Kota Kinabalu: The giant barge that apparently beached and scraped off pristine corals at Sipadan's famous Dropoff Point was bringing in materials and heavy equipment to build a RM5 million tourism facility comprising a restaurant-cum-clubhouse, scuba shop, office and staff quarters, sources said.

Although well-intended to boost the island's tourism, the contractor had to first secure permission from Sabah Parks headquarters for all transportation activities for the project

Parks officials would then supervise the movement of boats and materials into the island. This is where things supposedly went wrong.

It now appears that the contractor did not have permission to bring in the barge. Even it's application to bring in a "kumpit" (small indigenous boat) was not given until 16 May, 2006.

Attempts to get the contractor concerned for comments were unsuccessful.

May 13 to May 16 were days of full moon and high tides, but by May 14, the giant barge had already arrived, the sources said.

The "disaster" happened when the barge was beached to off-load the massive cargo of gravel, sand, steel tubes, iron mesh, prime movers a large bulldozer by means of an onboard giant crane.

"If indeed true that the company had brought in the steel barge without a permit, as alleged, then the contractor should be charged for encroachment as well as for any damage caused to Sipadan," said Kadir Omar, President of Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Sabah branch.

"This is the view of Malaysian Nature Society because they have damaged a national icon, damaging the very attraction that Sipadan has to offer to the world," he said.

"The big question mark is if strict approval were needed for bringing in a small kumpit, why was such a huge monster mobilised without any permit?" Kadir asked.

Robert Lo, Managing Director of Sipadan Mabul Resort, is more pessimistic. "Not only the fantastic corals at the top of the Dropoff Point have been scraped off and flattened as seen on the Internet, but Sipadan's equally famous underwater cavern may now collapse because this giant barge is sitting right on top of it," he said.

Terence Lim, a former Dive Master Instructor with Sipadan Dive Centre, agreed with Robert Lo.

Though the cave entrance is 60ft below water, its thinnest ceiling section is probably no more than 15-ft thick between it and the island's surface.

Terence noted that this underwater cavern was the very feature that attracted late dive legend Jacques Cousteau to Sipadan.

To the left of the main chamber is a big chamber called Turtle Cavern where some turtles end up getting lost and die, leaving behind their skeletal remains.

To the right is a tunnel which spirals downwards leading to the bottom, neither too deep not too shallow - a unique feature of Sipadan loved by many divers who actually use it to train for cave diving, four at a time the most .

"It is a very beautiful cave system about 100ft deep where the ceiling rises gradually inside and is very fragile," Robert said.

"If that thin ceiling collapses, the beach will collapse and part of the island will collapse as well," Robert added.

"This is why the barge must be pulled out immediately. It is in the wrong place," he said. "Once this roof collapses, it is too late," Robert added.

"We don't even allow our paying divers to stand on corals, but here a huge barge had scraped them off and is sitting on the coral reef," lamented Robert.

"We all feel very sad."

Terence Lim said below the big drop-off is the habitat which guarantees sighting of the spectacle of hundreds of giant humhead parrot fish which sets off to feeding from here early each morning, then swim towards Barracuda Point and around the islands reefs.

"So the Dropoff is the site where we will take our divers at 5.30am to see them come up to nibble at the coral tips before moving on and then return at night to sleep," Terence said.

"The wealth of spectacular corals at the Dropoff is the reason we see a diversity of hundreds of species of fish, large and small but much of that coral scene apparently and been scraped clean, judging from Andrea's (internet) pictures," he said.

"The Internet pictures also reveal a table coral completely covered by gravel which apparently fell from the barge ," Terance said.

[Playing the blame game...]

Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Parks should be relieved of its duty of managing dive resort islands as it was found incapable of looking after Sipadan. Part Keadilan Rakyat Sabah deputy chairperson, Christina Liew, in a statement Wednesday, said the Chief Minister, being the CEO of the State, has the duty and responsibility to correct wrongs committed by government agencies and departments.

"He has ordered a full investigation, so the public is waiting to see the result of the investigation. We hope transparency is in place in this investigation," she said.

"We do not understand the rationale behind the RM5 million concrete diving resort facility for just 120 divers daily. What was wrong with the existing timber facilities? At least they are environmentally friendly," she said. "It is a gross waste of public funds and contravenes the Government's policy of conservation and protection of an environmentally sensitive area such as Sipadan.

"I hope the concrete building was approved by the Environment Department," she said.

Liew also supported Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Environment Datuk Karim Bujang's call to team up with relevant bodies who have the knowledge in the rehabilitation of the coral reefs damaged by the steel barge "by doing re-planting at the affected area".

However, she disagreed with Sabah Tourism Board Chairman Datuk Tengku Zainal Adlin, who said the damaged corals do not account for even one per cent of the total corals in the area.[FOOL in the deepest sense of the word]

"If you crack one per cent of a jewel, its value is disproportionately devalued. We are not talking about other coral reefs. We are talking about the famous Drop-off Point of one of the best diving spots in the world," she said. The government must admit that a negligent incident of a serious proportion has happened and the authority concerned must now focus on drawing up an overall development and management blueprint on the protection and conservation of Sipadan and its surrounding islands.

