(MY) coral reefs

[Guest guest]

New Straits Times » Features

Earth Matters: All fired up to save our reefs

Sarah Sabaratnam

 

July 30: The Malaysia Reefs and Islands Conservation Project aims to protect

and save the

coral reefs off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia from destruction. SARAH

SABARATNAM writes.

 

MALAYSIA sits within the Coral Triangle, an area with the greatest tropical

marine diversity in

the world.

 

No other reef in the world is as rich in species of sea life as in this

triangle that

encompasses the waters of Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Papua

New Guinea,

northern Australia and the southernmost islands of Japan.

 

For instance, the few rings of corals just off the islands in Terengganu is

said to be richer in

biodiversity than the 2,000km stretch of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

 

Unfortunately, most of these corals are under threat.

 

Reefs are being destroyed at as rampant a rate as rainforests, through human

greed such

as dynamite fishing, coastal development, dredging, oil dumping, mining and

poorly

managed boating operations that cast anchors instead of mooring.

 

Run-off from untreated sewage, factories, mines and agriculture also cause

phenomena

such as harmful algal blooms and the flourishing of ruinous species such as the

Crown of

Thorns, which harm corals in devastating magnitudes.

 

As awareness about their importance increases, more and more countries want to

know the

state of their corals and what is in their seas.

 

" More and more people want to know why it is they can't swim in their local

rivers or seas

anymore or why they can't collect and eat oysters from the beach, " says Prof

David J.

Bellamy, well-known broadcaster, author and conservationist.

 

The Briton was in Malaysia to launch a project aimed at protecting the

beautiful but

threatened coral reefs and islands off the eastern coast of Peninsular

Malaysia.

 

Called the Malaysia Reefs and Islands Conservation Project, it is a

collaboration between

British-based Coral Cay Conservation (CCC) and the local Marine Parks branch of

the

Department of Fisheries.

 

Abdul Khalil Abd Karim, head of the Marine Parks branch, said this project is a

continuation

of the Conservation of Marine Biodiversity in Marine Park Islands in Malaysia

project which

was held in 2000. The data gathered will be useful in the formulation of

management

planning of marine parks in Malaysia, which is currently lacking.

 

The project is set to begin in September, if not next March, and will rally

international teams

of volunteers who pay to be here. They will also pay for Malaysians to

participate in the

programme on a sort of scholarship basis. That means the foreigners pay to help

but

Malaysians get to help for free.

 

Volunteers will be required to assist in the surveying of the reefs and assist

with

management planning for their protection and sustainable use.

 

Training for the volunteers will include a week of scuba diving and two weeks

of intensive

skills development on data collection.

 

" Volunteers don't need to have scientific background and it doesn't matter

whether you are

a student, lawyer or a bus driver, " said Peter Raines, CCC's founder and

managing director.

 

The programme will kick off with a three-month pilot project in Pulau

Perhentian and, if all

goes well, will work its way through other islands down the east coast.

 

The beauty of this project is that it will cost the Government nothing. Yet,

all parties

concerned will benefit.

 

Volunteers will be enriched from the cultural exchange, staff from the Marine

Parks will

benefit from capacity-building and Malaysia will benefit from the results of

the data

collected.

 

Raines believes we have the enabling environment for such a project: pretty

good laws on

paper and marine parks, too.

 

He is thus enthusiastic about the project.

 

" What I've noticed about Malaysia, and this has got me fired up - is that there

is an

absolute commitment from all the stakeholders. I haven't seen this level of can

do,

anywhere. "

 

CCC has been involved in similar projects in Belize, Honduras, Fiji,

Kalimantan, Sulawesi,

the Philippines and Sicily.

 

Volunteers are a vital part of CCC as there are not enough scientists to do the

work, and no

Government, said Raines, has enough money to spend for conservation.

 

" It is also a chance for the volunteers to do something meaningful with their

holiday, money

and time. "

 

The oldest volunteer CCC has ever had was 76.

 

Corals are an important part of the marine ecosystem as they are the main

source of

animal protein for one billion people in Asia and a potential source of

medicine. They

protect coastlines from devastating storms and floods while local communities

depend on

them for subsistence living.

 

Reef tourism is a major source of income for many countries that have very few

other

resources or are very poor.

 

" Preserved, well-managed corals that come right up to the beach are worth a lot

in terms of

tourism, " says Bellamy.

 

He has also often been quoted: " Coral reefs are nature's own frontline sea

defences,

self-building, self-repairing and solar-powered, they do the job for nothing

and provide

homes for more than a third of all the fish species of the world and a myriad

of other sea

creatures. "

 

Corals are formed by coral polyps. Each anemone-like polyp secretes a stony cup

of

limestone in which it lives. As the polyps grow, they divide to form coral

colonies which in

over hundreds of years create a coral reef.

 

Worldwide, there are over 600 species of coral with varying sizes and shapes.

Thousands of

plants and animals make coral reefs their home.

 

Crabs, worms, sea slugs, urchins, starfish, clams, sponges thrive in this

intricate but

tightly-woven ecosystem.

 

Recovering a coral reef is easy, if the corals are left alone. They seem to

have an amazing

ability to regenerate and survive. However, constant abuse can lead to their

destruction as

they are extremely fragile.

 

More than 50 per cent of reefs worldwide are dead or not recoverable.

 

Pulau Perhentian was chosen for the pilot project as it is on the northernmost

tip of the east

coast and has had the good fortune of not being overdeveloped like some of the

other

islands.

 

Pulau Perhentian, as its name suggests, has long been a stopover point for both

fishermen

as well as migratory birds.

 

The surrounding coral-ringed waters are rich in marine life and ideal for

snorkelling and

scuba diving.

 

At the end of the project, the CCC will evaluate if it had met its targets and

get feedback

from the locals.

 

CCC wants its project counterparts to evaluate the group as much as it will

evaluate the

commitment at the local level.

 

If all goes well, the project will be replicated all the way down the coast.

 

" This is a national project, not a Coral Cay project, " said Raines.

 

" Our job is to develop the capacity so that the host country can carry on even

after we leave.

We are not meant to be here long term. "