Marudu bay dwindiling marine and coastal resources need urgent attention
KOTA KINABALU: Marudu Bay’s dwindling marine and coastal resources need urgent attention to arrest further deterioration.
Deputy team leader of the Coastal and Marine Resources Management in the Coral Triangle: Southeast Asia Project, Datuk Dr Beth Baikan, said the urgency was more acute with the reported decline of fish landings from bagang (lift-nets) and the collapse of the mussel industry that used to provide livelihoods and income to the local community.
Marudu Bay is the focus of the application of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), a management framework for coastal zones to ensure sustainable use of coastal resources.
“As such, we hope to complement the work or initiatives undertaken by the state agencies and researchers, so that we do not reinvent the wheel,” Dr Baikan said in a statement here.
She said the two-year project hoped to conclude with a firm ICZM plan for implementation.
“ICZM is relevant if we want to ensure food security in Sabah in the long run,” she said.
Dr Baikan’ view was shared by Prof Datuk Dr Nor Aieni Moktar, the project’s resource person who made numerous visits to Marudu Bay while she was the Director of National Oceanography Directorate, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, who said that ICZM was a dynamic process for the sustainable management and the use of coastal zones.
“The concept takes into account the fragility of the ecosystem and landscapes, the diversity of activities and uses, their interactions, the maritime orientation of certain activities and uses and their impact on both the marine and land parts.
“The livelihood of the local community is enhanced through sustainable management of coastal resources,” Dr Nor Aieni, who is now Universiti Teknologi Malaysia lecturer, said.
She was also confident that there were sufficient natural assets in Marudu Bay to be conserved, developed and packaged into attractive eco-tourism products that could have significant impact on the income of the people.
Among the potential products are the mangroves, proboscis monkeys, birds (53 species documented), river tours (numerous rivers flow into Marudu Bay), fireflies watching and fishing, she added.
Marudu Bay is part of the proposed Tun Mustapha Park, a project approved by the Sabah government in 2003. With a total area of over 800,000 hectares, the project covers the resource-rich Marudu Bay and the coastal waters surrounding the islands of Balambangan, Banggi, Maliangin and others. — BERNAMA
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