MareCet maps marine mammal habitats
- Editorial Team SDG14
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Published on 18 August 2026 at 22:22 GMT
By Editorial Team SDG14
Malaysia’s coastal waters support dolphins, porpoises, dugongs and whales, yet these animals are difficult to count and their movements often intersect with fishing, shipping, tourism and coastal development. MareCet, a Malaysian non-profit founded in 2012, has built its work around a basic conservation problem: decisions about marine space depend on evidence that is expensive and slow to collect.
The organisation describes itself as Malaysia’s first non-profit dedicated specifically to marine mammal research and conservation. Its programmes combine boat and aerial surveys, photo-identification, acoustic monitoring, habitat assessment, community engagement, education and policy participation. The resulting picture is not a national census. It is a series of long-term studies in selected coastal areas where repeated observations can reveal which animals return, where they feed and how their habitat overlaps with human activity.
A sighting confirms presence at a particular time, while long-term marine mammal monitoring can identify site fidelity, movement boundaries and seasonal patterns. These findings can inform spatial planning while also exposing uncertainty. Small populations, wide-ranging species, variable sea conditions and uneven survey effort make abundance difficult to estimate, particularly where historical baselines are limited.
In north-western Peninsular Malaysia, MareCet’s Langkawi Dolphin Research Project began in 2010, before the organisation was formally established. It studies Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, Irrawaddy dolphins and Indo-Pacific finless porpoises around the Langkawi archipelago and the adjacent Kedah and Perlis mainland.
A peer-reviewed study published in 2023 used photo-identification data gathered from 2010 to 2020. Researchers identified 669 Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins and found evidence that some individuals maintained long-term fidelity to the study area. Movement between Langkawi and the adjacent mainland was limited, while most recorded southward movements did not extend beyond Kuala Jerlun in northern Kedah. These findings indicate geographically constrained movement patterns within connected coastal waters, information that may be relevant to local planning.
The wider Satun-Langkawi Archipelago was recognised in 2019 as an Important Marine Mammal Area by the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force. The designation covers 5,493 square kilometres across the Thailand-Malaysia border and identifies Indo-Pacific finless porpoises, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins and Irrawaddy dolphins as qualifying species. It is a scientific recognition of ecological importance, not a protected-area designation with its own legal controls.
Farther south on the west coast, MareCet’s Matang project covers estuaries and coastal waters associated with the Matang mangroves in Perak. The organisation reports studying abundance, distribution, habitat use, behaviour, diet and interactions with fishing. It has also interviewed fishers about entanglements and perceptions of cetaceans. This combination of ecological and social information reflects the practical difficulty of separating marine mammal conservation from coastal livelihoods.
Accidental capture in fishing gear, known as bycatch, is one of the pressures that spatial research can help examine. A 2020 peer-reviewed study involving MareCet co-founder Louisa Ponnampalam tested a bycatch risk assessment tool at sites in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. In the Sibu-Tinggi Islands of Johor, risk maps for dugongs indicated concentrated exposure around a mainland fishing pier and a high-risk northern subregion. The study presented the method as a way to identify areas and seasons of exposure in data-limited fisheries, rather than as a direct count of deaths.
Johor is also central to MareCet’s dugong work. Since 2014, its multidisciplinary research around the Sibu-Tinggi Archipelago has included aerial and acoustic surveys, seagrass mapping, feeding ecology, contaminant analysis and social research. MareCet reports that many dugong observations occurred outside the existing marine park boundary. It subsequently supplied information for a proposed Johor dugong sanctuary and says the federal gazettement proposal remains pending.
The Mersing Archipelago, including waters around Pulau Sibu and Pulau Tinggi, was also recognised as an Important Marine Mammal Area in 2019. Together with the Satun-Langkawi and Matang designations, this illustrates one route by which local survey data can enter a wider scientific assessment. Recognition can make ecological evidence more visible, but any change in enforceable protection, fisheries rules or development controls depends on the relevant public authorities and legal processes.
MareCet expanded its scope to large whales in 2019 through the WHALE Project around Pulau Payar and adjacent offshore waters. The programme seeks information on baleen whale diversity, distribution, abundance, movement and acoustic ecology. The organisation reports observations of Bryde’s whales and feeding behaviour in the area. Because the available record remains limited, the project is best understood as an attempt to establish a stronger baseline rather than confirmation of a fully described population.
Research is only one part of MareCet’s model. Its marine education activities include school and public engagement, while its sighting-report system invites people to submit observations of dolphins, porpoises, whales and dugongs. Community reports can expand awareness of where animals occur, although opportunistic sightings do not replace systematic surveys because effort and identification quality vary.
The organisation also lists participation in policy consultations and technical groups, including work connected with marine mammal strandings, biodiversity policy and local spatial plans. This involvement places its researchers close to decision-making. Transparent methods and peer-reviewed publication allow measured findings to be assessed separately from the organisation’s conservation objectives.
The work connects most directly with SDG 14 (life below water), which includes the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources. MareCet’s contribution lies in producing local evidence about animals and habitats that can otherwise remain poorly documented. Whether that evidence changes management depends on institutions, enforcement, funding and the treatment of fishing and coastal-development pressures.
MareCet’s record illustrates how a specialist organisation can build knowledge over many years, from repeated dolphin photographs to maps of dugong habitat and bycatch exposure. It also illustrates the limits of what field science alone can establish. Surveys can identify important areas and document overlap with human activity. The legal status of those areas and the balance among conservation, livelihoods and development remain matters for public authorities and affected communities.
Further information:
• MareCet, About, supports the organisation’s founding date, non-profit status and stated research and conservation remit.
• MareCet, Research, describes the Langkawi, Matang, dugong and whale programmes, their methods and the organisation’s reported policy links.
• Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, Movement, ranging patterns and habitat use of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, supports the 2010-2020 Langkawi findings.
• Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force, Satun-Langkawi Archipelago IMMA, supports the area’s size, qualifying species and scientific designation.
• Endangered Species Research, Getting to the bottom of bycatch, supports the description of the risk-assessment method and findings from Sibu-Tinggi.
