Pulau
KOTA KINABALU: Responding to the growing threat to marine life, and the
push for businesses to be more environment-friendly, an island resort has set up
a research centre and a programme to rehabilitate corals and fish injured by
trawler nets.
The Marine Ecology Research Centre (MERC) at the
Gayana Eco Resort also teaches its guests about the island's ecosystems and the
need to conserve them.
This is part of the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC)
blueprint, as the state moves to boost its economy through tourism.
MERC
director Alvin Wong said a key programme was the breeding of giant clams, which
in the past had ended up on the tables of seafood restaurants and displayed as
ornamental pieces.
He said seven of the eight species of giant clams in
the world were being monitored and bred at the centre, including two which had
been classified as locally extinct.
"Giant clams are important in the
ecosystem as they take in harmful waste nutrients and expel clean water into the
environment.
"They grow slowly and have a minimal defence system which
makes them highly vulnerable to natural enemies or human threats, such as
unsustainable collection, which have accelerated extinction rates."
The
centre at Malohom Bay in Pulau Gaya, 15 minutes by speedboat from the city, has
also started a Coral Restoration Programme to restore the reefs around the
resort that have fallen victim to destructive fishing methods, sedimentation and
pollution from the mainland.
Wong said an artificial reef structure
connected to low voltage electricity had been built to encourage the growth of
corals.
"The current encourages dissolved minerals to crystalise on the
surface of the structure.
"This layer is the same mineral that makes up
the natural skeleton of coral reefs.
"Corals rapidly colonise the
encrusted structure and grow quickly because the electrical current also
attracts vital minerals and nutrients."
Under the programme, visitors can
also replant hard coral fragments found around the bay.
Wong said the
centre had also built tanks replicating the mangroves and sea grass beds around
the island to teach visitors about its ecosystem.
"We want our visitors
to see the massive root systems of the mangroves which protect the coast from
erosion and storms, and provide an environment for many commercially important
species of fish.
"Sea grass beds are another ecosystem we want to teach
people about.
"Important species such as dugong and sea horses feed on
sea grass."
The centre also has a "touch tank" where children can touch
and hold marine organisms such as starfish.