Guest guest Posted August 27, 2003 Report Share Posted August 27, 2003 This message was forwarded to you by yitzeling. Comment from sender: This article is from The Star Online URL: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2003/8/26/features/6020809 & sec=f\ eatures ________________________ Tuesday August 26, 2003 Safeguarding Perhentian isles Story and pictures by RICK GREGORY FOR centuries the Perhentian Islands have been a refuge for fishermen seeking shelter from the storms, traders from India and China, the occasional band of wayward pirates and now the ever-present troupe of bikini-clad tourists. Perhentian & #8217;s long beaches make for a great stopover, hence its Malay namesake. These isles, just 20km off the coast of Terengganu, are “textbook tropical paradises,” as one travel guidebook puts it. Although the Perhentian Islands were considered a well-kept secret only two decades ago, today the beaches are chock-full of resorts, chalets, dive shops and cafes. Back in 1985, less than 10 chalets occupied the coastline of both islands, but a building boom has since pushed the total to over 30 today. But are the Perhentian group of islands such a perfect place to hang out and forget about work that nobody bothered to document its forest biodiversity and wonderful coral reefs? Well, not anymore. In March, Coral Cay Conservation, a British conservation group, launched the Malaysia Reefs and Island Conservation Project (MRICP) with volunteers from Britain and Malaysia. The three-month pilot phase project aims to conduct marine and terrestrial surveys on Perhentian to obtain baseline information on the flora and fauna of marine and forest habitats. The marine surveys will continue until the two main islands of Perhentian Besar and Perhentian Kecil are covered later in the year. The terrestrial phase started in mid-May and is probably the first biodiversity study of its kind to be undertaken on Perhentian. Sponsored by the Department of Fisheries, Marine Park Branch, Coral Cay aims to collect primary data for use in providing habitat maps and species inventories to aid the long-term management of the isle & #8217;s natural resources. The MRICP will eventually break into two three-year projects & #8211; the Malaysia Coral Reef Conservation Project and the Malaysia Tropical Forests Conservation Project. This is not Coral Cay & #8217;s first project in Malaysia, having conducted reef surveys here in the past in association with the World Wide Fund for Nature. The non-profit organisation has sent volunteers worldwide to work with local communities and agencies since 1986 to survey endangered coral reefs and understudy tropical rainforests. Coral Cay currently has expeditions in Fiji, Honduras, Mexico and the Philippines. Marine and terrestrial surveys The marine areas are divided into 16 survey sectors. The pilot phase aims to get a general understanding of the reef status, including the range of flora and fauna and man-made impact. These baseline studies will be carried out in conjunction with the Marine Parks Unit of the Fisheries Department until all sectors are covered. Each dive team consists of four divers working in two buddy pairs. Each diver attends to his specific task, measuring salinity, depth and temperature, and recording data on species abundance and diversity. Raw data from the surveys will be analysed by Coral Cay marine science staff to prepare recommendations for the sustainable management of parks in the future. A report on the results of the pilot phase will be presented to Marine Park officials as volunteers continue to survey the remaining reef sections over the next three years. Coral Cay & #8217;s terrestrial staff recognises it limitations in trying to gain preliminary inventories of the diversity of Perhentian & #8217;s forest ecosystems. The terrestrial study is made more difficult due to the lack of indigenous knowledge, poor maps and limited access to the forest. Most of the older but knowledgeable villagers are too feeble to accompany the team into the forest, while the younger villagers never bothered to explore the inland habitats, preferring to ply the tourism and fishing trades. “I & #8217;m trying to get some assistance from the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia and bring out local scientists and specialists to help study bats and herpetofauna,” explains Alexia Tamblyn, MRICP & #8217;s terrestrial project scientist. One huge hurdle preventing the participation of more Malaysian academics is that Coral Cay not a funding agency but a charity, thus making research work in Perhentian a logistical and budgetary obstacle. Still Malaysians should take advantage of the discounts and scholarship awards offered by the conservation group to explore the partnership opportunities. A tourism development case study of Perhentian in 2000 concluded that any further development must proceed with caution due to the size of the islands. Mega-tourism projects were deemed to be inappropriate and the temptation to attract affluent tourists with international-type resorts must be avoided. It added that budget travellers dominate the traffic to Perhentian and planners should not be misled by the misconception that they do not spend enough money. Many problems still exist even with the current level of development. The study pointed out that the “smallness of scale of physical resources causes them to be more susceptible to negative impacts of mass tourism development”, especially excessive water demand, improper sewage and solid waste disposal, and a shortage of suitable beachfront land. This is apparent as tourism developers dredge coral channels for boat access and septic tanks discharge wastes into the sea during the monsoon floods. Intriguing finds The early results from Coral Cay & #8217;s surveys show some intriguing finds. Divers have endured a gradual decrease in visibility during their survey work and the reasons for this are not known yet. “We & #8217;ve noticed that a lot of hard corals have their tentacles out during the day, and many species usually feed at night,” says project scientist Hengeveld. “This may be a natural phenomenon or related to human impact such as sedimentation. Suspended sediments reduce sunlight and clog up coral polyps. This makes it difficult for animals to feed. On the positive side, the marine team is delighted over the presence of the humphead wrasse, a threatened species captured for the live fish trade.” The terrestrial surveys have added exciting finds to the wildlife log: several bat species (false vampire bat, horseshoe bat and the roundleaf bat), a number of forest birds (sunbirds, shamas and warblers), the dusky langur monkey, the Oriental house rat, the flying lemur, the green-crested lizard, and the white-bellied sea eagle. Another exciting discovery is that of the threatened Nicobar pigeon. So little is known of the wildlife on Perhentian that every new sighting creates excitement & #8211; even rats. On a recent outing the team caught a red spiny rat, a small creature but a big find for the expedition since it represents a new record on the island. Several species discovered are also thought to no longer exist (or have never been recorded) on the neighbouring island of Redang which faces greater development pressures. These include the short-nosed fruit bat and the lesser sheath-tailed bat which were last recorded on Redang in 1911. “Clearly these initial results indicate the importance of conservation for the Perhentian Islands. However, there is more field research to complete before conservation management recommendations can be proposed,” says Craig Turner, terrestrial science co-ordinator. While the marine surveys are completed in a methodical sector-by-sector approach, the jungle is not so easy to take on. The trails are difficult and the survey methods are tougher. And there is much more work to be done to assess the biodiversity of mammals, birds, bats, reptiles, butterflies and flora. “We don & #8217;t have enough time in the pilot phase to get everything done,” says Alexia Tamblyn. “We are looking to work with specialists to offer advice and help with species identification. We hope to have a database to match species with specific habitats to have a good idea of what & #8217;s out there.” For Coral Cay, the survey work on Perhentian Islands is a first attempt to tackle both marine and terrestrial studies on one site. Given the dearth of information on these islands, the expedition is both timely and essential for providing critical data to improve the management of one of Malaysia & #8217;s protected marine parks. It & #8217;s about time the textbook tropical paradise attained its rightful place in the scientific records<p> ________________________ Your one-stop information portal: The Star Online http://thestar.com.my http://biz.thestar.com.my http://classifieds.thestar.com.my http://cards.thestar.com.my http://search.thestar.com.my http://star-motoring.com http://star-space.com http://star-jobs.com http://star-ecentral.com http://star-techcentral.com 1995-2003 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. All rights reserved. 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