Wider protected marine area
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Government plans to set aside 10 percent of its ocean territory as protected marine area or parks by the year 2020.
Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun, said the State now has 7.4 percent of its ocean territory under protection, which includes the 870,000 hectares Tun Mustapha Park and the Tun Sakaran Marine Park, which is also known as the Semporna Islands Park and the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park.
He said the 10 percent target for Sabah would mean having one million hectares of her ocean territory under protected status.
He added that a committee headed by the Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, Datuk Pang Yuk Ming, has already been established to ensure the objective, which was set by the United Nations as a challenge, would become a reality.
He explained that the committee would be looking into other places that would be suitable to be gazetted as a protected marine area and stated that one of the place they were considering was the area covering Pulau Mantanani in Kudat.
“We have ample areas that could be turned into parks,” he said at the Maritime Environmental Security Workshop 2017 which was held at a resort near here yesterday. The workshop was attended by government authorities from the US and Sabah, non-governmental organisations based in Sabah and abroad as well as scientists, academicians and others.
However, Masidi said, engagement with the local communities residing at the areas selected as parks would have to be carried out as there will also be a lot of implications on their way of life.
Meanwhile, Julian Hyde from Reef Check said that one of the islands likely to be selected to become a park, Pulau Mantanani, suffered from over-fishing.
Fish bombings were also occurring at areas surrounding the island, he said.
Between June 2015 and June 2016, a total of 223 blasts were recorded. However, for the last 12 months and up until recently, only 46 blasts were recorded.
He added that they have been working with the local communities to understand the problems facing them and cited that despite the booming tourism activities occurring on the island, it was not benefiting the locals as the tourists were only there for a few hours before travelling back to the mainland.
The cooperation, aimed at empowering the local inhabitants on the island, included carrying out awareness programmes as well as training in the English language and ways for the communities to carry out sustainable practices to protect their reefs, he said.
Since then, several homestays were established on the island and the households involved were able to generate good income from it, he said.
He added that the alternative income has enabled the community to take the pressure off the coral reefs.