KOTA KINABALU: The proposed 33-hectare oceanarium resort in Mabul Island, located in the Sabah East Coast, will not destroy the coral reefs.
Rather, it would help ease pressure from the diving crowd coming from neighbouring Sipadan island, said state tourism, culture & environment minister Datuk Masidi Manjun yesterday.
He said the government was initiating efforts to restore the coral reefs which he claimed, had already been destroyed over the past 15 years due to illegal usage of fish bombs.
“I am not trying to defend the oceanarium… what the oceanarium is trying to create is a diving spot by rehabilitating the coral and marine life so that people need not go to Sipadan but just stay in Mabul.
“The whole idea is to disperse the diving crowd so that it eases the pressure on Sipadan,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the state legislative assembly sitting.
Continue reading at: Mabul Island Oceanarium won't destroy coral
I disagree with Datuk Masidi Manjun as using the excuse that building the oceanarium will ease pressure on Sipadan is weak. There are already measures imposed on the existing resorts on Mabul island to reduce the number of divers visiting Sipadan which has had a great effect in reducing the pressure on the island and its marine life. The building of this proposed oceanarium will only encourage further pressure on Mabul island, recreating the problem that there was on Sipadan in the first place - heaves of people ruining a beautiful and serene island. The focus of global tourism at the moment is heavily on conservation and "eco-tourism", and if plans for a resort which will comprise of 214 bungalows/villas with additional side pools (which will no doubt require a lot of time and materials to build) is to go ahead, I'm sure it will give a very strong message as to how Malaysia is heading in terms of its attitudes towards the environment and the tourism trade.
ReplyDelete