SIDP Volunteer Program

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Semporna Islands Darwin ProjectVolunteer Program, September 2010. By Anqi Lim



About this document

As an avid diver, I have dived innumerous locations in Asia, such as

Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand andMalaysia. At the top of my best dive siteslist, is Sipadan Island in Sabah, EastMalaysia which I visited back in October2008 for a leisure dive trip.

In September 2010, I had an opportunityto volunteer with Semporna IslandsDarwin Project (SIDP). This photodocument will record my marine

conservation experience during thisenriching volunteer program.

The objective of this document is to raiseawareness about the efforts put intoconservation of the marine parks inSabah, East Malaysia for sustainabledevelopment.



Semporna Islands Darwin ProjectSemporna Islands Darwin Project (SIDP) is currently in its post funding Phase 2 stage, up til2011, focusing on conservation efforts in Tun Sakaran Marine Park. This project has beengrant-aided by the Darwin Initiative through funding from the UK Department forEnvironment, Food and Rural Affairs and is managed by the Marine Conservation Society, inpartnership with Sabah Parks.

For more information, visit project website at www.sempornaislandsproject.com

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SIDP Volunteer Program, September 2010The volunteer program with SIDP and Sabah Parks focused on 3 key areas:

1. Monitoring the state and health of the corals in Tun Sakaran Marine Park and SipadanIsland through reef check survey techniques. Pictorial data was also collected, focusing oncoral bleaching at various dive sites in the marine parks. Tun Sakaran Marine Park is an areawith 8 islands, where marine life in this area has been negatively impacted by unsustainableshing methods such as sh bombing. Besides introducing government regulations on 'no-take' zones where no shing is allowed, conservation work also involves working togetherwith the native local community living within the marine park, to educate them aboutsustainable shing methods.

3. Involvement in turtle conservation at the Turtle hatchery in Sipadan Island to continue to

preserve and grow the population of the green and hawksbill turtles.

2. Involvement in work at the hatchery at Boheydulang, one of the 8 islands in Tun SakaranMarine Park. SIDP has been successful in spawning the endangered giant clams, which willbe introduced into the reefs once they have reached adequate size and stable growth. Thereare also spawning plans for sea cucumber and abalone, which if the farming is successful,could be introduced to the local villagers living in the marine park as an alternative source oflivelihood apart from shing.

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Top: Juvenile giant clams of the species Tridacna derasa. Bottom (Left): Turtle atSipadan Island. (Right): Coral bleaching at Tun Sakaran Marine Park.

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Coral Reef Surveys in Tun Sakaran MarineParkThe Tun Sakaran Marine Park (TSMP) encompasses 8 islands, and is the biggest marinepark in Sabah. TSMP is also the only marine park in Sabah where there is a local communitythat lives in the marine park, and is dependent on the natural resources as their livelihood.There is great biodiversity of marine life in TSMP, however, use of unsustainable shingmethods like blast/bomb-shing as well as overshing has led to the lost of marine life andcoral reef destruction.

Coral reefs are very important as they are the habitats of many species of marine life.Healthy corals show an abundance of color which is due to the presence of zooxanthellaealgae that live symbiotically with the coral polyps to provide them with food. Increasedwater temperatures is known to kill these algae, so the corals become 'bleached' and lose

their colour. Although corals can recover naturally, they become less resilient and mayeventually die.

In order to ascertain the health and state of the coral reefs in TSMP, coral reef surveys areconducted frequently to track the conditions of the reefs. During this volunteer program, thecoral reef surveys were conducted at Kapikan Island, Mantabuan Island, Maiga Island,Ribbon Reef and Dead End Channel.

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(Above):The lagoon view from top of Boheydulang, Tun Sakaran Marine Park. 5



Top (Left): Collecting data during the reef check survey at Kapikan Island. (Right): Bleached coral at Mantabuan Island.Bottom: Bleached Coral at Maiga Island (Left) and Dead End Channel (Right).

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Unsustainable shing methods have negatively impacted the marine life, but TunSakaran Marine Park is still known for its diverse marine life of shes and corals.

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Sipadan Island and Turtle Hatchery Apart from its lush green forests, Sabah is most well known for its beautiful islands and divesites. Sipadan Island has been rated as one of the world's best dive sites. In order topreserve and conserve this island, the Malaysian government has prohibited any resorts tobe built on the island itself, and has restricted the number of visitors/divers to 120 a day.Most dive operators base themselves from the town of Semporna, or in nearby islandsMabul and Kapalai, and register for permits for their guests to visit and dive in Sipadan.

Coral reef surveys during the volunteer program were conducted at the dive sites StaghornCrest, Mid Reef, West Ridge Point and Barracuda Point. The variety of marine lifeencountered there include white and black-tipped sharks, schools of sweetlips, jacksh andbatsh, big-eyed trevally and of course, turtles.

The Turtle Hatchery on Sipadan Island is one of the many turtle conservation centres inMalaysia. Female turtles come onto land at night, to prevent being seen by predators, to laytheir eggs which they bury in the sand. Turtles are known to come back to the samebeaches where they were born for nesting in future, hence the hatchery aims to provide asafe sanctuary for the turtles to do that. The hatchery is a fenced-up enclosure where theeggs are kept til the baby turtles hatch before they are released into the sea. The species ofturtles being conserved include the green turtle and the hawksbill turtle.

