Tag - Environment

Semporna: Pulau Sipadan, touted as the world's top 10 best diving sites, boasts for breathtaking marine beauty showcased in crystal clear waters. However, human activities there since 1983 when the first resort was opened by Syarikat Borneo Divers & Sea Sdn Bhd was a cause of concern. Moreover, since then more resorts appeared on the island. Hence, in 2004 the authorities relocated the resorts to nearby Islands to conserve coral reefs there. In addition to that, divers were also required to obtain permits to explore Pulau Sipadan's diving sites and their numbers are limited to 120 per day. Marine preservation efforts were further intensified by gazetting 13.5 hectares of land in 2009, with another 6,846.5 hectares of coral reef surrounding the island was gazetted as a protected park in July 2015. With 16,860 hectares gazetted as a protected park under the Sabah Parks Enactment 1984, enforcement and monitoring could be carried out more effectively in protecting the island's natural heritage. Sabah Parks (TTS) director Dr Jamili Nais believes that the responsibility entrusted to them can be fulfilled through cooperation and committed teamwork, in line with the Sabah Parks Strategic Plan 2025. Success requires commitment, teamwork and support not only from the conservation-based statutory body, but also from the government, non-governmental organisations and the public. Ever since resort operations ceased on the island, the quality of coral reefs in the waters of Pulau Sipadan have improved tremendously. "During our surveillance, however, we found minor damage to coral reefs due to scuba diving," he said sadly. In line with gazetting Pulau Sipadan as a protected park, Sabah Parks appointed dive marshals to monitor scuba diving activities and boat movement in the area. Jamili described the role of the dive marshals as the start of a surveillance mechanism not only at Pulau Sipadan Park, but extended to other marine parks in the country. It is also important for ethical scuba activities and to curb any misconduct towards the park's ecosystem. Four dive marshals have been appointed to oversee scuba activities in 12 diving locations on the island. Meanwhile, Dive marshal Arthur Severinus starts his day monitoring diving activities as early as 6am. "We also monitor boats to ensure they carry only diving equipment and not fishing equipment," he said. Any unethical conduct, he added, would be reported to Sabah Parks rangers for action. For Sabah Parks Board of Trustees chairman Datuk Seri Tengku Zainal Adlin Tengku Mahamood, the gazetting of Pulau Sipadan means the island would continue being the pride of Sabah. He pointed out the role of dive marshals was vital in ensuring ethical conduct in scuba diving activities. Pulau Sipadan, which gained international fame through Jacques Cousteau's film Ghost of the Sea Turtles, was declared by the British as a bird sanctuary in 1933. It also became part of a turtle egg native reserve of Sabah in 1964 to protect the endangered species. In 1996, tropical storm Greg damaged the island's coral reefs and was not able to fully recover due to global warming and increased water temperatures , which then led to coral bleaching in 1998. Following signs of threat to the island's natural beauty, the government gazetted Pulau Sipadan as a protected area in 1997 under the Protected Areas And Protected Places Act 1959. A quota on the number of tourists visiting the island was also announced, however, it lacked enforcement. In 2000, Pulau Sipadan made headlines when Abu Sayyaf guerrillas kidnapped 21 tourists, including resort staff, and held them hostage in the southern Philippines for months before releasing them. Eyes were also on the island when it became the focus of a territorial ownership dispute between Malaysia and Indonesia. In 2002, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Pulau Sipadan as a part of Malaysia. Based on studies conducted by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and non-governmental organisations in 2004, a joint committee took the drastic decision to relocate resorts from the island on the grounds of environmental preservation and protection. – Bernama Source : Daily Express

