Marine parks may be closed if found necessary, says Yahya

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah will close its marine parks if warranted by the Sabah Parks, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Yahya Hussin yesterday. He said Sabah Parks is currently assessing all of its marine parks for coral bleaching problems and will take ameliorative actions if needed.

He said this in response to the closures of some islands in the marine parks in Kedah, Terengganu and Pahang due to coral bleaching as announced by the Department of Marine Park Malaysia recently.

In relation to this, he reiterated that Sabah treats its natural resources as treasures to be protected because it is the key economy for the state particularly in agriculture and eco-tourism. He said the State is also party to many international conventions on natural resources protection and conservation.

“Sabah is not only a party to many of the important international conventions but we implement many related programmes as well,” said Yahya in his speech read by his assistant minister Datuk Musbah Jamli at the opening ceremony of the 5th meeting of the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Eco-region Programme Tri-National Committee at a hotel here on Wednesday night.

For its commitment to the conventions, Yahya noted that the State has been awarded a host of world-acclaimed certifications and programmes for good nature conservation management including the ‘Great Ape’ conservation targeting the orang utans as well as the first (outside of the United States) Wildlife Habitat Conservation Bank.