The Perhentian Islands are renowned as being the most beautiful Islands in Malaysia and this title is warranted. The coral sand beaches are lined by palm trees on one side and fringing coral reefs on the other. If Robinson Crusoe was to be filmed they could easily use the Perhentian Islands as the set.
However, below the turquoise blue waters not all is good. The coral reefs are dying fast, mainly due to the hordes of tourists that search out this tropical paradise on a daily basis. Corals grow just 15cm per year and with hundreds of tourists snorkelling and diving the reefs daily the breakage of coral is a big issue.
The same goes for the sea turtles. The beaches of the Perhentians are nesting grounds for two species of turtle – green and hawksbill. The numbers have been declining slowly since 2000. Tourists often seek out nesting turtles and if they get too close they will scare the shy creatures who will return to the sea without laying any eggs. If a mother lays her eggs, they are at the mercy of poachers who consume or sell the eggs.
It’s not all bad news though. Reef Check Malaysia and Ecoteer both run projects in the islands and several of the resorts are protecting their own piece of paradise. Ecoteer runs the community house which is open to the village children in the afternoon as a youth centre. Ecoteer international volunteers also go into the local primary school twice a week to improve the children’s English and teach them about the environment. The Ecoteer House is the base for Ecoteer and provides international volunteers with an opportunity to experience village island life and to give back to the islands’ environment. Reef Check runs Reef Check Surveys to establish the health of the coral reefs in Perhentian.
One of the resorts that is doing a lot of good is Bubbles. They run a turtle and coral conservation project aimed at protecting the nesting sea turtles and replenishing their fringing coral reef. The seas surrounding Perhentian are very easy for first-time scuba divers and during the Bubbles volunteer programme divers can take a beginner course and an advanced one and become a qualified Reef Check surveyor.
The Perhentian Islands need you otherwise Paradise will be lost.
(Image: gemb1)
