Sabah moves to conserve turtles, marine habitat

September 11, 2008 - The Borneo Post Online

SANDAKAN: When the waters that surround Selingaan, Gulisaan and Bakkungan Kechil islands, were turned into a marine park and named Taman Pulau-Pulau Penyu in 1977, it was done for a certain intention.

The move was not only to protect the turtles that land on the three islands but also to conserve the coral reefs that thrive in these waters as they were a major component of the marine parks ecosystem.

Apart from being the source of food for the turtles, the coral reefs are also the habitat of other marine life in the park.

Aware of this important aspect, the Sabah Parks authorities have launched a programme to monitor the situation of coral reefs in this marine park.

According to the marine parks manager, Fazrullah Rizally Abdul Razak, the objective of the annual programme is to ensure the continuous existence of the marine habitat there, despite the focus being on the turtles.

To facilitate monitoring work, the 1,740 hectare-wide park is sub-divided into five zones.

Marine research staff would dive into the sea to collect samples for data compilation, Fazrullah Rizally told Bernama while inspecting monitoring work at the marine park recently.

Marine Research Unit staff from Tun Sakaran and Tunku Abdul Rahman marine parks led by research officer Nasrul Hakim Maidin conducted the exercise.

Fazrullah Rizally said the data compiled would be useful for future long-term research programmes.

He said data obtained from this research would be analysed and applied in the next coral reefs management programme.

“For example, if they (marine research unit) come across the starfish while inspecting the coral reefs, the starfish would be removed if these marine creatures are found in abundance on the coral reefs.

“This is so as the existence of too many starfish could threaten the corals while too few starfish indicates the corals are not growing well,” he said.

Hence, the data is crucial towards determining the health status of the coral reefs and if the level dips, a water-quality check would have to be made.

Fazrullah Rizally said three methods are used in the monitoring programme on the coral reefs — checking on the type of corals, identifying the breed of fish that live among the corals and making out the invertebrates that live on these reefs.

“These three methods, used widely worldwide, allow the determination of the coral reefs health level whether it is healthy or otherwise,” he said. — Bernama