Malaysia: Corals bouncing back to life

Evangeline Majawat New Straits Times 16 Nov 10;

KUALA LUMPUR: Up to 80 per cent of Malaysia's corals have recovered from the mass bleaching which affected the region in July.

This is good news to divers, tour operators and environmentalists, who are deeply concerned about the health of the corals.

The mass coral bleaching, which is also happened in neighbouring Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, forced the closure of 12 dive spots in Kedah, Pahang and Terengganu.

The Marine Parks Department has banned all recreational activities in the 12 spots including the famous Pulau Tenggol in Redang and Pulau Perhentian Besar in Pulau Perhentian. The ban has been extended to March.

But some sites have shown a remarkable recovery of up to 80 per cent.

"The department had conducted studies on the affected areas. It was reported that most of the corals have shown positive signs of recovery," said the department's newly-appointed director-general Dr Sukarno Wagiman yesterday.


He said the ban was necessary to reduce the human impact on the corals.

"Temperature, salinity and levels of ultraviolet radiation are factors that will affect the rate of coral recovery.

"Human disturbance will also contribute to the rate."


Sukarno admitted that the number of tourists dipped slightly with the closure of the 12 sites. He estimated the total arrival of tourists to marine parks in Johor, Kedah, Pahang and Terengganu this year to fall between 1,000 and 4,000 people.

"But I'm confident that the number will bounce back once we reopen the sites."

As of August this year, the department registered about 491,000 tourists in marine parks in Peninsular Malaysia. Last year saw about 530,000.

Coral bleaching happens when the colourful algae that gives coral its colour and food dies, turning it into a bone white colour.

It is thought that a temperature increase of more than one degree Celsius and excessive sunlight trigger the single-celled algae zooxanthellae to attack the corals.

Beginning April this year, easterly winds from the cooler waters of the Pacific Ocean have been pushing warmer waters into the Southeast Asian region.

This has caused significantly warmer waters of between 30degC and 32degC.