Plans in place to follow-up on coral bleaching incidents, says Fisheries Dept

PUTRAJAYA: The Fisheries Department director-general Datuk Adnan Hussain (pic) said the department is formulating several follow-up plans regarding the coral bleaching incidents that have occurred throughout this year.

He said among the plans are managing local impact, threats and pressure on coral reefs through continuous reef management, identifying resilient reefs and coral species, coral restoration, and developing policies related to coral management and bleaching actions in Malaysia.

“With strong conservation efforts and actions to mitigate climate change, the frequency and impact of bleaching events are likely to threaten the long-term survival of coral reef ecosystems,” he said in a statement on Saturday (Nov 9).

He said that until now, the authorities are still implementing monitoring works, and that the notice to temporarily halt restoration activities, coral relocation, and any physical contact activities with corals issued by the Fisheries Department on July 2 is still in effect.

“The process of recovering bleached corals can take from several weeks to several months, therefore monitoring efforts will be carried out continuously,” he said.

According to him, based on the coral bleaching events that affected the coral reefs in Malaysian waters starting in May, nearly 50 per cent of the coral reefs, especially in marine parks, experienced bleaching and the recovery period varies by location.

Sharing data on the coral reef recovery process, Adnan said that until last month, the process was slow in several reefs in the marine park waters, but the percentage of dead corals was higher compared to live corals during the recovery period. – Bernama