A three-week Coral Seas Roadshow in Semporna and here reached 4,000 primary pupils and adults on the importance of conserving coral reefs, said its organisers.
Audiences changed their "fear" of sharks to "admiration" when they discovered that falling coconuts have killed more people than shark attacks, the organisers claimed, in a statement.
UK-based Marine Conservation Society and the Sabah Parks conducted the outreach and awareness programme through the Semporna Islands Darwin Project (SIDP).
The roadshow team used inflatable live-size models of turtles, dolphins, sharks and humphead wrasse to highlight how humans have threatened these species and what they can do to protect them. In an interactive fashion, team members asked participants what they felt were the biggest environmental issues in their area.
Indiscriminate disposal of rubbish, especially plastic bags, was unanimously voted a very serious threat, according to the statement.
But unless and until "all work together," there is little hope of preventing the teeming reefs, world famous islands and beaches of Semporna from being "completely spoilt," teacher Datu Mustapha bin Datu A from the Humana "Lil-Babs Learning Centre" in Pulau Bum-Bum, was quoted as saying.
Mustapha argued that flooding the younger generation with insight why protecting the environment is a "must" and the adverse consequences of destructive human actions, is "vital."
The audiences learnt first hand how quickly they can turn a healthy coral reef filled with fish to a desolate marine landscape of no value to anyone, through a popular game tagged "Build Your Own Reef," where the destructive power of fish bombing and over-fishing were "graphically illustrated."
Audiences changed their "fear" of sharks to "admiration" when they discovered that falling coconuts have killed more people than shark attacks, the organisers claimed, in a statement.
UK-based Marine Conservation Society and the Sabah Parks conducted the outreach and awareness programme through the Semporna Islands Darwin Project (SIDP).
The roadshow team used inflatable live-size models of turtles, dolphins, sharks and humphead wrasse to highlight how humans have threatened these species and what they can do to protect them. In an interactive fashion, team members asked participants what they felt were the biggest environmental issues in their area.
Indiscriminate disposal of rubbish, especially plastic bags, was unanimously voted a very serious threat, according to the statement.
But unless and until "all work together," there is little hope of preventing the teeming reefs, world famous islands and beaches of Semporna from being "completely spoilt," teacher Datu Mustapha bin Datu A from the Humana "Lil-Babs Learning Centre" in Pulau Bum-Bum, was quoted as saying.
Mustapha argued that flooding the younger generation with insight why protecting the environment is a "must" and the adverse consequences of destructive human actions, is "vital."
The audiences learnt first hand how quickly they can turn a healthy coral reef filled with fish to a desolate marine landscape of no value to anyone, through a popular game tagged "Build Your Own Reef," where the destructive power of fish bombing and over-fishing were "graphically illustrated."
Continue reading at: Semporna Islands Darwin Project's Coral Seas Roadshow
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