Borneo launches new initiative to conserve its coral reefs

Authorities in Borneo have launched a new initiative to conserve coral reefs, vital to the survival of sea turtles and other marine life.

Sabah Parks have starting a new monitoring programme to assess the situation of coral reefs in the Turtle Islands National Park, some 40 kilometres north of Sandakan off the north-east Borneo coast. The marine park covers the waters around the islands of Selingaan, Gulisaan and Bakkungan Kechil, and was established in 1977 to help conserve the delicate marine ecosysytem, which supports important concentrations of sea turtle and coral reefs.

The coral reefs not only provide a valuable source of food for the turtles, but are also the habitat for a wealth of other marine life.

The 1,740-hectare park was divided into five zones for monitoring purposes, with marine research staff diving into the waters to collect samples for analysis to help long-term research. Fazrullah Rizally, the marine parks manager, said that the data would be analysed and applied to the next coral reefs management programme, facilitating long-term research goals.

“For example, if they come across starfish while inspecting the coral reefs, the starfish would be removed if these marine creatures are found in abundance on the coral reefs,” he said. “This is so as the existence of too many starfish could threaten the corals while too few starfish indicates the corals are not growing well.”

The monitoring programme aimed to check on the type of coral present in the park, identifying the fish species that live among the coral and also identifying the invertebrate life on the reefs.

“These three methods, used widely worldwide, allow the determination of the coral reefs health level whether it is healthy or the otherwise”, added Fazrullah Rizally.

Initial analysis of the monitoring work indicates that the coral reefs in the Turtle Islands National Park is healthy, thanks to the ongoing conservation work of the Sabah Parks marine research unit.

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