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Kota Kinabalu and Mantanani Updates: July – September 2026
Kota Kinabalu and Mantanani Updates:July-September 2026Equipping Our CMCG With New SkillsOn 20–21 July, RCM conducted a two-day training for the Mantanani Marine Conservation Group (ManMCG) covering coral bleaching monitoring, ghost nets and coral planting. The...
Cintai Tioman: July-September 2026
Cintai Tioman Updates:July-September 2026Building Local Capacity & SkillsRCM supported a one-day training led by staff from the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia for Sustainable Development Goals (APPGM-SDGs), equipping local community members to become...
KL Updates: July-September 2026
KL Updates:July-September 2026IOI Ocean Heroes x ICCRCM joined Unique Sunday and IOI City Mall for the IOI Ocean Heroes campaign, bringing marine conservation awareness beyond the mall and into the community through beach cleanups and creative sustainability...
Semporna Updates: July – September 2026
Semporna Updates:July-September 2026Advancing Seaweed Farming in Larapan IslandFollowing the completion of the University of Malaya project in Selakan, 50kg of Eucheuma denticulatum seedlings and six seaweed cages were handed over to the Larapan community in July....
Cintai Redang: July – September 2026
Cintai Redang Updates: July - September 2026Growing Marine Awareness Among Redang StudentsWe continued our marine education efforts with students from SK Pulau Redang through three engaging activities.Briefing during the mangrove exploration 1. Coral Reef Awareness...
Cintai Mersing: July-September 2026
Cintai Mersing Updates:July-September 2026Merdeka Dive for Mersing's ReefsTo mark Merdeka, Reef Check Malaysia, the Mersing Marine Conservation Group (MMCG) and the Department of Fisheries (DoF) joined forces for a conservation dive in the Mersing Islands.Divers...
Julian’s Thoughts
From Island Communities to Global Conversations: Taking Malaysia’s Ocean Story Further
The AVPN Global Conference 2026 I’ve had the privilege of attending some very interesting conferences lately. First up was the AVPN Global Conference 2026 in New Delhi in August. For a small organisation like ours, being part of a gathering of this scale is both a...
Three things happened in the last weeks…
I’m sure most people are familiar with the saying “may you live in interesting times”… I’ve heard if attributed to the Chinese and the Greeks; I’ve heard people use it as a curse and a compliment. But, for sure…we are living in interesting times…if not down-right...
Reflecting on 10 Years of Community Empowerment
The Beginning of CMCG The Tioman Marine Conservation Group has been successfully implementing conservation programmes for over 10 years now – all of it done by people from the local community who we have trained up. The group is now led by Shahir, our Programme...
Are Our Corals Bleaching Again?
Looks Like Coral Bleaching's Happening Again Remember 2024? I know, it seems like such a long time ago…but it’s only 2 years ago, and a lot has happened since then...(no, I’m not referring to Trump…!!) 2024 was declared by marine scientists as the fourth global...
Wastewater Management on Islands: The Missing Link in Ocean Protection
We need to talk about sewage treatment on our islands… Sheesh. It gets difficult when even the scientists can’t agree!! I recently posted a question on a coral science list server. I was motivated to do this because there was an on-going “discussion” about the...
The 2025 Reef Check Survey Results and What They Mean for Our Coral Reefs
Let's Talk About Our Reefs I’m not sure I know how to do this anymore, to make it effective and impactful. It feels like every year I talk about the results of the annual surveys…but nothing seems to change. But here we go… Overview of the 2025 Reef Check Survey...
Advocacy and Public Policy
From Depleted Seas to National Food Sovereignty: Bridging the Gap Between Policy and Reality
Of Coral Reefs and Food Security Just last week, I spoke about the relationship between coral reefs and food security, and how the Reef Check method assesses the health of coral reefs. You can read about it here. This week, it was discovered that the traditional...
Checking the Ocean’s Pulse: How the Reef Check Method Diagnoses Marine Health and Protects Local Livelihoods
Assessing The Health of Our Reefs Just like a doctor runs a diagnostic checkup on your health, marine conservationists use the standardised global Reef Check Survey Methodology to evaluate our underwater ecosystems. By deploying trained divers who are called EcoDivers...
Beyond Tokenism: Why “True Participation” is the Missing Link for Malaysia’s Reefs, Food Security, and Coastal Livelihoods
Imagine standing on the shoreline of one of Malaysia’s pristine islands and realising that an area the size of 47,250 football fields has simply vanished beneath the waves since 2022. This isn’t a scene from a dystopian movie; it is the calculated reality of what...
Beyond the Data: What We’ve Learned Through Policy Lens
For 17 years, Reef Check Malaysia (RCM) has been synonymous with coral reef health survey data. We built our reputation on being the ones in the water—clipboards in hand, counting indicator fish, invertebrates and assessing substrate types. Before long, the Department...