Sabah Strives Balancing Biodiversity Conservation and Protecting People’s Interest

 

"A practical approach to strike a balance between biodiversity conservation and protecting people’s interest is being worked out under the proposed Tun Mustapha Marine Park.

State Special Task Minister Datuk Teo Chee Kang said traditional fishermen and farmers would not be affected by the marine park that covers some 50 islands in the northern districts of Kudat, Kota Marudu and Pitas." - The Star

Accusation by the opposition that the government would take the people's lands once the marine park was gazetted has been rebutted by the State Special Task Minister, Datuk Teo Chee Kang.

Teo, who is the Tanjung Kapor assemblyman from Kudat told that Sabah Parks, and research groups are still gathering data and in dialogue with stakeholders and the local communities. The state government is working hard to find a win-win situation to ensure traditional fishermen could continue their livelihood and at the same time be able to protect the eco-system. 

Tun Mustapha Marine Park is a proposed park that comes under Coral Triangle Initiative where it aimed at strict protection for certain areas, tourism, traditional fishing and commercial fishing at the 1.02 million hectare park.

Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) is a multilateral partnership of six countries; Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste that was signed in Manado, Indonesia in 2009. They are committed to cooperate on five goals involving seascapes, ecosystem approach to fisheries management, marine protected areas, adaptation to climate change, and threatened species.

CTI is led by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation  and according to Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman, CTI represented the highest diversity of marine life and the total monetary value in terms of fisheries, tourism and related activities may come up to US$2.3 billion yearly. 

In order to sustain the development of marine resources within the CTI, an accredited body to manage and develop marine resources or Global Biodiversity Hub (GBH) has been established in Sabah and would be monitored by a management board from key stakeholder groups.

GBH is a project under Economic Transformation Programme Chapter 10, with the roles  to reach the fishermen community as well as improve the livelihoods of farmers. The hub is  led by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the hub is expected to generate a gross national income of RM1.5 billion with 2,900 new jobs created.

  

There were so much efforts have been done over the years in developing related programmes in Tun Mustapha Marine Park. Even though there were some "hiccups", efforts need to be continued especially in terms of research, governance, enforcement, awareness and capacity building, as well as strengthening private-public partnerships. 

People should not be misled by false accusations as the state government is indeed concerned over the people and the eco-system. A win-win situation was the always the preference from the beginning.

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Maximus: No private land will be used for Sabah marine park

KOTA KINABALU: Privately-owned land will not be acquired in the creation of a marine park in northern Sabah, said Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili.

The Kota Marudu MP said claims the proposed Tun Mustapha Marine Park would involve the acquisition of some six kilometres of land was a lie.

"If this was true, we would join the people in protesting against such a move," he said. adding that the claims were made by the opposition during the recent general election.

"All this goes to show that the opposition will do anything including hoodwinking the people just to get their vote," he said when launching the Marudu Bay carnival in the northern Kota Marudu town on Sunday.

He said the marine park was part of international and state efforts to conserve and develop resources in an area rich in biodiversity for the wellbeing of the people living there.

These involve protection of the fisheries and banning of destructive fishing methods that would cause depletion of the marine resources.

Ongkili said the conservation and development efforts for the proposed park would instead involve consultation with the people living in the area. 

Source: The Star

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ESSCOM to protect marine park from fish bombers

 

KOTA KINABALU: The Federal Government decision to establish the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM) covering a coastline of some 1,400 kilometers from Kudat to Tawau could also benefit the yet-to-be-gazetted Tun Mustapha Park (TMP) located on the northern part of Sabah.

WWF-Sulu Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion-Malaysia manager Rebecca Jumin said she was elated when news of the implementation came out, as among the problems faced in efforts to conserve corals and fish at TMP were the high incidence of fish bombing.

“It is very difficult to regulate fish bombing activities because they (the fish bombers) come in kumpits (small Filipino boats) and can easily escape,” she explained. Fish bombing activities has been linked to reduced fish stocks in places within the TMP region.

She said the setting up of ESSCOM would boost environmental conservation efforts that are being carried out at TMP and thus put a stop to the high incidence of fish bombing within the region.

“I can see the benefit, especially in terms of stopping incidence of fish bombing. I hope it will really address the issue,” she said.

She also urged the ESSCOM to not concentrate only on issues related to protecting the sovereignty of the country, but also to look after the environment and more particularly, on fisheries food supplies.

“I would say having food security is as important as looking after the security of the people,” she stressed.

Meanwhile, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) school of business and economics lecturer, James Alin, said that the establishment of the ESSCOM would help in the maintenance and support of the TMP.

“Without the ESSCOM, it would be a bit difficult to look after TMP because the area concerned is very large. There is no use for us to have a park when there are no enforcement to look after the area,” he said.

TMP covers an area of 1.02 million hectares, consisting of more than 50 islands and islets and park supports 80,000 coastal inhabitants threatened by overfishing and destructive fishing practices.

