Ronan Keating to promote coral reef restoration

MERC will also transfer 1,000 planted corals to selected reefs surrounding the resort.

A total of 1,000 people are expected to turn up for the event and the proceeds derived from this event will be donated to MERC to ensure sustainability and a healthy environment for the future. The Bunga Raya Island Resort spa will fly into the State the world-renowned Irish artiste, Ronan Keating, as part of their effort to promote the Marine Ecology Research Centre’s (MERC) work in coral reef restoration and giant clam propagation.

“Keating has agreed to perform and is excited to become part of it and has expressed eagerness to promote the cause,” said Bunga Raya Island Resort Spa’s owner, Gillian Tan, who pins the hope that the message to save the sea through coral reef restoration and giant clam propagation will spread throughout the world following Keating’s involvement in the effort.

Keating will give a dine-and-song performance at the resort on April 21, which is exclusive for in-house guests between 7.30pm and 11pm.

Tickets for the event is priced at RM1,000 per person.

He will appear the next day as a guest performer at the resort’s Marine Day Beach party which will take place between 9am and 5pm.

Tickets for this event are sold at RM200 each and are available at the Gayana Eco Resort’s office at Jesselton Point.

Patrons of the beach party will be provided with lunch, lucky draw prizes, a beach kit, music performances by local artistes and Keating, and Zumba with local fitness coach, Michelle Koh.

Patrons will also learn about the MERC’s effort in saving the sea through coral reef restoration and giant clam propagation and will bear witness to the release of 500 giant clam juveniles bred and raised since 2007 into selected ocean nurseries. 

Source: http://kepkas.sabah.gov.my/2012/03/20/international-artiste-to-promote-coral-reef-restoration/

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Centre to release 500 giant clam juvenile to the sea

The Marine Ecology Research Centre (MERC) will release its first batch of 500 giant clam juveniles back to the sea soon. MERC’s project director, Alvin Wong, said during a press conference held at the Gayana Eco Resort yesterday that after three long years, they have finally come to the stage when they can release the juvenile clams, each measuring about three inches in length back to the wild.

“It took us three years to get the clams to the three-inch size they are now at and hope they will be able to thrive in the wild,” he said.

The monitoring of the clams after their release will be continued to assess how well they thrive.

“If it doesn’t work, we will have to go back to the drawing block.”

Wong disclosed that it is not easy task to propagate all the seven species of clams used to be found in the waters off the coast.

“It is a journey never done before and we don’t know if we would be able to achieve our objectives, but today, we would like to celebrate the success of the first phase of our struggle,” he said.

The first phase of the propagation programme involved producing giant clam ‘babies’ through spawning and tending them until they reached the stage when they can survive in an ocean nursery.

He explained the difficulty of getting the giant clams to their current size, adding that the survival rate of fertility is a mere two to three per cent.

MERC is unique in Malaysia to have spawned and produced giant clam spats of all seven species found in Malaysian waters.

If the endeavour proves successful, Wong said that they would be releasing more giant clams into the wild.

They currently have in stock a total of 2,000 ‘baby’ giant clams that would be released gradually, he said. 

Source: http://kepkas.sabah.gov.my/2012/03/20/centre-to-release-500-giant-clam-juveniles-to-the-sea/

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Return of the Giant Clams

Giant clams are making their way back into waters off the city after decades of uncontrolled exploitation.

An award-winning marine research centre here will release 500 giant clams into the sea after three long years of breeding and nurturing the natural sea water-filtering creature.

The Marine Ecology Research Centre (MERC) at Gaya Island, a 15-minute boat ride from the city, will sporadically release the three-inch giant clams in selected ocean nurseries during its month-long marine awareness month starting tomorrow.

Besides the clams, the oceanic research centre, which is attached to the Gayana Eco Resort at the island, will integrate 1,000 corals – which it has planted and looked after – into the reefs off the island and city.

Project director Alvin Wong said his team of marine biologists and support staff was eager to release the clams back into the sea.

“Hopefully, this first batch will make it. We will monitor their progress as we continue to produce more giant clams,” said Wong, adding that they had 2,000 more giant clams in their nursery.

“We chose giant clams for our Save the Giants programme because they are endangered, slow to grow and important in producing oxygen into the marine ecosystem,” he said.

