Malaysian Marine Biologist Shares Why Saving Seahorses Is Vital To Marine Life & Habitats

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Dr Adam is a man who wears many hats. During his usual work days, he is a business director who helps companies from various industries solve problems in relation to insurance.

However, what Dr Adam is really passionate about is sea creatures, particularly seahorses. As a marine biologist and chairperson of non-profit organisation, Save Our Seahorses Malaysia, it has become his life goal to ensure the conservation of seahorses, and it started from a young age.

Founded in 2005 by Adam's mentor, Mr Choo Chee Kuang, Save Our Seahorses Malaysia is a non-profit group founded on the grounds that seahorses are an essential resource to other marine life and habitats. 

The main work of the organisation boils down to ensuring the conservation of seahorses in Malaysia through research, public awareness, and information dissemination, through extensive collaboration with various stakeholders.

According to Adam, seahorses are the 'sharks' of the bottom of the sea. Just as sharks control and maintain the sea's food chain by being the main predators, which contributes to the prosperity of the ecosystem, seahorses do the same at the bottom of the sea.

As the carnivores of the deep sea, seahorses typically hunt down smaller micro creatures situated at lower levels of the sea, such as tiny crabs and plankton.

Seahorses are also able to shift colours at will, earning them the nickname the 'chameleons of the sea'.

The incident began when a student from USM came to Adam on a quest to find seahorses in Penang. Usually, this would be a fool's errand, as the pollution levels of the sea in Penang make it impossible to find seahorses.

Adam recounted their journey, sharing, "It started off like looking for a needle in a haystack. We scoured through various paperwork and manuscripts, and even checked with historical museums to gain a better understanding on where these seahorses reside.

"After all the hard work, we decided to scuba dive at one particular point in North Penang, and that's where we saw it, clear as day — seahorses, in Penang!"

There are areas where seahorses are displayed as sculptures, and even hung outside homes to ward off evil! Certain communities even turn seahorses into powder to be dabbed into skin to avoid and heal eczema.

Save Our Seahorses Malaysia urges the rakyat to learn and be involved, be it physically or virtually. It can be as simple as joining one of their programmes to be a scientist or marine biologist for the day, and find out what you can do to help these special sea creatures.

Dr Adam also shared that volunteers don't need to be science experts. 

"Just tap into your expertise and offer help any way you can. A non-profit organisation (NGO) needs people of different expertise to sustain itself. Everyone's voice and opinion matters," he said.

Adam told SAYS that even though they always welcome funding, it doesn't just have to be monetary support. They are also open to the idea of being given platforms so they can spread more awareness about their initiatives.

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