Langkawi Coral joined the first Dive Against Debris program organized by Project AWARE. The program was carried out on 24 September 2011 in Pulau Payar, Langkawi with 16 divers and our staff volunteering in an underwater clean-up and data collection to help protect underwater habitats and marine species.

Dive Against Debris is a new year-round program introduced by Project AWARE that combines underwater clean-ups with data collection. This program aims to address worldwide marine debris problems at their source and to reduce the devastating impacts of debris with each dive. The data collected will present a coherent view of marine debris issues thus helping to initiate policy change locally and globally.

Marine Debris – A Global Issue

Marine debris is the rubbish of our everyday lives that makes its way into the ocean. Once underwater, this debris can remain for generations. Every year, debris kills thousands of marine animals and sea birds, destroys underwater habitats, contaminates our beaches, and threatens our health and economy.

Information released by Project AWARE showed that over 6 million tons of marine litter may be entering our ocean every year. As much as 70 percent of this marine litter has been estimated to end up on the seabed. More than 260 species are reported to have been entangled in, or to have ingested marine debris. Those seriously affected include northern fulmars (a type of seabird) and northern fur seals.

As a result of careless consumer behavior, as much as 90 percent of floating marine debris may be plastic. These include plastic bottles and plastic bags. The production and use of plastics has also reached a staggering 230 million tons in 2009 compared to 1.5 million tons in 1950.

Dive Against Debris – A Global Effort in Battling Marine Debris

Marine debris is preventable. Waste management policies at local, national, regional and international level can be established and improved to combat the issue of marine debris. That is the reason why Project AWARE is collecting marine debris data from divers all around the world. This underwater data will give a clearer picture of the marine debris polluting the ocean and its devastating impacts from the divers’ underwater perspective.
  
The data collected from the Dive Against Debris program plays a critical role in informing and persuading policy makers and other stakeholders to establish and improve solid waste management practices at all levels. This knowledge acts as an important source in making and improving waste management practices and policies.

More importantly, this data will support the development of coordinated policies and strategies, like the Honolulu Commitment and the ongoing work on the Honolulu Strategy – a global framework to prevent, reduce and manage marine debris.
 

In conjunction with Earth Day 2011, Langkawi Coral organised a reef clean-up activity at Pulau Payar Marine Park on 23 April 2011. The project was carried out in cooperation with Project Aware. Joining the reef clean-up were Langkawi Coral staff and volunteers.

Earth Day is a day to celebrate the environment. It is a day to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s natural environment. The first Earth Day was held on 22 April 1970, a result of the efforts of United States Senator, Gaylord Nelson, a passionate advocate of environmental issues. The first Earth Day was organised to promote the ideas of ecology, encourage respect for life on earth, and highlight growing concern over water, air and soil pollution.

As a Senator at that time, Nelson hoped to impress upon fellow politicians that humans have a huge impact on the environment and he tried to persuade the Congress to establish an environmental agenda. However, he faced numerous obstacles and resistance. Nelson then appealed to the public and designated 22 April as a “national day for the environment”. Under Nelson’s tireless effort, more than 20 million Americans participated in the first Earth Day, prompting other politicians to take notice.

The response from fellow Americans helped generate a new political focus on the environment. Denis Hayes, the original national coordinator in 1970, launched an organization to introduce Earth Day globally in 1990. Earth Day is now coordinated by the Earth Day Network and is observed in more than 175 countries every year. In 2009, the United Nations designated 22 April as International Mother Earth Day.

The establishment of Earth Day plays an influential role in inspiring people and corporations to conserve resources and protect the environment by ‘going green’. Increased awareness about the dangers of global warming and the need for environment conservation resulted in more and more corporations and individuals joining the ‘going green’ effort.

Many companies are now encouraging employees to use less paper, carpooling and using green materials. Many tour operators around the world are also promoting green tourism. Governments in many countries are focusing on environment conservation as an important part in legislation making. Other than that, many individuals around the world are also doing their parts by practicing ‘green’ activities in their daily lives.

Langkawi Coral is proud to have organised this marine conservation activity in conjunction with Earth Day 2011. This Dive for Earth Day project not only helped to protect marine life in Pulau Payar, it also helped us to understand more about the marine environment around the island. We believe that every individual needs to contribute to environment conservation. It is our responsible to protect the earth from further destruction so that our future generations will have the opportunity to experience the wonders and beauty of Mother Earth.

