(MY) proposed biggest oceanarium

[Guest guest]

Tuesday November 18, 2008 - The Star Proposed project touted as marine

wonder

 

KOTA KINABALU: The envisaged Mabul Oceanarium is being touted as " a marine

habitat wonder " in a proposal submitted to the state government by a

two-ringgit registered company.

 

Calling it Malaysia's " first and biggest oceanarium in a natural setting "

and a project " to give back to nature, " the proposal dated Sept 25, 2007

stated that fish aggregating devices (FADs) would be used to attract marine

life.

 

It stated that although construction of artificial reefs to enhance fish

breeding in sea was something new to this region, Japan for example, had

long practised it.

 

The purpose of the artificial reef construction in Mabul waters would be for

fish resource development, fish and coral resource rehabilitation, tourist

attraction and monitoring biological and ecological aspects.

 

Included in the artificial reef would be concrete reef balls as well as

commercially available culverts, concrete hollow blocks and other concrete

structures.

 

To attract smaller fishes, artificial sea grass made from rubber bands

attached to plastic mat or wire me-sh cages would be used.

 

The proposal stated that villages offering 214 sea-view bungalows and

semi-detached villas with

 

side pools and spa villas would be built in stages around the oceanarium.

 

Apart from 10 dive sites of 4ha each, there would also be private jetties

with staff quarters for scientists and workers as well maritime research

facilities including laboratories.

 

The project is estimated to cost RM4.3mil to build, although critics claimed

it would be very much higher.

 

The proposal also gave an estimate of RM10,000 each month for building

maintenance of the Mabul Oceanographic research centre and another RM20,000

each month for maintaining the oceanarium.

 

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Monday November 17, 2008 - The Star Mabul natives cry foul By P.K.

KATHARASON and MUGUNTAN VANAR

 

MABUL ISLAND: Native Bajau villager Fung Haji Sappari feels that outsiders

are robbing his family's right to customary land as scenic Mabul Island

grows in popularity with tourists and divers.

 

" Not right. How can they do it? Several years ago I also applied for 15

acres around the same spot. It was not approved, " said Fung, 50, pointing to

the 33ha parcel of shallows approved for the proposed oceanarium resort by a

local company.

 

He said the area belonged to the Bajau Laut families who have the customary

right over it as they have been using the area for fishing, transport and

passage for hundreds of years.

 

Fung is the operator of the 15-room Arung Hayat longhouse homestay and his

family was one of the first four Bajau families to stay put on Mabul Island

since the 1970s.

 

" My ancestral burial ground is here, " said Fung, explaining that as Bajaus

or sea gypsies, they lived in boats in the past and only set foot on land to

bury their dead.

Eco-tourism benefits: Villagers on Mabul live side by side with the

existing resort operators who provide them with jobs.

 

He said the villagers feared being moved out of Mabul once the oceanarium

resort venture was completed. At present they could live side by side with

the existing resort operators, who provided the villagers with jobs.

 

Most of the 2,000 Bajau and Suluks staying on the island are considered

squatters by the Semporna land office as they moved in only in the last

decade.

 

Fung and several older villagers said Mabul Island was unknown to the

outside world, except to a few Tawau and Semporna people who came over for

weekend fishing trips.

 

Sometime in the mid-1990s, they said a Swiss TV crew came over to Mabul to

film the *Survival* series, which led to the opening of the Sipadan-Mabul

Resort (SMART) on the island shores beside the village, before it later

extended to the sea.

 

The April 2000 Abu Sayyaf attack on the Sipadan Island chalets and the

kidnapping of 21 tourists, including Malaysians, saw more tourists opting to

stay on Mabul.

 

In December 2004, the Govern–ment ordered the closure of all chalets

operating on Sipadan Island to prevent environmental degradation of the

reefs and later restricted the number of divers to Sipadan to 120 per day.

 

This led to other dive operators, including Borneo Divers, Water Village and

Sea Adventure, moving their resort operations to Mabul, with SMART and local

homestay operators increasing the number of chalets and rooms to some 300.

 

Fung and other homestay operators said the local people feel cheated because

the Semporna land office kept rejecting their applications for TOL to build

new chalets but has now approved a sea area bigger than the size of the 25ha

Mabul Island to an outside company.

 

They also want to know how the land office could approve the tenure of the

area to the company for 60 or 99 years when all other existing resorts on

Mabul waters were granted TOL for only three to five years.

 

The bigger resort operators are also opposing the approval but are reluctant

to voice their criticisms to the media, for fear that their respective TOLs,

due for renewal soon, might be rejected.

 

 

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-

 

 

Sunday November 16, 2008 - The Star Concern over Mabul resort plan By P.

KATHARASON

 

SEMPORNA: A plan to build Malay­sia's first and biggest oceana­rium resort

of luxury chalets in Mabul, in the east coast of Sabah, is facing a wave of

opposition.

 

Environmentalists, villagers and dive operators warn that the proposed

project on a 33ha parcel of shallows will bring disaster to Mabul marine

life and may also degrade the eco-sensitive coral reefs of Pulau Sipadan, a

20-minute boat ride away.

 

Application for a 99-year lease for the parcel facing south of Sipadan was

first put in by a local company based in Kota Kinabalu in September last

year.

Unspoilt, for now: The parcel of 33ha of shallows at Mabul where the

oceanarium is approved to be constructed. The island in the background is

Sipadan.

 

The Semporna Assistant Collector of Land Revenue approved the application

early this year and the Sabah Cabinet endorsed it last month, according to

state officials.

 

They said the project was supposed to be undertaken by a local and Japanese

joint venture based on an environment-friendly building concept.

 

Work will only commence after a thorough study of the environment impact

assessment report.

 

The sources added that the oceanarium would be surrounded by five villages

of more than 200 sea-view bungalows and semi-detached villas, with side

pools and spa villas as well as staff and scientist quarters.

 

Sabah Environment Protection Association president Wong Tack asked if the

oceanarium was necessary because one could easily see fishes swimming in the

clear Mabul waters.

Tourist attractions: Holiday chalets on Mabul island. Dive operators

believe that the existing chalets in the area are enough to cater to tourist

needs.

 

" How can approval be given to such a massive project before the terms of the

EIA are known? " he asked.

 

Citing scientific studies of corals in tourism islands such as Fiji and

elsewhere, Wong said any major construction activity in the shallows is

bound to have negative impact on the reefs.

 

He added that tonnes of construction material would have to be brought in by

barge and sand pumped in from the shores of the island, thus heavily

impacting the rich exotic Mabul marine life.

 

Wong said the authority that approved the resort project should remember

what happened in Sipadan in 2006 when a construction barge ran aground,

destroying a coral reef patch the size of three tennis courts and putting

Malaysia in a bad light.

 

He said the existing four resorts for higher-bracket tourists and five to 10

home-stay places for backpackers with a total of more than 250 rooms

provided enough accommodation for 120 divers given permits to dive in

Sipadan waters every day.

 

Wong said the 2,000 local Bajau and Suluk villagers living on Mabul island

were also worried about relocation and that their historic grave site would

be removed to make way for the oceanarium resort project.

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