I originally got SCUBA certified at Maeda Misaki in 1992. I have seen this popular snorkeling location drastically change over the years with the increase in tourism. Meada point is now a high traffic area, literally thousands of people enter the water on a given weekend.
Maeda misaki diving
If you have ever been to maeda point you have seen the beautiful schools of Teira batfish (Platax teira). In the late 90’s there were massive schools of hundreds of these beautiful fish. Below is an old photograph I found in my photo album. This was a common site back in the 90’s.
Teira batfish at Maeda misaki
In 2017, I noticed that populations started declining.
Schools of batfish
2018-2019, I started seeing numbers decline to less than twenty individuals. July 2019, I went to the same location on three different days and didn’t see any batfish.
Wide angle macro
These fish are a huge tourist attraction. What could have caused the decline of the batfish populations?
Possible reasons for decline:
- Feeding the batfish man-made products
- Noise pollution from an increase in boat traffic
- Moved on to a safer location
- Overfishing
- Contaminates entering the water – sunblock, shampoo, perfume and urine
Fu (wheat gluten)
In the past, guides would feed the fish sausage and bread. In recent years many local companies switched over to Fu (wheat gluten). It’s much cheeper than fish sausage. Kilos of Fu enter the water for fish consumption on a given week at Maeda point. Could this gluten based product be good for the fish?
Why you should not feed wild animals:
- Interfere’s with their natural diet and feeding cycle
- Makes the fish more vulnarable to predators
- Reef algae overgrowth due to the fish being full
- Increase’s your chance of getting bitten
Sometimes, I see plastic bags filled will remnants of fish food floating on the surface of the water. With the increase in tourism, I am finding more trash left behind at Maeda Point.
This is a photograph I took recently at Maeda point. A collector urchin (Tripneustes gratilla) is covering up with discarded sausage wrapper.
collector urchin
This is one of my favorite photographs taken at Maeda Point.
Beautiful bat-fish
Hopefully the teira batfish populations are not a blur left behind.
Fading away
To Protect and Preserve the Wildlife of the Ryukyu Islands for Future Generations
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