Thursday, January 14, 2010

Gayana Island's MERC bestowed Most Innovative Tourist Award

KOTA KINABALU: The Marine Ecology Research Centre (MERC) at Gayana Eco Resort was recently honoured with the Most Innovative Tourist Award 2008/2009 by Tourism Malaysia.

The award is in recognition of MERC’s commitment in positioning Sabah as the destination for nature and environment.

“Two years ago, MERC started a journey to return to the environment what humans have exploited in the past. The global concern for climate change and the deteriorating marine resources prompted MERC to take a step beyond than just co-existing with the environment or practising sustainable development,” said MERC project director Alvin Wong during a media briefing at the resort yesterday.

“In our own little way, MERC has taken the effort to return to our marine ecosystem what we had lost or in danger of losing permanently. We started these programmes to create life of species threatened by extinction. The journey is a long one and filled with challenges which we are constantly overcoming through innovative ideas and creative approaches”.

To date, he said MERC has successfully produced all the seven species of giant clams found in Malaysia where some have already reached more than one inch in length and soon would be relocated from the settlement tanks to the sea.

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