(MY) ecological nightmare

[Guest guest]

An ecological nightmare-New Straits Times*24 Sep 2006*

Jessica Lim & Elizabeth John <news

 

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*Pulau Tioman's controversial RM40 million public marina, now a year into

its construction, is 'choking' the surrounding coral reef. The future looks

bleak for the surviving corals. JESSICA LIM and ELIZABETH JOHN talk to the

experts who are frantically trying to do damage control.

*

BRILLIANT blue-lipped giant clams and lacy sea fans lie choking under a

blanket of mud and silt at what was one of the world's most favoured diving

spots.

 

 

Scientists on marine surveys had been the first to see these omens — signs

of the ecological nightmare that was predicted even before work on Pulau

Tioman's controversial RM40-million public marina began.

 

Now, a year into its construction, the surrounding coral reef is breathing

its last.

 

Experts like coral reef ecologist Affendi Yang Amri estimate that all coral

life within a 30-metre radius of the site has been devastated by

construction sediment and heavy piling.

 

Over the past four years, Affendi and his students from Universiti Malaya

have dived in the glassy waters around the project site near the island's

gateway, Kampung Tekek.

 

Prior to the construction, they found 220 coral species in waters

surrounding the site, 17 of which were considered rare worldwide. These

included at least 200 giant clams, classified as " vulnerable " on the Red

List of threatened species.

 

" All the clams in this area have died, " he says. " They're all being

smothered. Even if something's still alive under all that sediment, it

hasn't long to live. "

 

Huge table corals, some as wide as an eight-seater dining table, have

toppled over from the force of piling. Gorgonian sea fans have disappeared.

Fish have fled, and the seabed is full of dead corals covered with algae,

says Affendi.

 

He adds that the number of black sea urchins in the area was three times

higher than normal, a sign of unhealthy levels of dead corals.

 

For surviving coral beyond the 30m radius, the future looks bleak. Under

stress from the sediment that shrouds them, the corals excrete mucus to

remove it from their rainbow-hued bodies. But this slimy protector prevents

the corals' tentacles from emerging to capture food.

 

If they can't feed, they will starve to death, Affendi says.

 

Sedimentation is a major headache in any construction project on an

environmentally-sensitive island like Tioman, says Universiti Malaya

sedimentologist Dr Azhar Hussin. And harmful effects from the large-scale

marina project will never end, says the deputy director at Universiti

Malaya's Maritime Research Centre.

 

" When the marina is finally finished, the core sediments will settle. Then,

the silt. But the mud, which is very fine, will hang around forever and

choke the corals. "

 

Silt traps, he added, were ineffective against this fine-grained mud.

 

 

 

The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry's parliamentary secretary

Datuk Sazmi Miah is deeply concerned about the silt and damage to corals.

 

He says the corals' survival rate " isn't exactly beautiful " and based on his

onsite inspection on Monday, he believes poorly managed silt traps are part

of the problem.

 

 

 

Water on both sides of the traps were the same murky colour, Dr Mohd

Kushairi Rajuddin, the coastal ecologist from Universiti Industri Selangor

in Shah Alam, said after conducting checks. The silt curtains were so full

of silt , green algae had grown on it, he added.

 

 

 

The Tioman Development Authority said it is taking strict measures to ensure

things were done properly.

 

TDA general manager Datuk Hashim Mat Tahir said their project co-ordinator

had engaged consultants to monitor the situation.

 

" So far, everything is okay, " he insists. " We're looking into the silt traps

and will fix it immediately. "

 

New Sunday Times' checks found that repair works on the traps had begun on

Wednesday.

 

Yet, this could be a little too late for folk like Hasnizah Hassan, who

manages a cluster of chalets on the Kampung Tekek beach front.

 

It used to be the most popular beach, she says. Tourists could snorkel

around the reefs which grew just metres from the beach line where her

chalets were located.

 

" The corals are now all choked by sand. You have to swim much further, or

take a boat out to see some 'okay-looking' corals. "

 

Nowadays, tourists only treat Kampung Tekek as a stopover for duty-free

shopping.

 

" I don't understand it. It's not the duty-free shops that make tourists come

to Tioman. It's the corals. But this is what they are destroying. "