Protect Coral Reefs in Malaysia

The 5^th Asian Pacific Coral Reef Symposium (APCRS) was recently held at the National University of Singapore. Shahir represented Reef Check Malaysia (RCM) and Tioman Marine Conservation Group (TMCG) during the 5^th APCRS. He presented on the involvement of Tioman local islanders in co-management in the Tioman Island Marine Park.

Shahir is born and raised on Tioman Island. He is a certified diver and always wanted to get involved in diving works. He first joined us as volunteer and later become one of the early members of TMCG.

We are very proud of him! Having no marine education background, he is now part of RCM, his 6^th year, leads the TMCG members in conducting reef management activities and represents his community and RCM at international arena!

Recently our team was alerted to the crown-of-thorns outbreak at Pulau Baik, Lahad Datu, Sabah. A team, which consisted of different local stakeholders, was quickly assembled to coordinate planning to curb the outbreak. The outbreak was so severe that it took the team three days to finish culling and removing the crown-of-thorns. On the fourth day, the team finally able to continue the effort at other nearby reef sites. At the end of the programme, the team managed to cull and remove a whooping 2181 crown-of-thorns!

Thank you to Dominic from Darvel Bay Diving for alerting us and last but not least for your continuous supports.