James said, to make the TMP effective, there was a need to forge collaboration with Palawan (Philippines) so that the area could be managed together.

“We have already collaborated with them in the management of the Turtle Island. The joint collaboration has benefited both, although not many people know about it,” he said.

 

Source: Borneo Post

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Profiling of Tun Mustapha Park – Habitat and community

Since 2006, the initiatives have collaborated with the communities of TMP to map important habitats, ecosystems, and areas for livelihood generation. Working with coastal communities and fishermen, community mapping was conducted to document important traditional fishing area, sea turtle nesting beaches, distribution of biodiversity such as sea turtles and dugongs based on observations, and common environmental issues in the area.

Commercial fishers have identified important commercial fishing ground such as demersal, purse seine and crab fishing ground. These local knowledge were gathered through a community survey conducted in 2006-2007 by Sabah Parks and WWF-Malaysia.

Community profile of TMP was also developed from the same community. The survey found that the coastal communities within TMP are mainly primary resource users with low income and limited formal education with aspirations for alternative livelihood to alleviate their socio-economic condition. This means their activities directly affect the biodiversity and marine ecosystems around them, and have primary interest in the management of their resources.

At the same time, continuous scientific researchers are also delivered. This include a scientific expedition that was conducted in 2012. The expedition was jointly organised by Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Sabah Parks and WWF-Malaysia with collaboration from Universiti Malaya and the University of Queensland, and was financially supported by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) as part of their Coral Triangle Initiative Programme, and the Coral Triangle Support Partnership (USAID CTSP).

After 19 days of observations, the status of many reefs has been explored and they are showing apparent signs of stress from overfishing and destructive fishing methods used around the proposed park.

Focused interviews and field surveys in the proposed TMP have provided a better understanding of species which occur regularly and appear to depend on resources within the area for survival.

Source: Borneo Post

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Marine Scientists to Survey the Proposed Tun Mustapha Park

4 September 2012, Kota Kinabalu: From 6 to 26 September 2012, a team of marine scientists from Malaysia, the Netherlands and Australia will begin an expedition in the proposed Tun Mustapha Park, Kudat, Malaysia.

The Tun Mustapha Park Expedition (TMPE) will assess aspects of marine biodiversity and ecology, as well as the socioeconomic benefits of the marine ecosystems to local communities in the proposed park. The expedition is organised by Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Sabah Parks and WWF-Malaysia. As signatory to the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI), Malaysia developed a National Plan of Action for protecting the Coral Triangle region. This expedition is one of Malaysia’s activities under the CTI-National Plan of Action.

Jointly leading the expedition are Mr. Muhammad Ali Syed Hussein, Leader of the UMS team; Dr. Bert Hoeksema of Naturalis Biodiveristy Center, Leader of the Coral Reef Biodiversity Team; and Ms. Bobita Ahad of WWF-Malaysia, Leader of the Coral Reef Status Team. Other expedition participants include marine scientists from UMS, Universiti Malaya, University of Queensland, Naturalis and researchers from Sabah Parks.

The overall objectives of the expedition are to:
1) Assess the coral reef biodiversity including reef fish and associated reef fauna richness,
2) Assess the coral reef status and reef population health,
3) Verify coral reef categories for the zoning of Tun Mustapha Park,
4) Assess the biodiversity of mangrove ecosystem,
5) Conduct physico-chemical oceanographic studies,
6) Study the distribution, diversity and abundance of phytoplankton and zooplankton,
7) Survey socio-economic aspects of the local communities, and
8) Raise awareness of Tun Mustapha Park and benefits of protecting and managing marine ecosystem.

The proposed Tun Mustapha Park (TMP) is an area of 1.02 million hectares with more than 50 islands and islets located across Kudat, Pitas and Kota Marudu districts in the Kudat-Banggi Priority Conservation Area (PCA). TMP has unique biodiversity that support a series of complex and linked habitats and is home to endangered marine animals, such as green sea turtles and dugongs.

The proposed TMP produces Sabah’s third largest volume of fishery products from coral reefs, bays and open waters. It is a source of livelihood to 80,000 coastal inhabitants of diverse ethnic groups. This unique demography forms the rich cultural heritage of the Park. As a scenic and historical area in Sabah, TMP has great potential for sustainable ecotourism.

The TMPE will be launched by YB Datuk Dr Maximum Ongkili of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) in Kudat on 6 September, and the preliminary results of the expedition will be announced at a press conference at the UMS campus in Kota Kinabalu on 27 September 2012.

The TMPE is jointly funded by Malaysian-CTI (MOSTI through the National Oceanography Directorate), USAID’s Coral Triangle Support Partnership and WWF-Malaysia’s individual supporters.

Follow the expedition blog and other social media such as Twitter, Weblog, Flickr, and Facebook, where the expedition members will update their daily work and share new findings, as well as their stunning images and short videos. Visit: www.naturalis.nl.

Source : http://www.wwf.org.my/media_and_information/newsroom_main/?uNewsID=14663

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