In April, our Mersing colleagues successfully documented coral spawning events in the Mersing islands. Coral spawning is a rare occurrence of only once or twice a year. whereby corals reproduce by releasing their eggs and sperm simultaneously into the water. Once fertilised, the larvae travel to different locations, attach to suitable substrates and then establish new coral colonies.
We used the “bottle trap” method to trap some coral eggs from selected coral colonies at Pulau Sibu and Pulau Tinggi. This unique observation of coral spawning provides us with an understanding of how coral reefs grow and expand.
A bottle tied to a coral reef area (bottle trap method)
Bottle trap after one week
Similar to Tioman, the waters around Mersing also have seen their fair share of ghost nets. Just this quarter alone, our team removed a whopping 301kg of ghost nets from multiple reef locations around Pulau Sibu Kukus, Pulau Pemanggil and Pulau Aur. These underwater clean-ups were made successful with strong collaboration with local stakeholders and partners. Watch how we conduct our underwater clean-ups here.
A diver removing one of the ghost nets found
Our colleagues also organised a ‘Food Handling Training Course’, as part of our efforts to upskill the island communities and promote sustainable economic development in the Mersing Islands. 36 members of the island community from Pulau Pemanggil and Pulau Aur joined this course, which helped equip them with proper knowledge and various skills in the area of food handling.
Participants listening intently during the Food Handling Course