20-day expedition to assess biodiversity level in Semporna

KOTA KINABALU: An international team of marine biologists will be assessing the biodiversity and health of coral reefs in waters off Semporna, which is a priority conservation area. WWF Malaysia said the 20-day expedition, which begins on Nov 29, was jointly organised with Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Universiti Malaya and the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity Naturalis. Members of the expedition include Netherlands’ Dr Bert Hoeksema who is the team leader, and UM’s Affendi Yang Amri, the coral reef status leader. The team would also help to enhance conservation and outreach efforts through better understanding of the ecosystem.

The area is recognised as a Globally Outstanding Priority Conservation Area within the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Eco-region in the Coral Triangle, the world’s centre for marine biodiversity.
“Semporna is unusual because of its rich mix of five major reef types. Such areas usually have high levels of biodiversity because of the mix of habitat types and ecosystems,” said WWF Malaysia in a statement here yesterday. It said there were also strong indications that the Malaysian Semporna area, together with the Indonesian Berau region, shared some rare and unique species.

“A modified reef check methodology and reef profiling will be used at each site in order to take a ‘snapshot’ of the reefs’ health,” it said. Preliminary results of the expedition will be announced in Kota Kinabalu on Dec 20.
-thestar online.