Sabah govt to ensure damaged reefs off Mabul Island restored

SEMPORNA: The Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry will ensure that the coral reefs in the waters off Mabul Island here, which have been damaged after being hit by a barge carrying construction materials yesterday, undergo a restoration process.

Its Minister, Datuk Jafry Ariffin, said divers from Sabah Parks and the Fisheries Department had been instructed to conduct an initial damage assessment, and then plan a restoration programme for the damaged coral reefs.

"Apart from assessing the level of damage, a preliminary restoration process will also be implemented immediately, to reposition the damaged coral reefs so that they can survive. The barge has been removed from the coral reef," he said in a statement here today.

Yesterday, the media reported that the coral reefs in the popular diving area known as Paradise One in Mabul Island, were damaged after being hit by the barge.

Jafry said that it was understood that the barge was carrying construction materials to build the forward operations base (FOB) of the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom).

JAFRY-REEF 2 (LAST) SEMPORNA

"Based on the records at the Department of Environmental Protection (JPAS), the project was approved for the Proposed Mitigation Measures Report (PMM Report) on Feb 8, and an investigation will be carried out as to whether there is a violation of the conditions of the PMM approval issued," he said.

He said that as the area involved is not protected, either under the Sabah Parks or the Sabah Wildlife Department, this makes it difficult for law enforcement action to be taken on the incident.

"The Sabah Fisheries Department also does not have a legal authority to deal with damage to coral reefs outside the protected areas, because it is not contained in the Fisheries Act 1985," he said.

However, Jafry said that the issue of lack of jurisdiction and enforcement would be addressed, to ensure Sabah had stricter legal provisions related to environmental protection.

"This is serious because it damages coral reefs which generally take hundreds of years to grow, and are rarely found, apart from being an important breeding habitat for various marine life," he said.

He said that the matter was important because the waters off Semporna have become a focus of international and domestic scuba divers.

-- BERNAMA