ALOR STAR – The Pulau Payar Marine Park will be limiting visitors to 100 per week in a bid to preserve its biodiversity.
Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said the Kedah government has agreed with the Fisheries Department to introduce certain guidelines to help preserve the marine park.
“We are only allowing tour operators registered with the Kedah Fisheries Department to conduct tourism activities in the marine park.
“The park will be closed to tourists on Tuesdays and Wednesdays every week and it will also be closed for tourists between March and May each year to preserve the park.”
Sanusi said this yesterday when he visited Pulau Segantang near the park to officiate the docking of 17 artificial reefs.
“The programme to anchor artificial reefs in the marine park started in 1975 in Pulau Telur.
“A study by the Fisheries Department on 83 artificial reef sites nationwide found that between 129kg to 6,047 kg of fish biomass were recorded with the highest resource value estimated at RM84,759.60.
“Between 2006 and 2010, the Fisheries Department spent RM2,993,930 to build 11 large concrete reef sites in Kedah. These anchored artificial reefs also directly contributed to the increase in fish landings in Kedah from 63,703 tonnes in 2005 to 83,035 tonnes in 2011.”
He said the conservation pillar anchored earlier was expected to benefit 10,981 fishermen via spillover, and that Pulau Payar Marine Park has provided many benefits in conserving Kedah’s fish stocks.
“However, coral cover surveys conducted by a team of NGO researchers from Coral Cay Conservation in 2004 and 2005 reported that the coral cover in Pulau Payar Marine Park during that time was classified between moderate and poor with a percentage of coral cover below 50%.
“But annual coral cover monitoring conducted by the Fisheries Department last year found the coral cover rate at a good level, with a percentage of 60.8% compared with 2019 at 50.88%.”
An inventory survey conducted by the Fisheries Department together with researchers from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu found that Pulau Payar Marine Park is home to 154 species (30 families) of coral fish and 20 genera of coral.
Most fish species in the marine park, such as grouper (Epinephelus sp) and Cupak or Bigeye trevally (Caranx sexfasciatus), were found to be of high economic value. – The Vibes, September 14, 2021
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