Saturday, May 20, 2017

RM1.2 mln from US for Tun Mustapha Marine Park


KUDAT: The Tun Mustapha Marine Park shows promising growth as it continues to receive support which is aimed toward equipping the park with better features.

Sabah Parks director Dr Jamili Nais said the park had even received RM1.2 million funding from the United States of America, to conduct research in order to manage the park efficiently.

“The US government had promised a RM1.2 million allocation for the benefit of research into park necessities in terms of reinforcement.

“It will also involve them giving us recommendations, such as investing in faster or bigger boats, radar and strategic placement of security posts, as well as how best to utilise limited resources to operate such an expansive park,” he told the media during the one-year anniversary celebration of the Tun Mustapha Marine Park cum launch of Sabah Parks’ Kudat office, yesterday.

Of the early recommendations received by Sabah Parks was to engage in strategic partnerships, which prompted cooperation with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) to harness its assets and capabilities.

Other efforts include setting up a special taskforce for the park’s 100-day plan prior to gazettement, collaborating with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Malaysia, official visits and discussions with district offices, on-field surveillance operations while transmitting information to fishermen, human resource development and identifying strategic locations for substation construction and security post placement and preparing exploration plans for islands and villages to raise awareness within the local community and gain their support.

Jamili added that although the Tun Mustapha Marine Park Scientific Expedition had formally ended, research will be conducted continually and is always welcomed at the park.

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