Sunday 25 July  2010, Bandar Seri Begawan – Brunei is currently in the final stage of the feasibility study which will dictate the establishment of the country's Marine Protected Areas (MPA), the Director of Fisheries disclosed to The Brunei Times recently.

An MPA has a similar function to forest reserves on land, whereby an area or a network of fisheries are controlled, in terms of fishing and access to the area, in order to conserve the marine resources there.

"We are going to complete the (feasibility) study. Now, we are at the last stage," said Hjh Hasnah Ibrahim at her office during a recent interview. "Maybe after that, we will come up with our own plan with regard to the MPA," she added.

The idea for Brunei to set an MPA has been a long time coming, with some of the most notable arguments for it raised by a renowned reef ecologist who suggested last year that it would allow large predatory fish stocks to recover.

Dr Mark Erdmann of Conservation International Indonesia Marine Programme based this suggestion on findings of a study on Brunei's marine wildlife, which he participated in.

The fisheries director shared that the last phase of the feasibility study would entail another round of diving at potential MPA sites. However, she said there was no target date or year set for the creation of the MPA. "It involves a lot of work, so we have to be thorough in our study in order to establish the MPA," Hjh Hasnah explained.

Earlier in June, a senior fisheries officer said that results from monthly fish stock assessments of Brunei's waters revealed that fish production was decreasing.

The officer said that this was evident in the presence of more smaller-sized fish in Brunei's waters, while predatory fish, such as the Napoleon Wrasse, were "beginning to disappear" due to overfishing.


Industry and Primary Resources Minister Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Hj Yahya Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar had then said in his World Ocean Day address that "the situation is worrying".

The Executive Director of Reef Check Foundation, an international non-profit organisation focused on the status of the world's reefs, stressed that the establishment of an MPA was necessary to resolve Brunei's dwindling fish problems.

"What's happening right now is that the fish are being caught before they can reproduce," said Dr Gregory Hodgson, who was in Brunei for a brief visit to promote the Reef Check method.

For example, it may take groupers six years to reach a sufficient size when they are able to reproduce for the first time, he continued. "So it's very easy to fish out the reef fisheries because of the slow growth and late age of reproduction". However, the MPA did not require closing off all fisheries sites to fishermen and other stakeholders.

"You close off fishing to say about 30 per cent of your reefs... The idea is to allow the fish to grow bigger and to start reproducing," Hodgson said. He added that the offspring would also go outside the MPA and increase the country's total fishery.

"So the fishermen will benefit in the end. Some of our strongest supporters (of the MPA) are the fishermen, once they figure out that it's actually helping to make more fish," he pointed out. He said in Indonesia and Philippines, the fishermen are trained into tour guides for marine eco-tourism projects. The fishermen can then have another means of generating revenue, as the MPA restricts their fishing, he remarked.

"You can't take away their livelihood without giving them something in return, or else this whole system will never work," he said.

The Reef Check executive director had earlier predicted that Brunei would lose 10 per cent of its reefs at Pelong Rocks near Muara Town, due to the effects of global warming. The phenomenon, coral bleaching, was also being witnessed throughout Southeast Asia.

However, aside from the coral bleaching experienced by the reefs here, he remarked that Brunei reefs were in "good condition" and that now it was just a matter of setting up the MPA to maintain the reefs. The Brunei Times~ Courtesy of The Brunei Times

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS, IT CENTRE
MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND PRIMARY RESOURCES

Sources
Writer: Ubaidillah Masli
Picture: Courtesy of The Brunei Times
Website: http://www.bt.com.bn

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