Kota Kinabalu: A TOTAL of 396,097 people visited the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park last year, most of them foreigners. State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun (pic) said 60 per cent of the visitors were foreigners with the most favourite stop being Pulau Sapi. The Marine Park is a cluster of islands - Pulau Gaya, Pulau Sapi, Pulau Manukan, Pulau Mamutik and Pulau Sulug. "A total of 161,761 or 41 per cent visited Pulau Sapi, followed by Pulau Manukan with 122,070 or 31 per cent and Mamutik (96,519 or 24 per cent, while the rest went to Gaya Island," he said in reply to questions from Bongawan Assemblyman Mohamad Alamin during question time at the State Assembly. He noted the marine park is most popular among Chinese nationals who prefer to visit the islands rather than tourist spots like Ranau, adding overcrowding on most of the islands is still manageable. He said Sabah Parks had formulated the Park Development and Management Plan in 2015 to oversee the management of local parks, including Tunku Abdul Rahman, to conserve the island while carrying out tourism activities. For the marine park, he said this includes categorically zoning the islands for recreation and tourism, diving, resorts and visitors will be ferried to island destinations according to their designs. This will also assist the park in enforcing a carrying capacity on the islands. Masidi said service operators will also be limited to two by middle of this year to limit the number of food traders who had contributed a lot to the degradation of the islands. "We will carry out an open tender for this process and only two service providers will be allowed to operate on the islands," said Masidi, adding that lastly, the ministry will raise the conservation fees charged to visitors. "Now Malaysians only pay RM3 while foreigners are charged RM10. We have not reviewed this for the last 15 years. The park also requires money to manage this marine park," he said. Masidi said Sabah Parks also constantly carries out scientific observation on the degradation of the islands, the main worry involving the marine park being coral bleaching caused by global warming and floating rubbish on the sea. Meanwhile, Masidi said his ministry will not hesitate to recommend the closure of the fishermen's jetty used as a tourist jetty within the Tanjung Aru water village if safety and cleanliness are not up to par. He maintained the safety of visitors is most paramount. Earlier, Tourism, Culture and Environment Assistant Minister Datuk Kamarlin Ombi revealed the fishermen's jetty in the village was built by the Malaysian Fisheries Development Board in 2013 and handed over to the Tanjung Aru Fishermen Association to manage. He said in an effort to improve their livelihood and ensuring the jetty is well maintained the association had collaborated with a tourism operator in February 2014 to ferry tourists to the marine park. However, he noted City Hall, which has purview over the jetty, has not approved the move and thus does not guarantee the safety of tourists using the jetty, saying it was built specifically for fishermen. "Following recent media reports, the ministry has initiated several meetings with the Tourism and Culture Ministry, City Hall and Ports and Harbour Department and has requested City Hall to re-evaluate the location suitability of the facility and the Ports and Harbour Department to audit the safety level of the jetty," he said. Source : Daily Express

Kota Kinabalu: State Tourism, Culture and Environment Assistant Minister Datuk Kamarlin Ombi said homestay operators must make cleanliness a priority and ensure that their homestay area is free of rubbish and litter. "In the homestay business cleanliness is the most important. This has been emphasised by the Ministry as there is no point for visitors from overseas coming to the State only to see rubbish strewn everywhere and a dirty environment. "They are not here for expensive high-rise buildings but want to stay with the local people." He said this to reporters after officiating the closing of the Chalet and Rest-home management course for ex-servicemen at Sky Hotel Karamunsing on Sunday. Kamarlin said the course was intended to provide skills for ex servicemen in managing homestays, resthomes and chalet. He said the the homestay industry has good potential as the demand by tourists who come to State to experience staying with local people was high. "This can be because of the lower cost and also they want to interact with local people to know more about their way of life. Of course such homestay activities will also have a financial impact on the local people. "That is why in almost all districts in the State, individuals or even companies have set up homestays." Kamarlin said these foreign tourists beside staying with the local people also want to experience the local cuisine in the State. He said homestay operators should also be able to provide local dishes and cuisine for their guests. "They come here not to eat sandwiches or tuna fish but to experience local foods. The main thing is that these dishes served to them are clean and hygienic. "If they go to Beaufort for example, they can try the 'ambuyat' dishes there. If they go to Kota Belud, they can try the 'Panjaram kuih' there and if the go to Semporna, they can try the 'potu' food there." Kamarlin said he was made to understand that there were at least 31 course participants from throughout Sabah and that the Tourism Ministry was also supportive and giving advice and assistance. For example if the participants want to get their homestay licences we can assist on this matter. Meanwhile, Kamarlin said the National level Kaamatan celebrations this year will be held in Kuala Lumpur. "All this while it was held in Sabah, and the same audience were mainly Sabahans, but now if it's held in Kuala Lumpur, people from the other States in the peninsula can come to see for themselves the Harvest Festival celebrations. "Our target is not only people from the peninsula but also foreign tourists and also not forgetting foreigners from the many embassies there. In this way we can promote the Harvest Festival celebrations not only at a national level but also internationally. "It has already been decided and the matter is now at the meeting stage to decide on what will be the content of the programmes for the national level celebrations. It will be decided most probably sometime before the puasa period in early June."   Source : Daily Express