Reef Status of Semporna Priority Conservation ... - WWF Malaysia

Discussion
In general, the surveys indicate that most of the reefs are over-exploited and stressed by
fishing activities. The reefs of the Southern and Northern islands have similar hard coral
cover. There are no reefs with coral cover which falls in the excellent category, and the
majority of surveyed reefs fall in the poor and fair categories with less than 50% hard
coral cover. This can be partly attributed to potentially low natural coral cover or is
indicative of human impacts on the reefs.
Important observations from some of the indicator species merit special attention. There
was no humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) observed during the surveys. The sole
populations of humphead wrasse in Semporna are found on the reefs of Sipadan which
are protected from fishing and destructive fishing practices by the presence of Sabah
Parks and divers. Additionally, very few grouper (Serranidae) were observed during the
surveys. These results indicate overfishing of these commercially and ecologically
important species.
During the invertebrate observations, it was found that 99% of all invertebrates were
Diadema sea urchins. Diadema are also concentrated on some reefs and largely absent on
others. This can indicate pressures on those reefs that promote Diadema populations or a
lack of natural predators.
Some areas in Semporna benefit from de facto local based management protection
systems such as those enforced by dive resorts. The reefs around Mabul appear, from
anecdotal evidence, to be recovering from years of blast fishing. The resorts on Mabul
have been limiting bomb fishing for many years, and engaging in conservation and coral
replanting activities. However, the anthropogenic pressure on the reefs has shifted from
fishing activities to tourism activities which can lead to other stresses such as pollution
and reef damage caused by negligent divers and snorkelers.
Based on the comparison of recent and previous surveys, there appears to be some
possible improvement in the condition of the reefs in some areas. For example, average
coral cover in Ligitan Island was 18.7% before (Pilcher & Cabanban 2000), and the
recent survey of Ligitan reefs showed that average coral cover has slight increased to
20%. Likewise, average coral cover in Mabul Island increased from 15.8% (Pilcher &
Cabanban 2000) to 17.6 % (Aw 2007). Besides this, Kapalai Island with its resort that
started operating since February 1998 has significant improvement of coral cover from
17.9% to 27% (Pilcher & Cabanban 2000). The improvement in condition of reefs can be
expected in some areas due to the conservation efforts from the tourism sector. The
conditions of reefs will further improve if more management efforts are implemented and
existing regulations are better enforced.
Semporna requires regular monitoring of all reef areas to inform management decisions.
Monitoring should be done collaboratively with responsible management agencies, the
tourism sector and local communities to follow the common vision for Semporna and to
promote an interest in managing Semporna’s marine resources for sustainability. This
first report provides a baseline for future monitoring and tracking of resource trends in
the area.
12