SUNSHINE STORIES

Honorary Park Wardens will be the local eyes and ears in protecting the proposed Tun Mustapha Park writes Nadiah Rosli Study after study have attested to the rich biodiversity found along the shorelines of Kudat, Kota Marudu and Pitas District in the northern region of Sabah. With over 50 islands and islets, this area which spans close to one million hectares of coral reef, mangrove, seagrass and productive fishing grounds has been earmarked for the proposed Tun Mustapha Park (TMP). In 2003, TMP was proposed by the State Government of Sabah shortly after it was recognised as a globally significant priority marine conservation area. It will be the country’s largest multiple-use park and second largest in Southeast Asia. Once gazetted, TMP will be evidence of Malaysia’s commitment to the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security and contribution towards meeting the Aichi Biodiversity Target. However, TMP is more than a collection of impressive sci...

A survivor in our marine ecosystem. I remember how fairy tales used to amuse me. Every fairy tale has a hero who is in charge of the rescue in his elegant white horse and save the heroine from the evil intention of the villain. The villain will be defeated and a happy-ever-after ending. Frankly speaking, how is that possible in this cold metal castle built in the middle of the concrete forest? It is almost not possible to spot a cricket on the ground, what more a white horse. Yet, in this midst of impossibilities, I found the heroic moment. There were no white horse but the moment was real. It was the last dive of the expedition and the storm has only subsided the previous night. The storm has dampened most of our spirits as we had to abort some of our dives due to the weather difficulties. As the sun rose, the expedition braved into another day against the strong surge of currents in order to collect as much data as possible to assess aspects of marine biodiversity and ecolog...

The NCEAS Group at Lotus Land, Santa Barbara Posted by: R. Jumin I was lucky to be able to participate in the recent Society for Conservation Biology’s 2 nd International Marine Conservation Congress in Victoria , Canada . I was invited to present a paper at a symposium entitled Science and Policy in the Coral Triangle where I presented a paper on the use of local knowledge in conservation planning in the proposed Tun Mustapha Park (TMP). The on-going zoning process in the proposed TMP under the zoning group (See post on establishment of ISC in TMP) will benefit from the information provided by the local communities of TMP compiled through a rapid community survey in 2006 to 2007. The Coral Triangle Symposium at the 2 nd IMCC was organized by Carissa Klein as part of the the Hugh Possingham/Carrissa Klein’s NCEAS working group that work on supporting decision making in the Coral Triangle. A special newsletter edition on Coral Triangle prepared as part of the sympos...

By: Angela Lim, SSME Senior Communications Officer On Saturday 30 January 2010 , I was fortunate to join the Kudat PCA team to Pulau Tigabu, within the proposed Tun Mustapha Park ( TMP ). Besides being a weekend, the trip took a bit of sacrifice as it involved waking up at 5am ! The early departure on the Mameng (WWF’s 10m boat) was so that we could catch the tide and avoid bad waves. By 7:30am , we sped away from Kudat marina and were rewarded by a spectacular sunrise and a good calm sea. With us on the trip were Encik Fazrullah Abdul Razak, Marine Park Manager of Sabah Parks, Encik Jimli Perijin, Wildlife Enforcement Officer of Sabah Wildlife Department, and Encik Amillson Baragus, a consultant for WWF’s alternative livelihood assessment study. Encik Fazrullah wanted to promote the establishment of the proposed TMP , while Encik Jimli aimed to introduce Sabah Wildlife Department’s Honorary Wildife Warden (HWW) role and recruit participants for the HWW training coming up in March. A...