Following the beach clean-up activity at Pulau Payar Marine Park, 45 students and 5 teachers from Dalat International School Penang travelled to the Kilim Geoforest Park in Langkawi on 21 April 2011 to lend their hands to a mangrove planting activity, a green project organized by Langkawi Coral.

Mangrove forests are productive ecosystems that play an important part in the entire ecology cycle. These mangroves serve as home and nurseries for many fish, crab, shrimp and mollusk species while sustaining a large variety of wildlife such as mammals, birds and insects.

Mangrove swamps, also known as wetlands, protect coral reefs from being smothered in sediment while preventing salt from creeping inland. They act as an important form of buffer zone between the sea and shoreline. The dense root systems of mangrove forests help protect the shoreline by absorbing the shocks of waves and storms.

Other than that, mangrove forests provide important source for timber and plant products. The forests have been commercially harvested for wood chip, pulp and charcoal production as well as medicinal plants. These mangroves are also interesting places to explore for tourists thus helping to boost local tourism.

Mangrove Forests and Tsunami

In the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, field studies in several affected countries showed that mangrove forests played a crucial part in saving human lives and property. Mangrove trees shield the land from wind and trap sediment in their roots, maintaining a shallow slope on the seabed that absorbs the energy of tidal surges. These forests reduce the impact of tsunamis by reducing both the height and the velocity of the incoming waves. Mangrove also trapped debris and prevented people from being washed out to sea, which was a major cause of death.

These studies also showed that all of the countries that were hit hardest by the 2004 tsunami – Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand – have experiences recent losses of mangrove forests. The total area of mangrove forests in these four countries was reduced by 28% between 1980 and 2000, due to the development of aquaculture and tourism infrastructure. Therefore, conserving and restoring these mangrove ecosystems is essential if coastal communities are to recover and achieve sustainability.

In Malaysia, mangrove forests play a very important part in environmental protection. The idea of planting mangrove trees gave the students a whole new experience in environment conservation. This activity not only instilled environmental awareness among the students, it also paved the way for more future mangrove planting activities. 

On 20 April 2011, 45 students and 5 teachers from Dalat International School Penang participated in a beach clean-up activity at Pulau Payar Marine Park. The activity was part of the school’s annual class trip for eighth graders before the students’ transition to high school. Langkawi Coral is proud to be involved in this annual programme as we always support education through participation in environment conservation.

There is an urgent need to educate the public on environment conservation to protect Mother Earth as the world today are now facing numerous environmental issues from global warming, deforestation, pollution, endangered ecosystems and species, to environmental degradation. The global warming is causing various environmental problems such as global temperature rise, coral bleaching, sea level rise, melting of snow and ice as well as climate change. All these problems are now greatly affecting all humans and living things on earth.
 
Realizing the importance to protect the earth from further damage, governments, various organizations, communities and individuals are now taking steps to reduce the impacts of human activities on the earth’s well-being. The most common initiatives being carried out to reduce human’s carbon footprint are reduce-reuse-recycle, carpooling and reducing the usage of electricity.

Here at Langkawi Coral, we support green tourism and we are always taking steps to help protect the earth. Initiatives such as the beach clean-up activity would help educate the students on environment conservation and what they can do on a daily basis to take care of the earth. Having experienced first-hand in marine conservation, the students are now equipped with the essential knowledge and awareness in environment conservation as well as having the confidence to disseminate this knowledge to their friends and families.

Langkawi Coral aims to create awareness in environment conservation among the public especially the younger generations. We believe by educating them on the importance of environment conservation would bring about a more aware and caring generation who can make a difference in today’s society.    

In conjunction with International Cleanup Day 2010, Langkawi Coral took the initiative to organise a team of volunteers to tackle underwater marine debris problems. The event was carried out on 25 September 2010 at Pulau Payar Marine Park, Langkawi.

The annual International Cleanup Day is a joint effort by Project AWARE Foundation and Ocean Conservancy. This year’s event saw some 15,000 AWARE divers in more than 100 countries around the globe documenting every item found beneath the water’s surface to help prevent the marine debris epidemic affecting the world’s oceans.

The data collected by these divers will contribute to the Global Marine Debris Index, which is a country-by-country breakdown of the amount and type of trash collected in the world’s oceans and waterways, and along their coasts. These efforts are recognized by the United Nations Environment Programme.