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Sipadan Island is known as having some of the world's best dive sites. (Above): Huge school of barracudas at Barracuda Point. 9



Top (Left): Bleached Coral at Staghorn Crest. Top (Right): Coral at West Ridge at different stages from live, to bleachedand nally dead coral. Bottom: Dead and bleached corals at Mid Reef (Left) and Barracuda Point (Right).

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Amazing variety of marine life at Sipadan Island. Top: School of Batsh. Bottom (Left):Black-tipped reef shark resting on the sandy bottom. Bottom (Right) Nudibranch.

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Sipadan Island is well known for having an abundance of turtles. To preserve the species of turtles, Sabah Parks has a turtle hatcherywhere the eggs are collected and kept in the hatchery for about 2 months before they hatch and are then released into the sea.

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(Left): A close up on a friendly turtle. (Middle): Approaching a turtle on one of the dives. (Right): Turtle surfacing for air. Sipadan has a divesite called Turtle Tomb where there are many turtle skeletons as some turtles get trapped in the cave when they try to surface for air.

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Top (Left): Sabah Parks staff recording the ID of the turtle laying eggs. (Right) Eggs are collected and counted.Bottom (Left): The eggs are buried and labelled by batch in the hatchery. (Right): Baby turtles released into the sea.

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Having a personal moment with the baby turtles at the Turtle Hatchery ion Sipadan Island. Usually each turtle can lay about 80 eggs atnight; eggs take around 2 months to hatch. The hatchery is present to ensure that the eggs can hatch safely and are not consumed byother predators. Sipadan has been successful in this turtle project as can be seen by the large number of green and hawksbill turtles.

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Cultivating Giant Clams at BoheydulangGiant clams (Tridacna species) are spectacular with their large size and brightly colouredmantles. Regular clams are small, but giant clams can grow up to 4 feet (1.2m) across, andweigh in at 500 pounds (225 kg). Due to their beauty and size, they are being endangered as

they are often a traditional food source on many of the islands. For example, a giant clam, whichhas taken 7 years to grow to a mature size, can be sold in Semporna for only 5 MalaysianRinggit. This means that giant clam numbers may be reduced to the point where the populationsare unable to reproduce naturally.

SIDP has successfully introduced growing and cultivating these giant clams (Tridacna Derasa) atthe Boheydulang hatchery, with the hope that farming giant clams can help to repopulate reefsby transplanting them onto protected reefs. Once enough clams have been transplanted, theycan naturally repopulate the surrounding area.

To cultivate giant clams, rst the eggs and sperms are collected from the broodclams. Then the juvenile clams are grown in the hatchery til they are about 5cm, this takes about 1-2 years. Theyare then transported into cages in protected waters to protect them from predators and allowedto grow to a decent size (which could take several years) before they are transplanted onto thereefs to live naturally.

Similarly, there are plans to farm sea cucumbers and abalone for alternative livelihood.

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(Above): Broodstock of species Tridacna Gigas at Boheydulang. Overshing has led to the giant clams becoming endangered. TheSuccessful spawning of Tridacna Derasa in the Boheydulang hatchery has cultivated about 4,000 of the Tridacna Derasa species.

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Top (Left): Recording data on the broodstock at Boheydulang. (Right): Giant clams in the tank at the hatchery.(Bottom): Staff inspects cages at Ribbon Reef where some cultivated juvenile clams, Tridacna Derasa, are kept.

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Spawning trials for sea cucumber. (Above): Cold treatment using ice packs to reduce the temperature by 5 degrees to26 degrees celsius for an hour. (Bottom): Hot treatment by increasing temperature by 5 degrees celsius again.

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The People of SempornaSemporna is a small town, with shing and seaweed farming being the main source oflivelihood for the locals. Tourism is only present due to the proximity of Semporna to thenearby islands like Sipadan for diving. The people in Semporna consists also of the native

Bajau Laut, who live in the villages on the water stilt houses.

Semporna, is part of the larger Sabah or Borneo, East Malaysia. People from Sabah callthemselves Sabahans and frequently distinguish themselves from the people in WestMalaysia. There is great racial harmony in Sabah although it consists of over 30 ethnicgroups, each with its distinct language, but most people converse using Malay.

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Above (Left): The jetty at Semporna where boats leave for the islands. (Right): Grafti wall in Semporna town.Bottom (Left): Fishermen in TSMP. (Right): Local seaweed farmers at their village.

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The team at SIDP and Sabah Parks. Top (Left): Muslim from Sabah Parks. (Right)Radzi, SIDP Hatchery. (Bottom): Posing with Ali and Nara from Marine Research Unit .

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By: Anqi Lim, Singapore

With thanks to SIDP and Sabah Parks.Special mention to Helen Brunt, SIDP and Nasrul, Sabah Parks; and all the crew and staff whom

I have worked with for making this volunteer program possible.

SIDP Volunteer Program

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