Thirty-eight marine parks off the coast of peninsular Malaysia are facing severe pollution pressures because of rapid development on islands to cater to the tourism industry, warned the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) today.

"Even though gazetted as marine parks, the islands are not immune from destruction," said MNS' Head of Science and Conservation Nik Mohd Maseri during a press conference at the society's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

"Overzealous development, visitations in excess of carrying capacities, over-fishing, and unethical snorkelling and diving activities have reduced the marine parks and the islands into a travesty," Nik said.

Among the islands under threat are the Tioman, Redang, Perhentian and Payar island groups, he said.

"We have islands turned into tax-free havens (Tioman) and going through excessive resort development (Redang).

"And there's the planned construction of untenable accommodation facilities on rocky, small islands (Payar)," he pointed out.

400-room resort

Drawing on the example of Redang, MNS president Dr Salleh Mohd Nor who also spoke at the press conference said planned projects on the island grouping include an airstrip and a 400-room resort.

"The problems faced include dying coral, sewage disposal, water shortage and noise pollution. The excessive development on (Redang) is incompatible with creating a marine park environment in the area," he said.

Salleh explained that although such parks are protected under the Marine Parks Malaysia Order 1994, conservation of these areas cannot be effectively carried out because the legislation covers only sea areas and not terrestrial parts.

"Islands lie under state government's jurisdiction so they are not protected by the marine legislation. The legislation does not provide umbrella protection to the surrounding area of the park," he said.

In addition, Salleh said, while state government departments have their own conservation plans, they may not have the same conservation principles applied to marine parks.

For instance, he said, state governments may focus on developments for tourism without considering the carrying capacity of the islands and marine environment.

Marine Management Areas

To arrest the environment degradation of the marine parks, Nik said that authorities should consider, among others, creating Marine Management Areas (MMA) where islands and the adjacent marine parks can be managed under an island ecosystems approach.

"As they are inter-linked, the best approach is to turn these islands into MMAs and for Marine Park Units to be delegated by state governments to administer these areas," he suggested.

Nik added that limitations must be made on development activities on the islands. Large-scale earthworks should be prohibited and only low-rise buildings allowed for construction. Due consideration must be given to water resources and waste disposal capabilities.

Nik also underscored the importance of monitoring these activities.

"All development projects require an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), but more importantly, these construction activities must be regularly monitored.

"Being isolated from the mainland, developers ignore the EIA once approval is obtained, knowing that monitoring is minimal," he said.