Marine Parks of Terengganu: Need to protect them at all cost

Marine parks in terengganu is governed by the Fisheries Act of 1985. These parks are located around 2-3 nautical miles off the oceanic islands in Terengganu. These parks have one of the best coral reefs in the world and they are beautiful too. The objective of the parks are to afford special protection to aquatic flora and fauna and protect the natural breeding grounds and habitat of aquatic life, allow for the natural regeneration of aquatic life, promote scientific study and research, preserve and enhance the pristine state and productivity and regulate recreational activities to avoid irreversible damage to its environment.

Those days, marine parks are under the jurisdiction of Fisheries department. now a new department , Marine Park Department is formed to manage and control these parks. 

All marine islands in Terengganu are gazetted as Marine Parks. They are Pulau Perhentian Kecil, Pulau Perhentian Besar, Pulau Susu Dara, Pulau Redang and surrounding islands, Pulau Kapas, and Pulau Tenggol. Key islands are actually Redang, Perhentian, Kapas and Tenggol.

Many tourists visited these islands and many involve themselves in activities like scuba diving, snorkelling etc. Now it is found that the reef conditions are in decline as a result of activities like water pollution, coastal reclamation, boat anchoring and ocean warming and coral bleaching.

If you are marine park scientist or love these islands, please help Terengganu and Malaysia to protect these  marine parks from deteriorating by educating visitors not to engage in activities that  are detrimental to the  sustainability of these marine parks. If you want to visit these parks, they are accessible from Kuala Besut (Perhentian), Kuala Terengganu (Redang), Marang  (Kapas) and Kuala Dungun (Tenggol). Happy travelling.