiles at public places, like wet and farmers’ markets.
“They can only do it (slaughtering and selling) at locations or premises approved by the local council because of the taboo attached (to the slaughter of crocodiles) by some local communities.”
In the past, the department only issued a culling licence for selective killing or capturing and removing crocodiles deemed to be a threat and to reduce human-crocodile conflict and ensure the safety of the people, and not for commercial purposes.
Lading said the licences issued were valid for three months and only crocodiles longer than 8ft or those who had attacked humans were allowed to be culled.
Each crocodile capture must be reported to the Sarawak Forestry Department wildlife controller, he said.
“We issued about 15 of such licences in the last 10 years.”
The response to hunting and selling was not encouraging as there was neither local demand for crocodile skin nor by the leather industry here.
“Unlike in China, where there’s a high demand for crocodile meat and skin, the market in Sarawak for the meat is relatively small as only certain people here eat it. Some don’t consume the meat due to it being a taboo.”
Though no specific study has been done to determine whether land development, forest clearing and industrialisation had significantly affected the population of the estuarine crocodiles, these factors were unlikely to stop their numbers from growing.
Lading said each female estuarine crocodile could lay up to 80 eggs and the species was considered a generalist feeder, eating almost everything, including fish, crustaceans, animals, garbage and humans.
The reptile is highly resistant and can withstand environmental changes and adapt to different types of aquatic ecosystem.
For instance, he said, they could survive in sea water, brackish water in deltas and river mouths, as well as fresh water, drains, swamps or even in upstream areas hundreds of kilometres away from river mouths.
“If one of these types of environments is disturbed and becomes less favourable to the crocodiles, they can shift to another environment,” said Lading.
Being on top of the food chain, crocodiles do not have many predators, apart from humans.
“The taboo attached to their capture, disturbing them, killing and eating the crocodiles, also plays a major role in its increasing numbers.”
Lading said the taboo was still widely observed by locals in Sarawak, especially the Iban, Malay and Melanau communities.
Sarawak Forestry Corporation general manager Oswald Braken Tisen said a survey to determine the population of crocodiles was expected to be carried out next year.
“It is too early to tell if hunting licences have reduced the population and human-crocodile conflicts. We can only conclude that after a new survey is done,” he said.
A total of eight people were killed in crocodile attacks in 2017 and the figure decreased to three last year.