The live coral trade in Sabah, Malaysia and conservation needs
Poh Leem Choo (a,b*), Zarinah Waheed (a), Ejria Salleh (a)
a) Borneo Marine Research Institute, University Malaysia , Jalan UMS, 88400, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
b) WWF-Malaysia, Suite 1-6 W11 , 6th Floor, CPS Tower Centre Point Complex, No. 1, Jalan Centre Point, 88800 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
*plchoo[at]wwf.org.my
Abstract
Sabah harbor around 90% of reefs in Malaysia, and it is the only State which is within the Scientific boundary of Coral Triangle, which is the center of marine biodiversity. These reef providing food and livelihood to the local community and it is the main attraction for divers all over the world. However, the reef is under threats such as fish bombing, marine debris, overfishing and unsustainable tourism practices. The collection of live coral might become lucrative, because the investors start to look into the potential of grow this industry in Sabah, after the announcement from Indonesian government to ban the live coral exports in 2018. Coral propagation might be the way to reduce the pressure of collecting live coral from the wild but these initiatives are focus on fast growing species and unable to fulfill the demand for aquarium trade which favors large polyps and relatively slow growing species. The trend of live coral export from Sabah have not been reported before as well as the current practice of coral harvesting in the wild. Live coral export regulated by Department of Fisheries Sabah under CITES Appendix II Listing and each year quota been allocated to export live coral for licensed coral traders. This paper provides an analysis of live coral trade from 2015 to 2018 and examines the management challenges for sustainable harvesting in Sabah, Malaysia. Currently, there are a slow and steady growing trend for coral export especially for species that have large polyps. Is there a conservation need to reduce harvest quota for certain species? or we need to effectively manage our existing marine protected area?
Keywords: Coral trade, aquarium, reef conservation
Topic: Marine Resources, Conversation and ICZM