During a routine survey trip at Pulau Seduku, a small team chanced upon a half buried abandoned drift net. It was badly entangled and well camouflage with seaweed and one would have mistaken it for a chunk of seaweed washed up to shore.
While sorting out the net, we found a few thunder crabs. We wasted no time to have the crabs freed as tide was rising. They were badly entangled with the monofilament net.
A close up shot on how badly the crabs were entangled in the net.
Another shot...
The crabs were aggressive and kept wanting to strike back when we try to set them free. On the other hand, we were trying to be careful not to break any of their pincers and legs.
More photos of team helping to remove the net.
Throughout this episode, we rescued a total of 3 thunder crabs a sea cucumber and good news was no pincers and legs were broken from these crabs. As the net was half buried and long, we decided to remove only those that were exposed and leaving behind the rest that are still buried. Abandoned nets or ghost nets are a hazard to marine life as they kill after they are lost.
Thanks to the team who have helped out in this project and big thanks to Lisa Lim, Chong Siew Men and Adriane Lee for their photo contribution to this blog post.
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