Sulu Sea marine zone eyes military protection

Sulu Sea marine zone eyes military protection

Patrick Chalmers, Reuters, Lankayan Island, Malaysia

If efforts to protect a patch of Sulu Sea off northeast Borneo go
as private managers plan, they may need some serious military
muscle to guard the site's underwater assets from human
predators.

Mature grouper, giant clams and exotic corals around Lankayan
island would fetch big money in a poor region dogged by piracy,
tourist kidnappings and blast and cyanide fishing.

"That's something that we have to discuss with the military,
with the authorities and with the enforcement police," says Don
Baker, an executive with management firm Reef Guardian.

"We don't want to get hurt and we don't want to cause any loss
of life," he added.

Such potential riches have caught the eye of the Indonesian,
Malaysian and Philippine governments, making clear the cost of
neglecting an area plagued by sovereignty wrangles.

Next month, the governments are due to announce plans for a
Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion, tying development for the area's
45 million inhabitants to the fate of its corals, whales and
turtles.

The proposal will be one highlight of a meeting from Feb. 9 to
Feb. 20 in Kuala Lumpur on biodiversity, when government
delegates from around the world will seek ways to slow the rate
of global species loss.

Part of their work will be to examine how best to plan,
establish and manage protected areas on land and sea.

Overfishing and damage to marine habitats has wrought havoc on
world fish stocks, with spillover effects on bird and mammal
populations and crippling impacts on poor coastal communities.

Projected temperature hikes due to climate change could make
the problem worse in coming decades as species struggle to adapt.

The Sulu-Sulawesi region, heart of the world's richest area
for marine life, has suffered its share of the damage.

Destructive fishing techniques for food and the aquarium
trade, and too many trawlers, have laid waste to stocks and their
habitats. Sabah's valuable prawn harvest has slipped in recent
years despite fishermen spending more days at sea.

The proposed ecoregion would extend an existing network of
protected areas, beef up turtle conservation efforts and create a
sustainable fisheries plan straddling partners' maritime borders.

A first, 10-year phase will target 58 high priority sites for
projects requiring $40 million in global funding.

Geoffrey Davison, WWF Malaysia's Borneo Program Director, sees
the basin's existing protected zones as a solid baseline from
which to start.

"There are some areas also which deserve further protection
and a much larger area which demands management rather than
protection," he says.

"That combination of management and protection is the crucial
thing, it's not just protection."

Five-hectare (12-acre) Lankayan, recently designated part of a
50,000-hectare marine conservation area with two sister islands,
could offer a useful management model.

Its reefs are already on the mend after a few years of
surveillance led by its owners and dive resort operator.

Increased Malaysian security since tourist kidnappings by
armed Filipino raiders on two Sabah resorts in 2000 has helped
the state's reefs recover as illegal fishing activity declined.

For Lankayan, that means regular patrol boat calls and some
three dozen M16-toting soldiers deployed at night on its beaches.

The effects are evident in the clear blue water around the
jetty, where schools of jack, batfish, longtom and occasional
lion fish cruise between the timbers.

Shallow reefs close by see wrasses and black-tipped reef
sharks harass shoals of fry while giant cuttlefish, oblivious to
snorkelers, lay eggs in the coral.

Reef Guardian conceived and established the conservation zone
encompassing Lankayan, persuading various Sabah ministries to
give it operational control subject to their oversight.

It charges a management fee of 20 ringgit ($5.30) per tourist
per night to cover the expense, which Baker says is key.

"It's got to make a buck and it's got to provide the funding
to maintain the conservation area," he said, adding that private
sector players could play a big part in conservation worldwide.

Although all three countries bordering the Sulu-Sulawesi seas
run marine protected areas, they have generally struggled for
lack of funds, management skill and enforcement.

Sabah Tourism Board chief Zainal Adlin, who is also WWF
Malaysia chairman and an avid diver himself, says public or
private approaches are fine as long as locals benefit.

"After all, conservation is for whom, for what? Of course for
biodiversity and ecological processes and so on but most
important, it must have direct benefit to the community."