Not correct to say 'not a proboscis monkey habitat'
Published on: Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: It is not correct to say there is no evidence of Proboscis monkey habitat in the Pitas Shrimp farm area , says King Wong, CEO of Sunlight Inno Seafood Sdn Bhd when queried on Daily Express front page lead story Monday.The proboscis monkey is one of nine 'totally protected species' of animals in Sabah.In the report entitled 'Pitas leaders back shrimp farm', Kg Telaga Village Development and Security Committee (JKKK) Chairman Norsal Esal claimed that 'the project's site is habitat for the protected money had been debunked when no evidence of the primate was found.'ADVERTISEMENT King Wong said what happened was after the Environment Protection Department (EPD) had slapped two stop work orders on 23 September 2013 followed by a second stop work order on 23 December 2013 that imposed a compound fine of RM30,000 for starting work without an approved EIA, the EPD demanded 'additional studies ' specifically on wildlife habitats . EIA consultant DHI were sent back to the field to collect 'additional information' to top up findings from its original general EIA. Wong cited names like New Zealander Neil Hudson and a other team members including Sabah Wildlife Department officers descended on Pitas to set up camera traps and images of proboscis monkeys showed up, King Wong conceded.On the basis of such hard evidence, the EPD identified the wildlife corridors needed for the conservation of the Proboscis monkey and also damaged areas that needed replanting.ADVERTISEMENT "They told us we must provide for such wildlife corridors to enable the proboscis monkeys to move (into the Bengkoka Peninsula Mangrove Forests Reserves ) ," according to King ."EPD also identified areas which they said were not wide enough and demanded we replant the mangroves ," King Wong asserted .
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"They insisted on a monitoring regime for us to carry out the mitigation measures," he added.Wong said because of loud media criticisms centred on protests against destruction of mangrove forests centred on protests from some Kg Eloi villagers , it prompted Sunlight Inno Seafood Sdn Bhd excise the Eloi mangrove areas out of the project completely and as a result, the size of the planned 4000 - acre shrimp farm shrank to less than 3000 acres.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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He said the reason why it had taken almost a year after the stop work order before EPD finally approved the EIA in December 2014 was because there were a lot of negotiations on the conditions, especially on what were achievable for both sides.But the outright claim by Telaga JKKK Chairman Norsal Esal to the press that there is no evidence that the shrimp farm project site is a proboscis monkey habitat does not square with a log known fact from a 2008 study entitled 'Status and Conservation of Proboscis Monkeys ( Nasalis Larvatus) in Sabah, East Malaysia', by John C.M. Sha, Dr Henry Bernard of UMS and Dr Senithival Nathan which already then identified the Pitas mangrove forests as one of the many habitats and home range across Sabah.