Reflections On Ocean Month

World Reef Day is celebrated on the 1st of June every year

The ocean covers over 70% of the planet. It supports humanity’s sustenance and that of every other organism on Earth. The ocean produces at least 50% of the planet’s oxygen; it is home to most of Earth’s biodiversity and is the main source of protein for more than a billion people around the world.

Not to mention, the ocean is key to our economy, with an estimated 40 million people being employed by ocean-based industries by 2030.

Despite providing all these benefits, the ocean is in need of support.

With 90% of big fish populations depleted, and 50% of coral reefs destroyed, we are taking more from the ocean than can be replenished. We need to work together to create a new balance with the ocean that no longer depletes its bounty but instead restores its vibrancy and brings it new life.

June is a busy month for ocean conservation as it sees several “days” related to marine conservation.

World Oceans Day

The best known is, of course, World Oceans Day, which falls on 8 June.

The concept was originally proposed at the Earth Summit in 1992. The Ocean Project started global coordination of World Ocean Day in 2002, and "World Oceans Day" was officially recognised by the United Nations in 2008.

This international “day” aims to foster public interest in the protection of the ocean and the sustainable management of its resources. The WOD website provides information and resources on the importance of the oceans and ocean conservation.

Coral Triangle Day

WOD is followed immediately on 9th June by the less well known “Coral Triangle Day” which celebrates the Coral Triangle (CT). Malaysia is one of six CT countries, alongside Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste (https://www.coraltriangleinitiative.org/).  

The coral triangle is home to some 400 million people and is recognized as the global centre of marine biological diversity. It has the highest coral diversity in the world, with 76% (605) of the world’s coral species (798). By comparison, approximately 8% of coral species (61) occur in the Caribbean.

In addition, the region serves as the spawning and juvenile growth area for five species of tuna, comprising the largest tuna fisheries in the world. The biological resources of the Coral Triangle directly sustain the lives of more than 120 million people living within this area, and benefit millions more worldwide.

World Reef Day

More recently, World Reef Day was launched in the US three years ago. Falling on 1st June, WRD helps to create awareness among various communities and the general public about ocean ecosystems.

It is a call to action for consumers, business and organisations to reflect on the fragility of coral reef ecosystems. The day brings together the general public and opinion leaders to encourage active change through education and engagement.

What does all this mean?

There are many signs that the health of the ocean – essential for all life on earth – is declining. Fisheries in decline; the ocean gyres polluted with plastics; hypoxic zones.

Just within our own sphere of activity, the problems facing coral reefs are immense – and they not going away on their own. Pollution from sewage and other land-based activities; physical impacts from growing numbers of tourists; coastal development. Just some of the impacts to coral reefs.

And now climate change.

The coral bleaching we are seeing now is at least partly caused by warming oceans – temperatures are 2-3 degrees centigrade above usual, and this is stressing corals and causing them to lose their colour.

Corals are starting to bleach due to the warm weather we are experiencing

We need policy makers to understand how fragile these ecosystems are – coral reefs and their associated coastal ecosystems, mangroves and seagrass, are critical for livelihoods, food security and coastal protection, among others.

The more people who are aware and talking about these issues, the louder the conversation becomes…maybe to the point where policy makers can’t ignore it any more.

Things have to change. Or nature will change them for us.

How Serious Are We Really About Protecting Coral Reefs?

Coral reefs are sometimes described as “the rainforests of the sea”, a phrase used to capture the vast biodiversity that they harbour. But at the same time, they are often (mis-)treated as “the invisible ecosystem” because, unlike actual rainforests, they are to all intents and purposes hidden. Few people see coral reefs and fewer still understand the benefits they provide to society. 

Which are many.

Together with coastal mangroves and seagrass meadows, with which they have close ecological links, these marine ecosystems provide a number of important ecosystem services – nature’s bounty that people benefit from. Protection against storms, habitat for juvenile marine species, jobs in tourism – not to mention as a source of food, these marine ecosystems are an intrinsic part of the lives of many people.

People rely on these marine ecosystems for food and jobs. The planet relies on these ecosystems because they filter water and keep it clean, and they protect coastlines from storms and erosion. Businesses need these ecosystems for the seafood they produce and the jobs that creates. Peaceful, inclusive societies value them for their cultural importance.

Ok, you want data?

A report published recently by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (The Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2020) reveals that between 2009 and 2018 there was a progressive loss of about 14% of the coral from the world’s coral reefs.

At that rate it will all be gone in another 70 years or so. It will all be gone if things continue as they are.

According to the Coral Reef Alliance:

• Some scientists predict that 90% of global reefs will experience severe bleaching annually by 2055. The last time there was “severe bleaching” in Malaysia (1998), something like 40% of corals died. Sure, they recovered – after a few years. Imagine bleaching every year; they aren’t going to last long.

• 200 million people depend on coral reefs to protect them from storm surges and waves.

• 48% of fossil fuel emissions are absorbed by the ocean. This makes the more acidic which affects the ability of various marine species to form strong skeletons, making them vulnerable to a number of threats.

In fact, all of the above could be said about all three marine ecosystems (together with mangroves and seagrass meadows): very valuable, very threatened.

Let’s face it.

These ecosystems are not being well managed and we are losing them.

A 2020 report from FRIM estimates that Malaysia lost over 21,000 Ha of mangroves between 1990 and 2017. Scientists say that seagrass meadows are being lost equally quickly. And data from Reef Check surveys show declines in coral reef health between 2014 and 2020. 

