PETALING JAYA, March 25 — The Department of Marine Park Malaysia (JTLM) has not detected any significant change to the sea surface temperature in marine park waters that house coral reefs during the current heatwave.

JLTM said when sea surface temperature increased, corals would expel algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues, leading to the corals turning white.

“When a coral bleaches, it is not dead. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but they are under more stress and are subject to earlier mortality,” JLTM said.

“Bleaching can be triggered by long-term exposure (four weeks) to water temperatures 1°C-2°C above the norm (27°C-29°C).

“We have been vigilant in monitoring the temperature since the previous bleaching event occurred six years ago.”

The department, however, said it has activated their mechanism where reef monitoring would be carried out by field officers as well as information gathering on reef conditions from local dive operators.

Malaysia’s coral reef suffered about five to 10 per cent damage during 1997/1998 and 2009/2010 periods due to prolonged exposure to hot weather. A year after the 2010 event, live coral cover was only 42.5 per cent.

“Reefs can take up to 30 years to recover. The latest survey by Reef Check Malaysia in 2015 showed live coral cover in Malaysian waters was at 46.07 per cent compared to 49.96 per cent in 2009.”

JLTM said during the mass bleaching of 2010, corals only stopped bleaching after six months. Recovery efforts followed with the closure of 12 out of 83 dive sites within marine park waters to reduce stress caused by human activities such as diving and snorkelling.

JLTM added that the current total size of our marine parks is 2,486.13sq km, and in the last 20 years, there were only two additional marine parks gazetted in the state of Terengganu, with an area of 65.6sq km.

“Sabah is in the process of gazetting the Tun Mustapha Park, which is lauded as the largest marine protected area in Malaysia, with an area of 10,000sq km.”

Various conservation efforts have been undertaken to ensure coral reefs do not get destroyed and those whose livelihood depends on the seas such as fishermen must also contribute to the cause.

Despite conservation efforts, JLTM said it still faced challenges in preserving coral reefs from human interventions and pollution.

“Marine recreational activities such as anchoring of boats on corals, inexperienced divers damaging and stressing corals during diving activities, snorkelers who trample on corals, and irresponsible tourists and guides harassing marine life such as turtles must be addressed and curbed in order to allow for the preservation and growth of not only corals but marine life as well,” JLTM said.