As a green tourism operator, Langkawi Coral is proud to be a part of the event as we are putting our best effort to protect and conserve our local underwater environment. This is also our effort in supporting the Ministry of Tourism’s “1Malaysia Green, 1Malaysia Clean” campaign launched recently.<see more photos on E-Gallery/E-Photo Cleanup 2010>

Among the marine debris found during the cleanup were plastic bags, plastic and glass bottles, fishing nets and cigarette filters. According to Project AWARE Foundation’s International Cleanup Day Report 2009, some 140,814 cigarette filters were found and every year toxic chemicals in the 4.5 trillion cigarette filters littered worldwide threatens the wellbeing of marine life.

Marine debris such as plastic bags, fishing lines and nets are also affecting most of the marine mammals and sea turtles. These animals are choked or entangled in debris every year. The one million seabirds killed by litter each year is just one of the evidences of the damage done by these marine debris.

Here are some tips to keep our waters debris free:
• Reduce, reuse and recycle.
• Avoid buying plastic products.
• Be aware of everything you buy and avoid excessive packaging.
• Properly dispose of all pieces of fishing line, net and other associated litter.
• Keep plastics and rubbish off the ground and the oceans.
• Keep storm drains and shorelines free of rubbish.
• Remove debris on every recreational dive or shoreline visit.
• Always dispose cigarette filters properly and never overboard.

According to World Resources Institute, human activity threatens the health of nearly 60 percent of the world’s coral reef. Add to that the estimated 30 percent of all coral reefs that are already dead or severely damaged and it’s easy to see that coral reef are in desperate need of attention if they are to survive for future generations.

As part of our on-going green projects, Langkawi Coral will be joining CoralWatch as a registered operator in monitoring activities to make a difference and protect coral reef ecosystem. We will start collecting data for the monitoring of coral bleaching and assessment of coral health in Pulau Payar Marine Park, Malaysia. We will also encourage our customers, snorkelers and divers to participate in CoralWatch activities.

CoralWatch is a non-profit research organization, initiated and underpinned by leading coral and sensory biologists from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. The organization has developed an inexpensive, simple, non-invasive method for the monitoring of coral bleaching, and assessment of coral health. By using the Coral Health Colour Chart, anyone can monitor bleaching and add essential data to a global monitoring database thus contribute to the protection of coral reefs worldwide.

What Is Coral Bleaching?
Coral bleaching refers to the ‘whitening’ of corals due to a loss of the symbiotic dinoflagellates (algae) living within the tissue of the coral. In a healthy reef, the algae supply the coral with energy (sugars and amino acids) and in turn receive products essential to their survival (ammonia and phosphate).

During a bleaching event, the brownish algae disappear from the tissue of the corals, leading to a change in coloration from brown to a brilliant white, purple or green. This loss of the ‘nutrient factory’ in corals may lead to death of the corals, or the corals may slowly recover. However, even if they recover, their reproductive capacity is reduced, leading to long-term damage to the reef systems.

Elevated water temperatures due to global warming have been found to be the major cause of coral bleaching. Sea temperatures are predicted to continue to rise and bleaching is expected to occur more frequently, thus leading to the death of large areas of coral reefs worldwide within a few decades.

Why CoralWatch?
Currently, most coral health monitoring is done by scientists around a few reefs and very little is known about trends of coral bleaching on a global scale. There are still many questions that are yet to be answered in order to save the reefs.

If more and more people like tourists, operators, students or even individuals participate in the monitoring program, we will be able to understand more about the coral bleaching condition in Malaysia, and the severity of the bleaching events.

The collected data will also enable us to carry out appropriate measures to educate the public on the importance of coral reefs conservation.
 

Some 47 eighth graders and five teachers from Dalat International School Penang, and five Langkawi Coral staff participated in a beach clean-up at Pulau Payar Marine Park on 15 April 2010. The activity was organized by Langkawi Coral and Dalat International School as part of the students’ annual class trip.

The purpose of the three-day trip (14 to 16 April) was to give students a chance to bond together as a class and prepare them for the transition to high school. The trip gave the students some time to reflect, evaluate the current school year, and set goals for high school. This trip had also provided the students a great chance to learn more about marine science in an outdoor classroom setting.

During the beach clean-up, the students collected trash items such as plastics, fishing line and nets, glass bottles and aluminum cans. This activity served as a platform to educate the students on the importance of conservation in addition to providing them with first-hand experience in protecting the marine environment.<see more photos on E-Gallery/E-Photo Beach Clean Up>

The students were also educated on the harmfulness of marine debris and what they can do to help keep waters debris free. For example, they were taught how to reduce, reuse and recycle as well as to avoid buying plastic products and products with excessive packaging.

