Perhentian Islands, Malaysia – paradise slipping away

Whew, I’m back online after an eye-opening trip along the Dongjiang (東江) river, a primary tributary of the Pearl River (珠江) in Guangdong Province, China.

Dongjiang provides about 80% of Hong Kong’s water supply, as well as much of the water for important cities in Guangdong such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou.  Human activities such as mining, garbage disposal, municipal and industrial sewage disposal, damming, and agriculture are all contributing to the deterioration of Dongjiang’s ecological health and water quality.  I digress.  More on Dongjiang in future posts.  For now, back to Malaysia!

The Perhentian Islands are located off the northeast coast of Peninsular Malaysia.  The waters surrounding them are the clearest I’ve seen in my life, and the underwater biodiversity is absolutely incredible, so impressive that I couldn’t resist including a few more underwater photos in this post.

nature's a good gardener

these were enormous fish - I estimate at least a meter long. honestly, they frightened me.

I had no idea that sea urchins had such beautiful reflective markings

i found nemo

brave ones venturing out from safety of anemone

i like turtles.

…but all is not well in paradise.  In many of the popular snorkeling spots, I saw large expanses of dead coral.  The resort at which we stayed, the tragically named Coral View Island Resort, looks over mostly dead coral these days.  Similarly, Coral Bay on the smaller of the two islands is now a wasteland of dead coral, thanks to the massive construction of resorts and restaurants along its entire beachfront.

severely overdeveloped Coral Bay and its bay of dead coral

terrestrial biodiversity is also high. unfortunately, expansion of resorts has converted many forested hills into mazes of bare concrete walkways and stairs. i was lucky to spot this monitor among the ugliness.

Like in Langkawi, there is no effort to educate tourists about responsible snorkeling.  People step on the coral, slap on thick coats of sunblock, touch and even collect the coral and its inhabitants.  Algae growth resulting from leakage and dumping of raw sewage into the ocean is also a serious problem, as well as the lack of proper arrangements for disposal of garbage and construction waste.  Frequent motorboat traffic disturbs sealife and leaves small oil slicks everywhere.

There needs to be a macro-level effort to manage the tourism industry on the Perhentian Islands.  Individual resort owners and tour operators lack the knowledge and incentives to manage the islands sustainably.  The number of tourists, snorkelers, and divers should be strictly limited; expansion of resorts should be controlled; and sewage and garbage should be centrally regulated.  Like so many ecologically amazing spots in the world, the Perhentian Islands are in danger of being loved to death.

fields of dead coral, as far as the eye can see

it was shocking to see this construction waste piled on the beach right next to the water. so obvious, so easy to clean up, so easily washed into the ocean during heaving rain

For more information about the Perhentian Islands’ environmental issues, take a look at this recent news article about some encouraging progress towards solving the problems mentioned above, and this more in-depth description of the Perhentians’ problems by one of Malaysia’s more well-known environmental NGOs, Wild Asia.

If you have more time on your hands, here is a report on the state of Malaysia’s coral reefs in 2010, based on field surveys performed at several sensitive locations.