SUNSHINE STORIES

Posted by: Robecca Jumin Our training on Ecosystem Based Management for Fisheries (EBMF) continues. We conducted the second training on the 5th and 6th October 2009. The second workshop was conducted at the Kudat Golf and Marina Resort and targeted the commercial fishers, both fish boat owners and the fish boat crews. The main objectives of this second workshop was i) to continue raising awareness on EBMF, ii) to advocate adoption of EBMF principles in fisheries management in the proposed Tun Mustapha Park , and iii) to demonstrate the role of commercial fishers in fisheries management (through data collection such as deck sampling) The training workshop was held in collaboration with other partners, Sabah Parks as the mandated agency leading the process to establish TMP, Sabah Fisheries Department as the managing agency for the fisheries sector in Sabah and PPKNK as the association representing commercial fishing boatowners in Kudat. Financial support was provided by MENGO

Posted by: Sofia Johari 22 October 2009, Pulau Maliangin proposed 'No Take Zone'. It was a beautiful sunny day (very unusual these days to have a calm sunny day at the sea even for a half day). After sending off Suzie and Asri to Karakit, Pulau Banggi for a meeting with religous leaders there, we (Robecca, Irwan, Pakcik Damsek and me) went to Pulau Maliangin Besar to meet the community to prepare them for the donors visit tomorrow 23rd October. While there, Ngit, one of the not many male living on the island informed us that there's a fishing vessel that has been lingering around the proposed no take zone for almost a month collecting pearl oysters. Hearing this we immediately took the boat 'Mameng' to take a look. Approaching the vessel Robecca calling for back up from Jabatan Perikanan while Irwan is checking the details of the vessels and licence When we got there, Robecca who is a trained Honorary Wildlife Warden (we have 2 HWW at that time; Pakcik Damsek and

Posted By: Robecca Jumin How do you make something quite technical like the Ecosystem Based Management for Fisheries (EBMF) interesting and easy to understand? We tried it by combining it with other more practical and interactive training such as SCUBA Diving. The Malaysian Non-Governmental Organization (MENGO) group provided some fund for us to develop training material and conduct training to the commercial fishers of the proposed Tun Mustapha Park (TMP). We conducted the combined training on the 10-14 August 2009, with 5 participants from the Persatuan Pemilik Kapal Nelayan Kudat (PPKNK), and 1 participant from the local community. The combined training tried to merge both theories on EBMF at the same time trained them to be divers. We were hoping that through the diving experience the participants were able to understand and appreciate more what is ecosystem. Learning EBMF in class What is Ecosystem based management? There is a few terms that more or less have similar meaning but

Posted by: Robecca Jumin Saturday, 8th August 2009. In the past two days, we hosted a visit from the newly created Environment and Conservation Unit of the Sabah Fisheries Department. We felt very privileged to host the visit of the full team of the unit that also happen to handle the SSME Tri-National Programme in Sabah, of which our project is closely affiliated. On the first day, bad weather threatened to completely ruin our plan to bring our guests to the many places within the proposed Tun Mustapha Park (TMP) that we thought would be a ‘must visit site’. But ‘good’ weather prevailed - the rain stopped and the wind subsided enough to allow us to visit at least two of the 4 sites we planned to visit. The visit to Kg. Berungus, Pitas and Karakit, Banggi was worth the rough boat ride across Banggi Channel and the perilous short cross over a fishing vessel and fish cages to get to dry land in lieu of a proper jetty. The discussions the next day was equally rewarding and enlightening f

Posted by Ishahm I have never expected that the recent field work would be the best reefcheck ever! I’ve done quite a few of reefcheck survey and as always it was just routine work and nothing much. But this time it’s really different! Breifing by Dr. Leela upon our arrival in Pulau Mandi Darah I was surrounded by a wonderful team members and friends. There were cheerful, funny, understanding, and very dependable! I’m really grateful for this and would like thank you all for being my friends and supporters! (as Kamin always said when he is joking, ‘Thank you lah kamu semua!”). Initially, I had a mix feeling and impression looking at the list of people who are coming for the expedition! I was happy to see familiar faces but at the same time I have this ‘unsure’ feeling towards few people! But my anxiousness faded little by little along the stay at Pulau Mandi Darah and gradually towards the end of the expedition it turns to a fun and joyful stay. Even though our schedule was a bit tigh

Posted by: Sofia Johari Working in the conservation field is more than a full time job. It is expected, especially in the field, apart from having to fulfill your workplan objectives, you are also have to fulfill the expectations of the stakeholders/community. And expectation becoming higher and higher the longer you are within a site. Since there's only 6 of us within a 1.02 million hectares of a proposed marine park (Tun Mustapha Park) with almost 100,000 people to reach, the team members have to become very efficient in delegating work and multi tasking. All of us are now Community officers @ Marine Biologist @ administrators @ clerks @ office boy/girl @ drivers & communicators (except for team leader... still one lah). Having meeting with stakeholders till midnight (resulting in red blood shot eyes in the morning) and saturdays & sundays is not uncommon. However, we are enjoying our work as we believe in the cause (WWF/conservation cause of course...) plus having great