By Olivia Miwil - June 26, 2021 @ 3:47pm
SEMPORNA: The Sabah government will expedite damage assessment and early restoration for the corals off Mabul island here which were wrecked by a barge yesterday.
State Tourism, Culture and Environment minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin was referring to the Paradise One dive site where a vessel heavily flattened the rare and healthy coral colonies.
The barge was carrying construction materials to build the Eastern Sabah Security Command Front Operation Base at the island.
Based on records by Department of Environmental Protection (JPAS), the project was given the approval of the Proposed Mitigation Measures Report (PMM Report) on February 8.
The contractor is Hartamas Borneo Sdn Bhd while the coordinating agency is Sabah Project Team under the Federal Public Works department.
"I take the incident of coral damage in the waters of Mabul island seriously as it involves coral reefs that take hundreds of years to grow.
"The first step to be taken is to do an assessment on the level of damage and recommend restoration measures," he said, adding early restoration could help to reposition and reverse the damaged corals to help them stay alive.
Jafry added the agencies especially Sabah Parks which are under his ministry had experience in restoring damaged corals including the incident at Sipadan island in 2006 involving a barge and Kudat's Tun Mustapha Park corals which were hit by MV Lewang ship in 2019.
This morning the district office together with relevant agencies inspected the site and the barge was also removed from the coral site.
He also added that JPAS, with the help from Sabah Parks, would also make an immediate survey and investigate further whether there are violations of the PMM report.
As the Mabul site is not located and protected under Sabah Parks nor the Wildlife department, Jafry said it would be hard to take legal action.
The Sabah Fisheries department is unable to do anything as there is no provision under the Fisheries Act 1985 to handle damaged corals outside of protected areas.
For the Kudat incident, the Sabah government managed to get a compensation of RM300,000 from the vessel owner, Syarikat Rimbaru Sdn Bhd, which damaged 3,106.71 square metres of corals.
The money was used for restoration in September last year using reef balls off Kalampunian waters in Kudat.
"If there are any loopholes in terms of jurisdiction and enforcement, this will be handled together to ensure every part of Sabah has the necessary laws for protection and enforcement, especially on the environment.
"This ministry will continue to monitor and I will follow up on this matter, especially on the restoration of damaged corals from time to time."
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