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

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Acknowledgement We thank our project donors from WWF-Netherlands, the Hupkes Family in Netherlands, and the Adessium Foundation. Thanks to Reef Check Malaysia for providing training to our stakeholders in Semporna PCA. Thanks to all Reef Check surveyors consisting of professional divemasters from local dive operators and volunteers (Bobby Joanes Basolius, Richard Usah, Hardy Habirah, Allister Lee, Ron Freddy, Glenn L, Ronny Bin Lobin, Jessica Mikiu Tiongsoh, Jennifer E. Missi, Andreas K. Stephen, Subuh Yunus @ Stephen, Melvin Mijoh, Lorence J. Laisang, Julia Ng Su Chen, Yusran Maidin, Joseph Chung, Alex Canumay, Wendy E.Delacruz, Honarius Basil, SF Chong, Daniel Doughty, Japson Wong, Obata Kenichi) who participated in this survey. Thanks also to Angela Lim for patiently editing and formatting this report. We also thank Sikula Magupin for producing informative maps for this report. v
Introduction The Semporna district lies at the extreme southeast corner of the east Malaysian state of Sabah in the Sulawesi Sea. The district waters contain parts of the globally significant (for biodiversity) Semporna Priority Conservation Area (PCA) of the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion (SSME). This area lies well within the Coral Triangle and thus is within the richest areas in the world. Malaysia’s largest concentration of coral reefs is found here, along with large expanses of mangroves and seagrass beds. The area boasts a wide diversity of coral reef geomorphology, including a barrier reef formation, fringing reefs, patch reefs, a pre-atoll, and Sipadan Island, an oceanic seamount. There is one existing marine protected area in the district which covers 350 km 2 out of the approximately 7680 km 2 of Semporna PCA. The Tun Sakaran Marine Park contains 8 islands and is the first marine protected area in Malaysia to include local communities within its boundaries. Sipadan Island’s waters are proposed as a park and the intention to gazette was published in mid-2009. The status of the coral reefs in Semporna is largely unsurveyed and unreported to date, except for areas that have been surveyed by Sabah Parks, the University Malaysia Sabah, the Marine Conservation Society (UK), and WWF-Malaysia. These have been limited particularly to Sipadan Island and the Tun Sakaran Marine Park. Sipadan Island survey data in 1994 show that live hard coral cover at shallow reefs (5–10 m) was high in all areas (up to 95%). Whereas the mid-depth slope (10–25 m) with the best coral growth cover was estimated between 25–50% (Wood 1994). The Tun Sakaran Marine Park had an average percentage of hard coral cover at the reef rim and upper slope from 11–30% in conclusion of survey and monitoring programmes over a 10-year period since 1998. (Wood et al. 2008) Coral reefs form the foundation of the economy in Semporna for local community fisheries and the tourism industry. Semporna’s fisheries products extracted from coral reef areas include collection of fish for the regional live reef fish trade and consumption in local seafood restaurants. The coral reefs of Sipadan and Mabul are increasingly popular international dive destinations, and interest in dive tourism is expanding throughout the district. The Semporna PCA was ranked as globally significant for its high biodiversity and rich mix of habitat types in a workshop of local and international experts in 2001 (Stakeholders of SSME et al. 2003). It is a priority site for Marine Industry and Tourism Zone in the Government’s Sabah Development Corridor planning document (State Government of Sabah 2007). It was included on the “A” list for recommendation for nomination as a marine natural World Heritage Site (Hillary et al. 2002). As a high priority site within the SSME, it is also a high priority site in the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security. This report documents the first comprehensive survey of the status of coral reefs in Semporna. The results will be used as baseline data for the monitoring and management of natural marine resources in Semporna PCA. 1
Page 1 and 2: Reef Status of Semporna Priority Co
Page 3 and 4: WWF-Malaysia (PN. No. 777/4) Sabah
Page 5: Acronyms GCRMN GPS ICRI PCA SCUBA S
Page 9 and 10: Map 1: Semporna Priority Conservati
Page 11 and 12: The surveys are usually done along
Page 13 and 14: Very few invertebrate indicator spe
Page 15 and 16: Substrate Charts 6 and 7 show the l
Page 17 and 18: Fish Total fish densities along tra
Page 19 and 20: To enhance the conservation of cora
Page 21 and 22: Appendix Appendix 1: Map of Semporn
Page 23 and 24: Appendix 3: Map of Semporna PCA Liv
Page 25 and 26: Appendix 5: Table of General Resour
Page 27 and 28: Appendix 7: Chart of Percentage of
Page 29 and 30: Appendix 9: Table of Number and Den
Page 31: WWF-Malaysia, the national conserva

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

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