"If the Government is unable to manage the island, we should engage professionals to assist and transfer the technology in the management of the environment to our officials," she said, adding piecemeal work in damage control alone was not enough.

http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=42245

Kota Kinabalu: A survey assessing the damage on corals in Sipadan by a barge carrying construction materials revealed that the area affected was 372 square metres (3,984 square feet).

This was made available by the Director of Sabah Parks to the WWF-Malaysia's Vice President Emeritus Tengku Datuk Seri Zainal Adlin, who is also the Chairman of Sabah Tourism Board.

"The incident is most unfortunate and should not have happened. Although the damage is minimal, appropriate actions should be taken by relevant authorities against the contractor for unauthorised usage and encroachment of the barge into Sipadan," said Tengku Adlin.

He also expressed full support on the State Cabinet's decision to suspend all construction works on the island, which includes reviewing the scope and specifications of the basic facilities project.

Based on a WWF-Malaysia report published in 1993, the Sipadan reef area covers 208 hectares of the island. However, survey revealed that damages done on the reefs were less than one per cent.

Adlin said Sipadan reefs are healthy and that relatively healthy reefs can, by nature, recover rapidly when stressed or damaged. [FOOL, how rapid is rapid to you? Is a hundred years rapid? Corals don't grow overnight, FOOL]

A management plan based on sound science must be in place as soon as possible to overlook various activities on the island and its reefs.

Furthermore, an annual 'state of the reef' report to monitor corals and numbers of visitors in a year could aid the reef's assessment, highlighting management efforts and provide interested stakeholders with relevant information.

He said that managing the security aspects and biodiversity of Sipadan island are two completely different matters.

The island's security and biodiversity must be clearly delineated, said Tengku Adlin, adding that Sabah Parks needs a full mandate and proper management plan for the latter with full assistance by the Government, private sector and local community stakeholders.

WWF-Malaysia hoped that the management plan will be developed through participation and input from dive operators, divers and local communities as well as non-governmental organisations.

A transparent, participatory process will build more capacity amongst all stakeholders to help Sabah Parks manage Sipadan.

"Sipadan is a national treasure that is also highly valued by people all over the world. The minimal impact of the barge incident will probably not affect the exquisite diving on Sipadan," says WWF-Malaysia's National Programme Director, Dr Dinoysius Sharma.

http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=42277

Kota Kinabalu: A giant barge has apparently flattened corals at Sipadan's legendary Dropoff Point inflicting "incalculable" damage, according to a report containing pictures of what are believed to be the damaged section posted on the Internet by Fins Magazine Associate editors Andrea and Antonella.

"I am sitting here with tears of rage and frustration in my eyes like many other fellow divers today (16 May) after having witnessed a major and unexpected man-made disaster which struck Sipadan's reefs last night," Andrea said.

"An enormous steel barge carrying thousands of tonnes of course gravel, sand, steel tubes, iron mesh, prime movers, a large bulldozer and gigantic crane - which had been incredibly allowed to anchor right in front of Sipadan's legendary dropoff before unloading its cargo on the supposedly protected island - was pushed against the reef by wind, ending up beached on the island like some monstrous whale," Andrea reported.

"In the process of being beached, the barge scraped clean thousands of years of nature's delicate work between the old pier and Barracuda Point," he claimed.

"The barge's flat hull wiped corals away·eaving in its wake hundreds of square metres of unnaturally flat limestone, and veritable wall of corals and debris piled up against the beach," they further reported.

Andrea, author of several books such as Malaysia - A Diving Guide, Malaysia - An Underwater Paradise and A Diver's Guide To Underwater Malaysia Macrolife, said he and his wife had been diving in Sabah's spectacular reefs we for the past 15 years.

"Such is the unquestionable love we feel for this country that we're planning to relocate here soon to live among Sabah's lovely wildlife," he said.

Acknowledging that accidents at sea can and do happen, Andrea said he had a few questions he wished could be answered:

Why was that enormous, slow-moving barge allowed to anchor at Sipadan?

What was it doing in the first place when divers aren't even allowed to wear gloves in order to avoid damaging fragile corals? Why are enormous quantities of building materials being unloaded on Sipadan? What is being built there? And, if anything had to be built, why not use wood, as has always been the case until now?

He said such large amounts of building material surely necessitate the cutting down of many trees and the clearing of a large swathe of the island's forest.

Where were the staff who were stationed on the island when this happened?

• Watched a kuckaburra hunt from the tree I was lying under in between classes. Successful fella.
• Given a free sample of Nivea Smooth Care Lotion for dry skin.
• played bball.
• bbq at JSC's place. Nice place. But far.
• gonna spend the whole weekend stuck at home doing assignments! Aargh....!

 p.s. if anyone is remotely interested as to what the bbq was like...see Chok's blog lah. Got pics of it there too.

http://spaces.msn.com/simyee36

Haha...thx for doing the work of blogging chok...save me time.