Written by Dr Hollie Booth Research Fellow at Bangor University
During January and February, Dr Hollie Booth has been collaborating with Kebersamaan Untuk Lautan (KUL) – an Indonesian grassroots NGO whose name translates as Togetherness for the Ocean – to deploy Baited Remote Underwater Video Systems (BRUVS) in the Aceh Jaya Marine Conservation Area (MCA) in Aceh Province, Indonesia.
Working alongside 4 local fishers, a researcher and a student from Syiah Kuala University, and the KUL Aceh field staff, the team completed 150 BRUVS drops across the conservation area (covering ± 50.105 Ha), gathering data on the abundance, diversity and distribution of sharks, rays and reef fish. The team are particularly hoping to gather data on Critically Endangered scalloped hammerhead sharks and bottlenose wedgefish, to inform local fisheries and Marine Protected Area management plans.
The KUL team working with fishers, the Panglima Laot and students from Syiah Kuala University to deploy BRUVS ©Francesca Page
Why this area matters
The waters off Aceh Jaya sit within the globally-recognized West Aceh Important Shark and Ray Area (ISRA), one of the most significant habitats for Critically Endangered sharks and rays in the region. These species – including wedgefish and hammerhead sharks – face severe pressure from overfishing globally. Aceh Jaya Marine Conservation Area (MCA) was established to help protect these ecosystems, but effective management depends on good data about what lives beneath the surface and where; the status of their populations; and how small-scale fishing activities, which are crucial for local livelihoods, overlap with areas of critical habitat.
A small-scale fishing vessel deploying a net in the waters of the West Aceh ISRA. Right: a Critically Endangered wedgefish entangled in a gillnet. ©Francesca Page.
That is where BRUVS come in. These underwater camera systems use bait to attract marine life, allowing researchers to record species presence, diversity and abundance without the need for extractive sampling. Crucially, BRUVS data can reveal spatio-temporal hotspots – showing where and when key species are most concentrated – which is exactly the kind of evidence needed to guide spatial and temporal management decisions.
Collaborative science for conservation action
This deployment was a collaborative effort. Fishers brought their deep knowledge of local waters – identifying productive sites and navigating challenging conditions – while researchers contributed technical expertise in BRUVS design and data collection. By working together, the team built shared ownership of the monitoring process, which is essential for the long-term success of any conservation program.
Ilham Fajri, a researcher from Syiah Kuala University involved in the activity, said, "This collaborative approach is important to ensure that research results can truly support sustainable fisheries management. This collaboration not only increases local fisher's knowledge of marine biodiversity but also provides direct economic benefits to coastal communities. Most of the logistics and services involved in the BRUVS survey, from renting fishermen's boats and constructing the BRUVS to installing and recording field data, involve local fishers. This collaboration aligns with KUL's main objective of "protecting endangered marine biodiversity while maintaining or improving the well-being of coastal communities."
The BRUVS data will feed directly into the Marine Conservation Area management planning process that KUL is actively involved in, working together with the Aceh Jaya Department of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (DKP) and a customary fisheries management institution that is unique to Aceh Province called the Panglima Laot, which translates to ‘Commander of the Sea’.
Insyafrizal, Head of the Conservation Section at the Aceh Jaya Marine and Fisheries Service (DKP Aceh Province), said “the data obtained through the BRUVS method is very useful for informing EVIKA (Evaluation of Conservation Area Management Effectiveness) assessments in our Marine Protected Areas, and broader evidence-based marine spatial planning”.
Specifically, the results will help to inform decisions about expanding current no-take zones, developing temporal closures during peak breeding season, and implementing gear-specific or species-specific regulations within the conservation area and as part of ‘Hukom Adat Laot’ (traditional fisheries management rules) under the Panglima Laot.
The BRUVS survey will also be combined with on-going GPS tracking of fishing vessels and shark catch monitoring data collected by KUL and local partners, building a rich and integrated picture of how fishing activity and marine biodiversity intersect across the area, and what can be done to mitigate threats to sharks and rays whilst also supporting coastal livelihoods.
Left: A black tip reef shark: one of the species present in Aceh’s waters, that the team hope to detect on their BRUVS ©Hollie Booth. Right: a large and economically-important Grouper captured by the BRUVS in Aceh Jaya. The image also shows some of the visibility challenges associated with using BRUVS in sandy waters! © Kebersamaan Untuk Lautan.
Looking ahead: rewards for conservation outcomes
Work is now on-going to review hundreds of hours of BRUVS footage, count and identify the species caught on camera, and turn the information into useful metrics on species diversity and abundance.
Beyond informing spatial management, these metrics will enable KUL and DKP to monitor the state of marine biodiversity in Aceh Jaya MCA, so they know whether conservation efforts are succeeding. KUL also ultimately hopes to use these baseline data to pilot an innovative rewards-for-outcomes approach to marine conservation. The idea is to establish a baseline of shark abundance and diversity and then issue rewards to coastal communities in which those indicators are maintained or improved over time. This approach links conservation outcomes directly to community benefit, creating positive incentives for protecting coastal ecosystems and adopting sustainable fishing practices, and potentially paves the way for innovative financing mechanisms such as emerging marine biodiversity credit schemes.
The BRUVS deployment in Aceh Jaya is one example of the collaborative, evidence-based approach at the heart of our partnership with KUL and other Indonesian partners, funded through grants from the Shark Conservation Fund (SCF) and the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF). By combining local knowledge with scientific monitoring, we are working together to build the evidence base needed to protect some of the world’s most threatened marine species while supporting the livelihoods of the coastal communities who share their waters.
This work is supported by grants from the Shark Conservation Fund and the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) via Bangor University. KUL also wish to acknowledge previous grants from the Conservation Finance Alliance and Deakin University, which supported procurement of BRUVS equipment, as well as technical training in BRUVS deployment and data analysis from Dr Samm Sherman and Isabel Black.