Preliminary Studies on Species Diversity of Coastal Bivalves and the Traditional Knowledge on Bivalve Fishery in Sedili Kechil, Johor

Research on bivalves in Malaysia and documentation on bivalve fishery is still lacking in the recent years. Study on the diversity of bivalves will help contribute to the Malaysian database and the documentation of traditional knowledge on bivalve fishery will prevent the knowledge from going extinct. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the species diversity of bivalves present in Sedili Kechil, Johor and also to gain access to the traditional knowledge of the fishermen involved in bivalve fishery practiced in the area. Bivalves were handpicked randomly throughout the coastal region and a total of 10 respondents make up the sample size of this study. The traditional knowledge was gathered with the aid of a semi-structured questionnaire through a combination of non-participant observation and in-depth interview method. This study has collected the first record of species of bivalves in Sedili Kechil. The bivalves’ diversity in Sedili Kechil is medium to low diversity by using Shannon Wiener Index (1.26) and Pielou’s Index of Evenness (0.41) and the traditional knowledge is documented regarding the variety of habitat preferences, fishery seasons, and exploitation and preservation methods. It is discovered that most bivalves occupy sandy substrates with four periods of availability and with different exploitation methods with respective to species. No preservation method is practiced by the villagers. The association with abiotic components and non-abiotic components and preference timing and depth for bivalve fishery are also noted. This record on species diversity and the documentation of traditional knowledge is hoped to be contributing to the Malaysian database and become preliminary data for future research.