SIPADAN - Environmental Commitment

Because we care about Malaysia’s nature, SIPADAN.COM supports WWF which organize s the Mabul Marine Week.

Please check out the following article to be informed of our action.

Mabul Marine Week

The strong competitive nature that exists amongst resort owners and dive operators on Mabul Island was put aside during Mabul Marine Week, a week focused on protecting the marine environment. Mabul Marine Week is an up-scaled version of Mabul Marine Day, an event celebrated over the past 10 years which is the brain-child of Sipadan Water Village Resort.

This year, 10 resorts and dive operators, local government units and WWF-Malaysia, led by the District Office of Semporna, worked together to plan and implement the event, which involves the local community on Mabul Island, a community that numbers over 2000.

During his opening speech, District Officer of Semporna, Encik A.M. Ibnu A.K. Baba, said he is proud to see tourism players based on Mabul jumping on board to make this event a success. This shows that changes are happening on Mabul Island in terms of the attitudes of businesses towards taking care of the environment in a collaborative way. He continued by saying that last year, only two operators – Sipadan Water Village Resort and Borneo Divers Mabul Resort, were involved.

Ms. Nina Ho, WWF-Malaysia’s Marine Biologist based in Semporna, said, “Since 1 January 2005 when the Malaysian government ordered all on-site dive and resort operators on Sipadan Island to vacate the island, Mabul Island has become the focus site for setting up operations. This move, alongside the growing local population, has increased the pressure on Mabul and its surrounding reefs, which is famous for its small, rare and unusual creatures”.

The first three days of Mabul Marine Week highlighted the true spirit of team work. Activities including beach and underwater clean-ups, coral transplanting, environmental education targeting school children and cultural dance performances, were jointly organized and carried out. An exhibition by WWF-Malaysia was held, emphasizing issues threatening the marine environment. Issues such as unsustainable development, destructive fishing and irresponsible diving behaviors which, unless addressed is detrimental to everyone on the island.

Ask us about our environmental commitment

Throughout the rest of the week, tourism operators on the island continued to hold their own events, which included, amongst others, conservation talks by scientists, clean-ups and coral transplanting. These operators have contributed generously by providing human resources, facilities (for example, the use of their boats to ferry rubbish collected to mainland Semporna) and financial support (for prizes, t-shirts for the community and food & beverages) required.

What are the Mabul Marine Week Activities?

Beach and Underwater Clean-up

A total of 5 tonnes of rubbish was collected on the first and second day of Mabul Marine Week. Community members and tourists scaled the whole of Mabul, armed with gloves and large garbage bags during the beach clean-up while 80 divers took the plunge with special mesh bags to remove submerged litter.

Environmental Education

The environmental education activities included quizzes and games which incorporated special marine conservation messages, and a talk on the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) at the local primary school, Sekolah Kebangsaan Pulau Mabul. An estimated 260 local kids, and 23 foreign tourists, took part, displaying a true integration of cultures.

A video presentation was shown on marine turtle conservation by renowned cinematographer, Clay Wiseman. Clay, who was present at the time, has published his photography and writings in National Geographic Magazine.

Coral Transplanting at Mabul island

72 divers were taught by Dive Masters from Sipadan Water Village (SWV) on the method of coral transplanting. Four types of corals (two types of branching corals, massive corals and columnar corals) were planted in nearby reefs including Paradise Reef and Old House Reef.

Our Green Commitment

As stated by Alex Ho from SWV, coral transplanting has been successfully done by our organization for the past 10 years. Since the beginning, monitoring has been conducted on a monthly basis to record the growth of the corals. The results now show an average of 54% survivorship. Many others in this industry have followed in our footsteps because the method we use is cost effective and environmentally friendly.

Cultural Performance on Mabul Island

A night filled with cultural performances was held on the first night. Dances included a Bajau warrior dance performed by father and daughter, a ‘fun’ dance by the staff of Sipadan Water Village Resort and a traditional dance by the school children from SK Pulau Mabul.

Health Check

A basic health check was conducted for local community members by the Health Department. Free vitamins were also distributed during this time.