Rising temperatures causing bleaching to population in several marine parks

PETALING JAYA: Some coral reefs at diving spots in waters off Malay­sia have started showing signs of bleaching due to the rising sea temperatures.

In the June 2 statistics provided by the Marine Park Department, bleaching among coral reefs has been spotted in Pulau Payar in Kedah, Pulau Tinggi and Pulau Sibu in Johor, Pulau Redang in Tereng­ganu and Pulau Tioman in Pahang.

In Pulau Payar, which had to be temporarily closed to divers in 2010 due to damage, bleaching was observed at 60% of its reef population and up to 90% among the colony.

Pulau Sibu and Pulau Tinggi saw bleaching of 50% and 30% among the coral reef population, and up to 70% on the colony.

In Pulau Redang and Pulau Tioman, which are both popular with divers, bleaching of the coral reef population is estimated at 10% and 20%.

However, places like Pulau Rusu­kan Besar off Labuan and another popular diving spot in Pulau Perhentian, Terengganu, are still safe from any bleaching.

A check at the department’s website showed Pulau Payar and Pulau Tioman to be consistently affected by water temperature of 31°C last month.

A department spokesman said that there was no need at the moment to temporarily close any of the di­ving spots in the affected areas.

“At present, the bleaching is still minimal and localised to Pulau Payar and off Johor waters. We are still waiting for more data to come in,” he said, adding that a technical committee meeting would be called once the data had been gathered.

“We are still at the beginning phase and tracking the process,” he said.

Malaysia was recently notified by the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that sea surface temperatures in some of its waters were above average, and the coral reefs might soon be exposed to thermal stress.

The “Bleaching Watch” notification for Malaysia was issued on May 2 under NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch Programme.

In 2010, the department temporarily closed several dive sites at Pulau Tioman, Pulau Redang and Pulau Payar to allow the coral reefs to recover from bleaching, a phenomenon caused by global warming.

The number of visitors was also limited during that time.

Reef Check Malaysia general manager Julian Hyde said it did not know yet how serious the bleaching would be but that based on NOAA’s data and predictions, this did not seem to be worsening.

“We are watching what happens in the next few weeks. Much de­­pends on the weather – if it remains dry then sea temperatures are likely to stay warm.

“However, if the south-western monsoon starts, it will bring rain and stormy seas, which will help cool down the ocean.”