TAWAU: The Reef Dive Resort at Mataking Island held its annual reef day and reef check, themed ‘Communities working together’, recently.They welcomed students of four schools to the island to partake in an exciting combination of education, beach and underwater clean-ups and fun.
They were from SMK Datuk Panglima Abdullah, SMK Kabogan II, Humana and Sekolah Menengah Visi school A team of police officers based on the island, the army at Pandanan Island, WWF and Reef Check Malaysia also joined in the activity.
Mataking Resort manager Luke Cox said this was a shining example of operators, agencies and the community working together as one in order to make the area a better place.
“Work at the resort was combined with a strong element of fun as the children from the schools took part in snorkeling around the island and an island treasure hunt.
“Three islands were involved in the big clean-up which included Mataking Besar, Mataking Kecil and for the first time ever, Pandanan Island,” he said.
The marine biologist for the resort, Amelia Ng, disclosed that a staggering 745kg of plastic and other wastes were removed from the three islands, which was marginally less than last year’s event.
“We cleaned more islands this year and recovered less waste. We believe this is due to our increasing daily patrols to keep our beaches clean and the local community more aware of what damage can potentially be done to the aquatic world around us by irresponsible rubbish disposal,” she added.
During this same period, Mataking became the first Reef Check Certified Facility in Sabah. They will now embark on a programme of surveys of coral reefs around Mataking and surrounding islands, to monitor their health and how they are changing.
They were from SMK Datuk Panglima Abdullah, SMK Kabogan II, Humana and Sekolah Menengah Visi school A team of police officers based on the island, the army at Pandanan Island, WWF and Reef Check Malaysia also joined in the activity.
Mataking Resort manager Luke Cox said this was a shining example of operators, agencies and the community working together as one in order to make the area a better place.
“Work at the resort was combined with a strong element of fun as the children from the schools took part in snorkeling around the island and an island treasure hunt.
“Three islands were involved in the big clean-up which included Mataking Besar, Mataking Kecil and for the first time ever, Pandanan Island,” he said.
The marine biologist for the resort, Amelia Ng, disclosed that a staggering 745kg of plastic and other wastes were removed from the three islands, which was marginally less than last year’s event.
“We cleaned more islands this year and recovered less waste. We believe this is due to our increasing daily patrols to keep our beaches clean and the local community more aware of what damage can potentially be done to the aquatic world around us by irresponsible rubbish disposal,” she added.
During this same period, Mataking became the first Reef Check Certified Facility in Sabah. They will now embark on a programme of surveys of coral reefs around Mataking and surrounding islands, to monitor their health and how they are changing.
Continue reading at: Mataking Island's annual reef day and reef check
.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment