Parks to step up surveillance against violations
Published on: Tuesday, July 07, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Parks will step up the protection of marine life at Pulau Sipadan following a marine life petting incident near a diving spot off Semporna recently. Sabah Parks Director Dr Jamili Nais said four dive marshals will be appointed to the marine park in August to ensure such violations will no longer happen to local marine life. "We are also in discussion with Reef Check Malaysia regarding the implementation of a certification mechanism for ethical diving, for example the 'Green Fin' certification, as well as continue to carry out diving awareness education programmes," he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
This comes after several photos involving a turtle, a pufferfish, a clownfish and several others were seen to have been carelessly handled by several individuals on a boat believed owned by the Singahmata Adventures and Reef Resort. The photos were believed uploaded on March 28 on China's social media website Weibo, before it was uploaded on Facebook during the weekend. The photos have angered Netizens, questioning the behaviour of foreign tourists with local wildlife while on holiday in Sabah. Dr Jamili said it was no longer possible to ascertain where the incident happened as the boatman involved in the incident was no longer employed by the company.
ADVERTISEMENT
But he believed the incident did not occur at Sipadan or any of the marine parks under the Sabah Parks purview. "Yet, I am surprised and disappointed by the incident because the dive operator was a well-known five-star PADI dive operator, and based at a reputable resort in Semporna."
ADVERTISEMENT
"But we strongly condemn such unethical behaviour, regardless of whether these occurred inside or outside our Marine Park," said Dr Jamili, adding that the dive industry, in general is self-regulatory and most dive operators are ethical. It is understood the Tourism and Culture Ministry and the Wildlife Department are also investigating the case. Singgahmata Adventures and Reef Resort Manager, Vicky Shim, said: "We were not aware of the incident until it came out on Facebook," said Shim and revealed the boatman had ceased working with Singahmata since May 10. She said the company has a strict ground rule that guests do not touch or handle marine life, whether on the resort or at sea. "However such instances are beyond our control and see what happened since the incident happened at sea," she said. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
