PROPOSED OCEANARIUM WILL NOT DESTROY CORAL, SAYS STATE MINISTER

KOTA KINABALU (Malaysia), Nov 19 (Bernama) -- The proposed 33-hectare oceanarium resort in Mabul Island, located in the East Coast of East Malaysia state of Sabah, will not destroy the coral reefs.

Rather, it would help ease pressure from the diving crowd coming from
neighbouring Sipadan island, said state tourism, culture and environment
minister Masidi Manjun Wednesday.

He said the government was initiating efforts to restore the coral reefs
which he claimed, had already been destroyed over the past 15 years due illegal
usage of fish bombs.

"I am not trying to defend the oceanarium...what the oceanarium is trying
to
create is a diving spot by rehabilitating the coral and marine life so that
people need not go to Sipadan but just stay in Mabul.

"The whole idea is to disperse the diving crowd so that it eases the
pressure on Sipadan," he told reporters on the sidelines of the state
legislative assembly sitting.

On Tuesday, Masidi said the Sabah Cabinet had endorsed the state land and
survey department's decision to approve the resort's location.

In previous reports, environmentalists, villagers and dive operators had
voiced worries over the resort plan as it would affect the island's marine life
and degrade the eco-sensitive coral reefs of Pulau Sipadan, a 20-minute boat
ride away.

Meanwhile, Sabah Environment Protection Association president Wong Tack
questioned the necessity for an oceanarium to be built.

He said an incident in Sipadan in 2006, when a construction barge ran
aground and destroyed a coral reef patch the size of three tennis courts, should
serve as a reminder.