Plastics, which take up nearly 80 percent of all the marine debris, are causing harm to underwater environment and wildlife. The rate of plastic usage is alarming as research shows that one million plastic bags are used every minute of the day and almost three million tons of plastics are used to bottle water globally every year.

Marine debris, such as those collected by the students, is affecting an estimated 100,000 marine mammals globally including dolphins, whales, seals and sea turtles. These animals are getting choked or tangled in debris every year.

Having experienced first-hand in a green project, the students are now equipped with the knowledge of ‘going green’ which they can practice in their everyday lives. This is in line with Langkawi Coral’s vision to promote and support green projects that will make an impact on the community.

We also believe that by educating the younger generations and disseminating this green message to students, we are doing our part in cleaning up the earth thus paving the way to more future green projects.

It is very crucial that the next generation understands the importance of conservation because even a small change in thinking, can make a long term difference.

In an effort to conserve the underwater environment, 6 dive masters from Langkawi Coral participated in a reef clean-up project in Pulau Payar, a marine park in the state of Kedah, Malaysia. The project , which was held from 22 to 24 March 2010, was organized by Jabatan Taman Laut Negeri Kedah.

In line with Langkawi Coral's corporate vision, which is to promote green tourism, environmentally responsible travel to natural areas to appreciate nature and promote conservation, and sustain the well being of local people, our company participates in and carrying out on-going green projects to promote conservation. This reef clean-up is one of the many green projects that we strongly support.

A number of fishing nets were found during the reef clean-up. These fishing nets and other marine debris such as plastic bags, plastic and glass bottles, and cigarette filters pose a threat to the coral reefs and marine life. The destruction of coral reefs will ultimately cause serious impact to the earth's ecosystem. <see more photos on E-Gallery/E-Photo Reef Clean Up>

The importance of coral reefs

Coral reefs are composed of thousand of tiny animals called polyps. The reefs occupy only 0.7% of the ocean floor but provide homes and vital nursery grounds for 25% of all marine species on earth, which include 4000 species of fish, 700 species of corals and thousands of plants and animals.

Apart from being responsible for building the largest structure on earth - the Great Barrier Reef, coral reefs protect shorelines from erosion and storm and wave damage. The economy of some countries is also associated with coral reefs. Tourism brings in billions of dollars to local economies and being the largest industry on earth, it sustain 10% of all jobs on earth.

Marine debris -  a threat to marine life

Marine debris in the world's ocean causes harm to underwater environments and wildlife. In September and October 2009, a staggering 222,215kg of debris were collected from the world's shorelines and underwater environments during the International Clean-up Day organized by Project AWARE Foundation.

Nearly 80% of all marine debris is plastics and these plastics do not biodegrade. Marine debris such as plastics, fishing line and nets, glass bottles, aluminum cans, disposable diapers and others are causing entanglement and ingestion in more than 260 animals species worldwide. More than 1 million seabirds are also reported to be killed by litter each year.

All these numbers are reflection that the world's ocean is in dire need of cleaning-up and conservation. No matter how big or small scale a green project can be, it will make a difference, for in the effort to conserve our environment, every little step counts.

The "Green Fins" programme was initiated in 2004 by the East Asian Seas Regional Coordinating Unit(EAS/RCU), the secretariat of the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia(COBSEA) - located in Bangkok, Thailand. The overall objective of the "Green Fins" programme is to establish a network of environmentally-friendly dive operators through which snorkelers, diving enthusiasts and dive operators can participate in conservation, monitoring, and management of coral reefs by fostering the adoption and practice of environmentally-friendly snorkeling and diving in protecting the coral reefs. The programme awards certificates to dive operators who carry out their operations using a set of environmentally-friendly guidelines.

The project is being launched in Malaysia in year 2008. In Malaysia, Department of Marine Park malaysia, NRE is responsible for expanding the network in Malaysia and to produce educational and public awareness materials and certificates.

The expected outcomes of implementation of Green Fins Programme are:-
1. Increased awareness of good snorkeling and diving practices.
2. Increased protective measures for coral reefs.
3. Increased coral reef data and information at the selected sites.
4. Improved coral reef health.

We are the first pioneer member to Green Fins Malaysia on 21st February 2009 witnessed by the Director General of Department of Marine Park Malaysia and Network Leader for Green Fins Malaysia. <see more photos on E-Gallery/E-Photo Green Fins>