Cintai Tioman is a 10-year old programme designed to enhance the resilience of coral reefs and social resilience of the community on Pulau Tioman. Reef Check Malaysia, with the help of Yayasan Sime Darby as sponsor, aims to meet several objectives through the programme, including:
Reducing local impacts to the reefs
Building capacity of local community and empowering them to take greater roles in coral reef conservation and management
IUCN Green List Accreditation for Tioman Island Marine Park
Coral Reef Surveys
Tioman coral reef surveys for 2021 were carried out in April. The success of these surveys were due to the collaboration from different stakeholders — EcoDivers from Dept. of Fisheries Pahang, Tioman Marine Conservation Group, Tioman Dive Association and Reef Check Malaysia. The methodology used was Reef Check. Tioman has 18 permanent survey sites that have been monitored yearly. Data collection is crucial for assessing reef health, identifying threats faced by reefs and finding solutions. Annual survey reports for Tioman can be downloaded at www.reefcheck.org.my/annual-reports.
Rumah Hijau Kampung Paya
The newest recycling collection centre that has been recently set up on Tioman Island is Rumah Hijau Kampung Paya. Now each village on Tioman Island has its own recycling collection centre. A huge thank you to Hussain for your willingness to manage Rumah Hijau Kampung Paya. We would also like to thank everyone who helped to build the recycling collection centre. Now, the residents at Paya can send their recyclables such as plastic bottles, glass bottles, cans and electrical appliances to Rumah Hijau Kampung Paya. The building of this Rumah Hijau was sponsored by Ocean Conservancy.
Mooring Buoy and Mooring Line Installation
In April, Reef Check Malaysia together with Department of Fisheries Pahang, Tioman Marine Conservation Group and Tioman Dive Association installed a total of 14 mooring buoys and mooring lines at Batu Malang, Fan Canyon, Sepoi, Labas, Chebeh, Teluk Kador, Teluk Dalam, Soyak and Tomok.
Water Refill Station
In an effort to reduce the use of single-use plastic bottles, a total of 15 water refill stations were set up around Tioman Island. In each village, there are 2 to 3 new water refill stations. These water filters were sponsored by Just a Place.
Ghost Nets Removal
A total of 700kg ghost nets were removed from Chebeh, Teluk Kador, Batu Nipah, Soyak, Air Batang, Marine Park Centre Jetty, Renggis, Munjur, Tekek, Genting, Nipah and Tedau. The success of these efforts was due to collaboration from Reef Check Malaysia, Department of Fisheries Pahang, Tioman Marine Conservation Group, Freedive Tioman, B&J Dive Centre and Sorte Met Stella Scuba. Ghost nets stuck on reefs can damage corals and trap marine life such as sharks, turtles and fishes which very often cause death or injuries to these marine life.