Wong said the first stage of the project involved work to spawn the larvae and taking care of them until these were ready to survive in ocean nurseries.

He said the public must play their part to protect the marine environment by not polluting the sea or buying clams.

MERC, awarded the Most Innovative Tourist Attraction Award at the Malaysia Tourism Awards 2008/2009, is the only centre in Malaysia to have spawned giant clam spats.

As part of the marine awareness programme, he said MERC would also be hosting schoolchildren and non-governmental organizations to inculcate in them the awareness for marine conservation.

There will also be a beach concert by Irish crooner Ronan Keating at sister resort Bunga Raya Island Resort on the other side of the island tomorrow for the programme.

Source: http://kepkas.sabah.gov.my/2012/03/28/return-of-the-giant-clams/

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A global envoy for giant clams in the making

A global envoy for giant clams in the making

Kota Kinabalu: Former Boy Zone superstar Ronan Keating is considering becoming a "Global Ambassador for giant clams". "Sting has the rainforest, maybe I have the giant clams," Ronan quipped at a press conference at the Marine Ecology Research Centre (MERC), Gayana Eco Resort.

"It all made sense because really we didn't know the clams were becoming extinct. We don't know that. That message is not spread back home (UK)" noted Ronan, here to mark a climatic end to the month-long Marine Awareness Month with two shows Saturday night and Sunday lunch time at Bunga Raya Resort and Spa.

A centre-piece of MERC's awareness month was the release of 500 three-year-old artificially spawned and propagated baby giant clams into a sea nursery and replant 1,000 pieces of corals.

The baby giant clams include all seven species of giant clams found in Malaysian waters, including the biggest and considered locally extinct species - the Tridacna gigas and the somewhat smaller T. serasa.

"It is fantastic to see it here first time what these guys are doing and the work that they are doing," Ronan commended, on the only project of its kind in Malaysia.

"It is fascinatingÉI will bring the message back to Ireland, England and Europe," Ronan said. Ronan did not say if the focus of his next global hit song would be about giant clams but confided that he was actually flooded with offers to do different things .

He said Sabah caught his attention as a logical sequence to a film shot in Australia entitled "Goddess" where he played the role of a marine biologist.

"Since I played the role of a marine biologist, I studied a lot about the sea to try to really involve myself in the role.

"I guess I was interested when I heard what it (giant clam propagation project) was and I wanted to understand more."

"So, it is nice to be asked to do this and be involved," he said.

"Besides, I am a fan of Asia, I love being in Asia. I love coming to Asia.

I do a lot of work in Asia and when I heard this, I said that's something I like to learn more about and help. So I am here."

"I have done some stuff in the North Pole regarding the seas and the melting of the ice caps," Ronan said.

"I guess when you are in a situation like mine that you are internationally looked upon as successful and you have a voice, and I don't mean voice as singer as a celebrity to spread the word, to create awareness, you have a responsibility to use that voice, stand up and be heard because there are so many out there who can't be heard and they need to be," Ronan added.

Cancer research is one of the charities he has put a lot of his time and energy into around the world, he said.

But cancer charity wasn't just talk or sing on stage, it was a real show of grit where he swam 56 miles in 35 hours across the Irish Sea last September.

"That was incredible, it was daunting, it was frightening swimming in the night across the Irish Sea. The largest shark in the world lives in the Irish Sea. It was an incredible task but we did it for cancer research," said Ronan who is "really excited" about snorkling around the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park.

Meanwhile, Gillian Tan, owner of Gayana Eco Resort, said the first Marine Awareness Month will not be the last, neither the concert from a superstar like Ronan.

"There is a lot of stress yes but it is definitely something great when you have others like Ronan getting involved - we love it and we all look to doing it over and over again," Gillian said.

On the reason behind the Marine Awareness Month, aquatic biologist Alvin Wong who is also the Director of MERC, said:

"We realised the awareness level is not there. There are still a lot of people fishing in an unsustainable manner, there are still people buying bombed fish which are not supposed to be sold in first place.

"So this whole month campaign is meant to tell people that all's not well and that that everyone has a role to play, we all have a responsibility to play to save species slipping into extinction," Wong said.

Read More: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=81304 

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