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
Ghost Net Removal
Ghost nets are fishing nets that are abandoned, lost, or dumped at sea. These ghost nets are often caught on coral reefs or continue to drift in the ocean, entangling and killing marine life.
From January to December 2021, a total of 37 nets weighing 4650kg was successfully removed from the reefs around Tioman Island. This effort was made possible by TMCG members and dive centres in Tioman, with funding from the Department of Fisheries Malaysia, Ministry of Finance, Tenaka, Little Sarong and Yayasan SIME Darby.
BASIC trekking GUIDE COURSE
A total of 20 islanders from 7 villages in Pulau Tioman participated in a Basic Trekking Guide Course from 27-29 October 2021 at Kampung Mukut. Conducted by the Malaysia Nature Guide Association (MANAGA) and funded by MOF, this course aimed to train and provide new exposure to participants in skills related to guiding tourists and conducting jungle activities safely.
crown-of-thorns injection
The Crown of Thrones (COT) has long, venomous thorns and they eat corals. Some of the reasons for the increase of COTs are overfishing, increased nutrients in the water and climate change.
From October to December 2021, TMCG members and dive centres killed 406 Cots. Thank you to everyone involved in the effort.
reef rehabilitation
Through out the year TMCG members have been working on our coral nurseries, conducting maintenance and monitoring to ensure that the rehabilitated corals are growing healthily.
Now that we have newly certified TMCG members in the other villages, we plan to extended the reef rehabilitation efforts to other villages next year.
Green Hotel Assessment
Another achievement for 2021 was the successful evaluation of 44 resorts and hotels on Tioman Island under the ASEAN Green Hotel Standard assessment programme.
Each accommodation is rated based on 10 criteria that aims to encourage environmentally friendly business operations that consciously take steps to preserve and conserve the environment.
Eco Diver Course Training
In early October, Reef Check Malaysia organized an EcoDiver course with the Department of Fisheries.
27 participants from that Department and the Association of Administrative and Diplomatic Services were successfully trained as Ecodivers.
As EcoDivers now, they will be able to volunteer in conducting Reef Check surveys and collecting data to assess the health of our reefs.