Skills Upgrade

Our RCM colleague on Redang, Muhaimin, had the opportunity to undergo the Green Fins assessor training in Tioman Island in April. Following the course, Muhaimin is now a certified Green Fins assessor who will be conducting assessments for dive centres in Redang Island and around Kuala Terengganu that are interested in becoming Green Fins members. We’re also proud to announce that 4 new members of the RMCG are now certified Open Water divers. They were trained by a local dive instructor, who is also a member of the RMCG.

The four RMCG members who are now Open Water divers (trainer in the middle)

RMCG Activities

Our Redang Marine Conservation Group (RMCG) members have been up and about the last quarter. Here are some of their activities:

1. Three RMCG members conducted reef rehabilitation maintenance activities in Tanjung Ara in April. 

2. Three RMCG members conducted a beach clean-up in Tanjung Tengah, Long Beach. A majority of the items found during the clean-up were plastic waste. They then conducted a Crown of Thorns starfish (COTs) clean-up at the southern top of Pulau Lima. 

3. In May, four RMCG members conducted another round of reef rehabilitation maintenance and data collection on growth, this time in Tanjung Ara. 

4. RMCG members successfully removed around 300kg of drifted rope from Teluk Dalam, Redang Island. This rope posed a serious danger to boats operating around the island. The recovered rope has been handed over to the Department of Fisheries (DOF) for further action.

Crown of Thorns starfish (COTs) clean-up at the southern top of Pulau Lima

Overturned Boat

In early June, our Redang team was shocked and disappointed to learn that a boat carrying rubbish out of Redang Island to the mainland had sunk. It was later discovered that the boat was not only too small, but it was overloaded and not suitable for rubbish transfers activities. As a result of this, all the rubbish on the boat was strewn around the area, floating on the sea surface. A few RMCG members were deployed to help recover some of the rubbish bags that were floating in the water. 

Stakeholder Consultation and Meetings

We organised a one-day consultation session with officers from the Redang Marine Park, as well as stakeholders from Redang such as the local dive centres, snorkeling operators and resort management representatives. The focus of the discussion was the management practices of the Redang Marine Park.  

Our RCM colleagues also had the opportunity to participate in a meeting with PLAN Malaysia, together with JPKK Redang and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT). During this meeting, we discussed the operations of the upcycle machine in Redang Island and how we could help the local community generate income from using this machine.  

Participants during the Redang Marine Park consultation session