Muhammad Irsyad Pishal

Who I am

I recall the first time my father showed me the BBC’s Blue Planet series when I was small. I was immediately drawn to the sheer beauty and diversity of life within our oceans. As I replayed the documentary throughout my childhood, I knew I wanted to work with marine life, specifically elasmobranchs, in the future. Fast forward almost two decades and I would major in ecology at Universiti Malaya, where I partook in shark and ray studies across Malaysia. The diversity of elasmobranchs amazed me. No one had told me that my own country’s waters housed a diverse array of sharks and rays, many of which are still lacking in data. Thus I pledged to continue venturing deeper into uncovering poorly known elasmobranch species here.

Where I work

The Malacca Strait, located between the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, and Peninsular Malaysia, separates the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is a crucial passageway for ships travelling from East Asia and Oceania westwards and vice versa, and one of the busiest maritime routes historically and even today. The narrow strait also experiences high fishing pressure from both countries that share its waters – especially Malaysia, where most national fisheries production is on the west coast of the peninsula. On top of that, the largest urban centres in Malaysia are located along the strait. This high degree of human activity presents major threats to elasmobranchs inhabiting these waters, especially coastal species such as rhino rays.

What I do

My previous and current work involves going to local fisheries’ landing sites and markets in search of any available elasmobranchs. I promptly attempt to identify them down to species level and record basic measurements and their biological sex. Depending on my current research focus, some of the fish I record are taken to the laboratory to be studied further, which involves dissecting them and taking tissue samples for DNA extraction, etc.