Our Mersing Islands programme is supported by MISC Berhad through its Heart of the Ocean marine biodiversity conservation programme, which aims to improve ocean health by supporting coral reef conservation, increasing reef resilience and reducing plastic litter in our ocean.

The unprecedented global pandemic has certainly affected the operating circumstances of every organisation be it small or large. We have not had the opportunity to conduct our community and stakeholder consultations with the communities of Sibu, Tinggi, Pemanggil, Besar and Aur since the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO). This being said, most of our field work and scheduled consultation activities are currently restricted.

To ensure that we carry on with our commitment, we’ve decided to carry out these consultation sessions via phone conversations with the resort operators on the island, as well as the villagers. These ongoing consultations are done to provide the island communities with a platform to communicate and express their concerns or expectation regarding their island’s marine park and resources management. It is interesting to know that majority of the stakeholders consulted agreed and would like to play a role in their island marine park and resource management.

In the following weeks, our team will continue the consultation session to understand other issues expressed by the communities so that we can identify the best way forward.

Our colleague taking down notes during a phone consultation session

As part of our advocacy efforts to raise the public’s awareness on the importance of coral reefs and the valuable role that they play in sustaining the marine ecosystem, we’ve recently began a monthly education series called #KnowingYourReefs or #KenaliTerumbuAnda. From March to December this year, the series will explore topics such as coral reef habitats, threats to coral reefs as well as coral reef conservation in the form of e-posters that are published on both our Facebook and Instagram social media accounts. These e-posters, containing simple information that helps people understand this amazing ecosystem, are available in English and Bahasa Malaysia. Based on an analysis on the postings that were uploaded from March to May, we received positive engagements on both social media channels. With this, we hope the momentum continues to build in the months to come as we continue to educate and increase the public’s awareness and appreciation.

Pasukan Pendidik Ekologi dan Alam Sekitar (PEDAS) is a Communication, Education and Public Awareness (CEPA) collaboration programme by Pejabat Pendidikan Daerah Mersing, Majlis Daerah Mersing, Cawangan Taman Laut & Pengurusan Sumber Mersing (Jabatan Perikanan), Reef Check Malaysia, Tengah Island Conservation, Trash Hero Mersing and MareCet. Our team has been regularly conducting PEDAS educational programmes for primary and secondary school students through interactive presentations and games. However, due to COVID-19, we’ve now turned to virtual presentation via Google Meet to carry out these activities, which aims to engage with these students to raise awareness on the marine environment and the issues it faces.

Part of the virtual session with the students

Recently, we carried out a virtual educational programme to share about “Coral Reefs” to three local schools in Mersing: SK LKTP Nitar 2, SMK Seri Mersing and SMK FELDA Tenggaroh A. This educational programme was aimed at creating awareness which will in turn ignite passion amongst the younger generation to have deeper care for the marine ecosystems. The students enjoyed the virtual presentation sessions and even made a request for us to share more videos of our field work for the next PEDAS programmes with them.