Photo from Stop Adani Flickr

Maybe too many business interests combined with insufficient regulation are allowing this degradation? Three recent case studies:

• Reports of a new resort to be constructed on Perhentian Island. Locals tell us that the area is currently pretty much un-spoiled…and we know what happens when land is cleared for development. That’s going to have huge impacts on the reefs around that part of the island - which is one of the best places to see sharks in Perhentian.

• Tioman airport is still an active project, according to some. How can we be serious about protecting biodiversity if we are still even considering that project?

• Just today the media reports that Penang fishermen are warning politicians that they will only vote for candidates that will support their livelihoods. The Penang South Island (PSI) project (I love the way it has been renamed from the original Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project…not quite as sexy!!) will impact the livelihoods of an estimated 6,000 fishermen, and will destroy the very ecosystems on which their livelihoods depend – and everyone else’s food.

SDG 14 calls on nations to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, sea and marine resources for sustainable development.

That is not happening today.

What do we need to do to change this?

Tioman Island, 20 Years Later

I just spent a few days on Tioman island, one of the islands off Malaysia’s East coast (yeah, I know how lucky I am). With me were a couple of old friends who used to dive with me back in the day when I ran a dive centre on the island (yeah, I really do know how lucky I am!!).

It was a bit of a nostalgia trip for all three of us. I’ve been lucky to have been able to visit occasionally, as RCM has a project there. But the other guys haven’t been back for several years, mainly for family reasons. So what did we spend most of our time doing? Reminiscing about the past, of course…and resurrecting a stupid card game called Knickers!

It was 20 years ago that they started visiting regularly, doing weekend dive trips from Singapore, where they were both working at the time. They became regular visitors to the dive centre, coming perhaps six or eight times a year – and both spent long periods on the island during “interruptions” in their careers! One is a PADI instructor, both are tech instructors, and both have logged hundreds of dives – many of them in Tioman.

All of which is to say that they know the island well: they understand its Marine Park status, they know the dive sites, they know what sort of marine life used to be abundant and they know what the water quality used to be like. They were also familiar with the tourism market on the island, relying as it did to a large extent on a mixture of local tourists from Malaysia and Singapore together with some backpackers and a few high-end tourists visiting the small numbers of more exclusive resorts on the island. But overall, medium-high volume tourism, with little emphasis on sustainability or eco-tourism at the time.

As we walked through the island’s main village, Tekek, on our second day both remarked how little it appears to have changed in 20 years. Yes, there is now a bigger school, and yes there are new restaurants – and yes, the road has been improved! But that aside?

Very little physical change – at least in the main village, and no new resorts at all in the last 10 years.

The following day we took a bicycle ride to the neighbouring Air Batang village. ABC, as it is known, remains very much the same as it was 20 years ago – small-scale chalets line the beach along much of its length; only a couple of buildings are more than one storey, and many have been there for years. The following day we took a bike ride the other way, south to Bunut beach, discovering that, apart from the one large resort on the island, little has changed. It looks like Tioman has escaped some of the huge growth in tourism – and resort numbers – that some other islands have seen.

So, what has changed?

Outside the main tourist villages, the story is a little different – but only in some areas. There are new resorts in Juara village, and in Mukut village in the south of the island. There are a couple of new places occupying beaches on the West coast – but nothing large, nothing multi-storey.

Again – the island appears to have escaped over-development. Ok, the water might not be as clear as it used to be – but that could be influenced by sources external to the island – from the mainland, perhaps. And there might not be so many fish. But all in all, the island and its reefs seem to be in fairly good condition.

So how do we maintain that?

And then came the inevitable questions.

What does the future hold for an island like Tioman? What are the development pressures? What happens if the proposed airport development goes ahead, along with talk of quadrupling (yes, increasing by FOUR TIMES) the number of tourists?

What is being done to protect the island?

The best answers I could give to these, and other, questions, were…unsatisfactory.

Despite evidence that sewage contaminates reefs – and is a public health issue – there is still inadequate sewage treatment on the island. Despite evidence that tourism results in physical damage to reefs, there are still no clear guidelines on allowable tourism numbers. Despite evidence that fish populations should recover in a marine protected area…the opposite seems to be happening.

In my opinion, Tioman is a jewel among Malaysia’s islands. Home to intact rainforest, numerous endemic species, and some of the best coral reefs on Malaysia’s East coast - it is a gem worth protecting. And my friends agree.

So how, in the face of slow reef decline, creeping tourism growth, lack of a clear sustainable tourism strategy, and proposals for mega-infrastructure development, how do we go about conserving the island, specifically its marine resources?

My friends expressed two concerns: lack of visible management of the island and no obvious vision for the future. Here’s how we can address those concerns.

First, get the local islanders more involved in protecting the island’s reefs through participatory management and conservation programmes. We are already doing that with the Tioman Marine Conservation Group and the Department of Fisheries’ Reef Care project. Tick that box.

But more than that, we need to look at how we can protect and enhance the resilience of the island’s ecosystems. Resilience is a concept that describes the natural ability of an ecosystem to recover from a disturbance – bleaching, pollution, etc.

There are three key parts to maintaining resilience: good water quality (so let’s improve the sewage treatment), no physical impacts (so let’s look at managing tourists better) and lots of fish to eat the algae (seaweed) that, if not controlled, can smother corals (so let’s improve compliance with fishing regulations).

Not beyond the bounds of possibility.

And finally, let’s develop a long-term vision for the island, one that values its ecosystems in a way that is inclusive, and benefits the islanders, not just a small handful of developers who will make money from building resorts and infrastructure…but who won’t suffer the loss of ecosystem services that are likely to follow.

There are plenty of examples of islands that got over-developed. Let’s not let that happen to Tioman.

Check out our work on Tioman Island at Cintai Tioman.