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Healthy coral reefs in the Tun Tun Mustapha Marine Park
located off the north coast of Sabah.
— ERIC MADEJA/WWF
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Malaysia
has an extensive coastline of 4,675km in total and is hemmed in on all sides by
seas – the Straits of Malacca, the Sulu Sea, the South China Sea and the
Andaman Sea. And all these waters are located within the Coral Triangle, a rich
marine ecosystem with nearly 600 species of corals and more than 2,000 species
of fish.
While we have a number of marine parks that help to
protect Malaysia’s part of this crucial area of biodiversity, we need to do
more, says the Fisheries Department.
Malaysia is supposed to set aside at least 10% of our
coastal and marine environs as marine protected areas (MPAs) by the end of this
year to meet one of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. However, with 25,357.9sq km
currently gazetted as MPAs, we are only at 5.3%. (The targets are a part of the
Convention on Biological Diversity that Malaysia has been a party to since
1994; Aichi is the Japanese city where the meeting that agreed on the targets
was held.)
This is why there are plans to gazette the Kepulauan
Pulau Besar in Melaka, Kepulauan Pulau Lima in Johor, Kepulauan Pulau Song Song
in Kedah and Tanjung Tuan in Negri Sembilan as new marine parks under the
Fisheries Act 1985, a spokesperson from the Fisheries Department says.
Marine
moneymaker
According to the department, marine parks are vital as
breeding grounds for fish and other marine life, and for providing various
important ecosystem services such as the sequestration of carbon dioxide,
maintaining genetic diversity, offering coastal protection and regulating
climate effects.
Within Malaysian MPAs, all human activities are regulated
to minimise threats to biodiversity; this includes a one- or two-nautical mile
“no-take zone” from the shore where fishing is prohibited. All of this offers
vital and much needed protection to coral reefs.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the world has
lost 27% of its coral reefs and if present rates of destruction continue, 60%
will die over the next 30 years. And scientists warn that half of Australia’s
Great Barrier Reef has been bleached to death since 2016 due to an increase in
ocean temperatures brought about by climate change.
Much of the coral reefs in Malaysia, however, have so far
proven fairly resilient; in fact, the reefs in the Straits of Malacca, says
WWF-Malaysia, have an economic value of RM2.3bil.
If biodiversity conservation is not a compelling enough
reason to increase the country’s MPAs, then the economics of marine parks might
be.
For instance, in 2018 Pulau Payar (off Kedah) collected
RM2.3mil in conservation fees from 102,700 visitors, of whom most were foreign
tourists. The area has the potential to generate RM174mil a year, says a
Fisheries Department spokesperson.
The overall number of visitors to Malaysia’s marine parks
averages 650,000 annually, showing that the marine ecotourism sector in Malaysia
has high potential.
“The diversity and uniqueness of marine life preserved
via MPAs can attract visitors, especially diving and snorkelling enthusiasts,
and fuel tourism, ” he says.
Local communities are also given opportunities to earn an
income when waters surrounding their islands are gazetted as MPAs.
“Tourist entries to marine parks will also indirectly
increase the income of local communities, as they can provide services such as
lodgings and food.”
Management
matters
The Fisheries Department currently manages 42 MPAs and
seven fisheries prohibited areas and turtle sanctuaries in waters surrounding
the peninsula. (Sabah Parks manages the state’s seven marine parks while
Sarawak’s eight marine parks are managed by the Sarawak Forestry Corporation.)
To achieve its target of 10% of marine environs under
MPAs, the department needs support and cooperation at all three government
levels involved in the management of marine parks around the peninsula:
federal, state and local governments.
The federal government is responsible for the overall
management of peninsula marine parks (and the federal territory of Labuan) as
well as drafting and implementing policies. However, the development of marine
park islands is under the jurisdiction of the state governments, whose plans
are implemented by local authorities.
“There is a need for coordination and cooperation to
ensure that plans for development and conservation do not contradict each
other, ” says a Fisheries Department spokesperson.
Making
local connections
Other than adding more MPAs, the department is focusing
on good governance and effectively managing the MPAs while working with local
communities. This is an important part of ensuring the protected areas remain
protected.
When the first of the country’s marine parks were
established in the 1980s, there was much backlash from state governments and
local fishermen.
Nowadays, the department carries out various initiatives that
involve local communities and residents to ensure that does not happen.
“We brought in biodiversity conservation devices like
artificial reefs that function as a breeding ground for fishes and a source of
standing stock for the fishing community, ” the department’s spokesperson says,
explaining that spillover effects from within the MPA into fishing activity
zones outside can help ensure commercial fish stocks are maintained.
Alternative livelihood programmes, such as courses on
boat steering, boat engine repairs and tour guiding, are also conducted to
build capacity within local communities. This is to reduce their dependence on
fishing activities to make a living.
Awareness
and educational programmes are also carried out continuously with these
communities to increase their support and cooperation with the department and
to curb activities that can threaten the reefs.
The effectiveness of these measures can be seen in the
higher live coral cover of 51.14% noted between 2007 and 2018 within the 42
MPAs the department manages compared with the national average of 33.56% in
non-marine park areas.
“The department also works with state and federal
governments, as well as non-governmental organisations such as Reef Check
Malaysia to monitor coral reef health using the citizen science method, ” the
spokesperson says.
Besides gazetting more MPAs, the department’s other
long-term objectives include establishing a National Marine Park Research
Centre to gather more scientific data for effective management of marine parks
as well as building the capacity of its researchers. The centre will also
provide a platform for collaboration with other research institutions.
It also plans to widen its partnerships with
stakeholders, including local communities, federal and state government
agencies, NGOs, local business owners, research institutions, and more.
“Other initiatives include realigning the department’s
main focus towards the conservation and protection of our aquatic resources.
According to the spokesperson, the Fisheries Department
is also looking into future objectives: “The plan is to also transform
‘business as usual’ and target proactive actions and innovative mechanisms,
such as smart partnerships, implementing Industrial Revolution 4.0 tools,
inculcating a sense of urgency in the work culture across administrative levels,
and addressing bureaucracy within the department and in inter-agency
cooperation efforts.”
Looking
to the future
Malaysia’s success in managing marine parks has been
recognised by the Coral Triangle Initiative, a multilateral partnership
involving Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon
Islands and Timor-Leste.
It rated the Pulau Tioman marine park as a Category Four
Flagship Site, which is defined as a “large, effectively-managed site with
regional ecological, governance and socioeconomic importance” and which meets
the highest level criteria for management effectiveness.
Pulau Tioman is a prime example of working with the local
communities around it, with an estimated 3,500 residents having undergone major
socioeconomic changes with the gazetting of the island and its waters as a
marine park.
It is
estimated that the island receives over 250,000 visitors every year. Despite
the high number of visitors, though, it has one of the healthiest reefs in
Malaysian water.
This is mainly because ecotourism is emphasised where
anthropogenic (human-caused) threats are minimised in the daily operation of
resorts, F&B outlets and dive centres.
Pulau Tioman, however, may be the exception rather than
the rule: “Population increase and rapid development has made biodiversity
conservation increasingly challenging.
“However, Malaysia is committed to conserving biological
diversity and ensuring benefit-sharing that is fair and balanced in terms of
the usage of biological resources usage.”
Indeed, under the National Policy on Biological Diversity
2016-2025, the Fisheries Department is obliged to protect – and where
necessary, restore – ecosystems and habitats such as mangroves, seagrass,
limestone hills, wetlands and coral reefs.
Malaysia’s biodiversity riches must be managed and
conserved properly so the benefits can be passed down to the next generation,
says the department.
-thestar online.
