Project Report
| Sep 13, 2021
Ghost Nets Removals on Tioman Island
By CHEN SUE YEE | Programme Manager
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Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been left or lost in the ocean by fishermen. They often get stuck on reefs which can damage corals and trap marine life such as shark, turtle and fish. Very often they cause death or injuries to the trapped marine life by restricting their movement, causing starvation, laceration and infection, and suffocation in those that need to return to the surface to breathe.
This year alone, more than 2 tonnes of ghost nets were removed from Tioman Island. If this is not done, the nets can continue to catch and trap its victims. Given the high-quality synthetics that are used today in making fishing nets, the destruction can continue for a long time. Therefore, it is imperative that these ghost nets are removed from the reefs as soon as possible every time after a report was received. The success of these efforts on Tioman Island was due to the collaboration between Reef Check Malaysia, Department of Fisheries Pahang, Tioman Marine Conservation Group and Tioman Dive Association.
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Aug 30, 2021
Promoting Land-based Activities on Tioman Island
By CHEN SUE YEE | Programme Manager
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Tioman Island is famous for marine-based activities, especially scuba diving and snorkelling. With increasing number of tourists to the island, this put pressure on the reefs. In an effort to reduce the pressure on Tioman reefs, we are working with Tioman locals to boost existing land-based activities. Tioman island has rich flora and fauna on its land counterpart, so it will be a waste if these are not appreciated.
Seven jungle trekking tracks, one from each village, were upgraded recently. Some of the works undertaken were removing fallen trees, clearing the path, replacing old ropes with new one, building steps using natural resources where necessary and establishing new look-out point where suitable. The difficulty levels, time to complete, unique floras and faunas usually encountered along the path and attractions such as waterfall and look-out points were recorded.
Our next step will be working on marketing strategies. It is hope that these often forgotten and unpopular attractions will gain traction and as a result diversify income and reduce dependence on coral reefs.
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Aug 16, 2021
Cigarette Butt Bins on Tioman & Mantanani Islands
By CHEN SUE YEE | Programme Manager
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Cigarette butt is one of the most collected item on the world’s beaches, with a total of more than 60 million collected over 32 years. Cigarette butts are small and tend to go unnoticed but they are hiding almost everywhere. They are made of cellulose acetate, a man-made plastic material, and contain hundreds of toxic chemicals. While cigarette filters, or the plastic part of butts, can take up to 10 years to completely degrade, the chemicals they release can remain in the environment for many more years beyond the life of the cigarette butt itself. These tiny but toxic butts also cause significant harm to marine life. It is not uncommon for field researchers to find cigarette butts inside of dead sea birds, sea turtles, fish and dolphins.
In a measure to reduce cigarette butt pollution, a total of 25 cigarette butt bins were placed around Tioman Island and 15 bins around Mantanani Island. In each village, 3 to 6 bins were installed at places that are highly frequented by people. We hope these bins are fully utilised by the public and Tioman and Mantanani islands are free from cigarette butt pollution.
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