Protect Coral Reefs in Malaysia

Green Fins is the world’s first and only set of assessed environmental standards for scuba diving. This is done through adopting a 15-points Code of Conduct that will help mitigate dive operators’ impacts when carrying out diving activities, both underwater and on land. Members receive annual assessments, training, and feedback to help them achieve the Code of Conduct.

In March 2014, a Malaysian Team was established, comprising Marine Parks Malaysia, Sabah Parks and Reef Check Malaysia, with the capacity and skills to implement Green Fins.

As of today, in Malaysia, there are 49 certified Green Fins members, 3 Green Fins trainers and 9 Green Fins Assessors.

We are proud to announce that the winners of the coveted 2020 Green Fins Award are

• Bubbles Dive Centre, Pulau Perhentian, Malaysia,
• Flora Bay Divers, Pulau Perhentian, Malaysia
• and Tioman Dive Centre, Pulau Tioman, Malaysia

The prestigious annual award recognises Green Fins member with the lowest environmental impact. This year, competition was so tight there was not one, but three winners all tied in first place. What’s more, all three of the winners and seven of the global top 10 centres are based in Malaysia!

1. Tioman Dive Centre, Flora Bay Divers and Bubbles Dive Centre (all in Malaysia)

4. Ceningan Divers (Indonesia)

5. Scuba Junkie Mabul (Malaysia)

6. Sea Voice Divers (Malaysia)

7. Evolution (Philippines)

8. Orca Nation Rawa (Malaysia)

9. Equation (Philippines)

10. The Barat Perhentian Beach Resort (Malaysia)

Reef Check Malaysia will ensure Green Fins members in Malaysia continue to undergo annual training sessions and assessments of their dive centres to ensure that they are continually working to minimise their environmental impact.

Crown-of-thorns (COTs) have never been a problem on Tioman Island. Every year, Reef Check Malaysia together with Tioman Marine Conservation Group and dive operators carry out COTs removal to keep COTs population under control. From 2016 to 2019, this team had removed 392 COTs from the reefs.

However, this year alone, they removed a whopping 1033 individuals! The cause of the outbreaks is not known yet but the team is doing their best to prevent further outbreaks and damages on the reefs.

COTs outbreaks can cause mass mortality of corals as adult COTS can kill entire corals, including large colonies. On top of that, predation scars and injuries caused by COTS can cause disease outbreaks. The main predators of COTs include the Giant triton snail, Stars and stripes puffer fish, Titan triggerfish and the Humphead maori wrasse. However, the abundance of COTs’ predators is very low and human intervention is needed.

The team removes COTs via vinegar injection. This method is proven to be safe, effective (killing COTs in less than 24 hours under both experimental and field conditions), inexpensive and widely available method for killing COTs.

A big THANK YOU to those who reported to us and joined us in removing COTs!