On a conservation programme to collect marine debris, Zulkifly Ab Latif marvels at the beauty of the landscape
‘YoU’re not gearing up?’ asks Fahmi, one of the members of co-op diver Johor, a state-based diving association. I look down to the water below the rickety wooden jetty we’re standing. It is creamy green in hue. Out in the open ocean, the rolling clouds have changed colour to slate grey.
‘No, I don’t think I can get any photos with this poor visibility so I’ll pass this dive,’ I answer. Fahmi shrugs and proceeds to don his scuba diving gear. A shirtless man in his sixties, wearing nothing but a sarong, walks over to me and looks down at the water below.
‘It looks like coconut milk down there. Can they see anything?’ he asks.
I cannot help but laugh hearing this. The man is Pak Bakar, the owner of Pak Bakar chalet, and he’s a little amused seeing us divers gathered at his small resort in Pulau Tinggi, Johor, wanting to scuba dive under his jetty despite the unfavourable conditions.
Pak Bakar’s amusement is understandable of course, since if this were to be a typical fun dive, it would probably have been postponed due to poor visibility. But the members of co-op diver Johor are not here on beautiful Pulau tinggi for fun dives; they’re here on a mission with the Johor department of environment and department of Marine Parks, Johor to collect e-waste and other marine debris that are damaging the marine environment.
THE SEA
Situated some 30 km of fthe coast of Mersing, Johor, Pulau Tinggi is a jungle-covered island located within Johor state’s Sultan Iskandar Marine Park. Steaming jungles, a mist-capped mountain and long stretches of pristine beaches are what attracts most visitors to the island.
The island is an important conservation area for the marine ecosystem, so much so that a Marine Park Centre has been established on the island by the Department of Marine Parks.
Pak Bakar and I have already been on the jetty for 20 minutes when a scuba diver suddenly appears at the water’s surface. A few moments later all the divers appear, signalling the end of the dive.
‘Couldn’t see a thing,’ Co-op Divers chairman Mohd Fairuz Othman exclaims as he climbs up the jetty’s wooden ladder.
However, I can see that their dive has not been a failure since a few of the nets they are carrying are filled with trash collected underwater. Spread out on the jetty’s wooden planks, I see rusty batteries, broken lamp bulbs, a spark plug and what looks like the circuit board of a small transistor radio. These are known as e-waste, discarded items from broken or obsolete electronic appliances. A growing global issue, e-waste can cause health and environmental hazards if not disposed of properly. ‘We will do another dive here tomorrow. I saw a large ghost net stuck on some coral but the visibility was too bad to do anything about it,’ Fahmi says, looking determined.
THE VILLAGE
I am in Kampung Tanjung Balang, the largest of three villages on Pulau Tinggi. The island’s population is concentrated here, and the village is where the island’s school, mosque, police station as well as government clinic are located.
Stretched along the village’s beach are a few rustic chalets as well as food stalls selling local snacks and treats such as banana fritters .
In contrast to Pak Bakar Chalet, which is located in a secluded cove and caters mostly to anglers or those seeking solace, Kampung Tanjung Balang is a popular choice for family holidays and snorkelling trips.
The village’s beach overlooks a nearby cluster of smaller islands such as Mentinggi, Apil, Nanga Kechil and Nanga Besar, all of which have beautiful snorkelling spots waiting to be explored.
Along with other participants, I meet Rahaman Ali, the village head of Kampung Tanjung Balang. Affectionately called Tok Mok, he is also the owner of Tok Mok Chalet, a resort located near the end of the beach at the village.
As someone who is also involved with tourism, Tok Mok understands the importance of conservation, and is warm and welcoming when programmes such as this by the Johor Department of Environment come to his village. Gathering at the spacious dining hall of his chalet, Tok Mok is presented with a large e-waste bin to collect e-waste that the villagers want to properly dispose of.
When full, the villagers can then contact the assigned contractor’s number on the bin who will then come and collect the e-waste for recycling on the mainland. I realiseit takesa considerable amount of effort, time and resources to properly manage e-waste on remote islands such as Pulau Tinggi, but the importance of sustainability far outweighs the cost.
THE GHOST
It is the second day of our stay on Pulau Tinggi and we are back at Pak Bakar Chalet.
The sea seems to finally submit to our cause since the azure waters are now calm and crystal clear. I join the other divers underwater and in mere moments I can see the large entangled ghost net mentioned by Fahmi strewn across a patch of coral reef.
Known as ghost nets, they are commercial fishing nets that have been lost or discarded into the sea. These discarded nets are hazardous to the marine ecosystem, since they continue to trap and kill anything that gets entangled in them, including birds, marine mammals, sharks and turtles.
Along with divers from the Department of Marine Parks Johor, Sultan Iskandar Marine Park and volunteer divers from Coop Diver Johor, we cut and snip the ghost net using diving knives and even kitchen scissors, freeing it from the coral reef and then floating it to the surface using inflatable lift bags and our surface marker buoys.
It is difficult work, since every time the net is cut and yanked the visibility underwater lessens due to the stirred up sediment.
The less experienced scuba divers who are not confident about working on the ghost net however play an equally important role, scouring the reefs and under the jetty for any e-waste or trash to collect. In total, 80kg worth of ghostnets and trash are collected at the end of our dive.
THE QUINTUPLETS
With the main objectives of the programme completed, the participants finally have some free time to take in the scenery around Pulau Tinggi. Some opt to retreat to their rooms at the Marine Park Centre for a well-deserved nap, as others proceed
to Pasir Panjang beach for a swim.
The Department of Marine Parks Johor invites me to tag along on an impromptu visit to a cluster of islands nearby, collectively called Lima Islands, which I of course accept. It takes 20minutes by speed boat to reach Pulau Lima from Pulau Tinggi, and the scenery that awaits is well worth it. Pulau Lima, or at least the first two islands out of the five that make the cluster of Lima islands, is a tiny tropical paradise that seems to have been overlooked by humans.
The two islands are close to each other, with a narrow channel of shallow turquoise green water separating the two. A fringe of coral reef stretches around the island and is visible even from the surface.
There is a powdery white sand beach on the second island, which is a known turtle nesting area. The island is slowly becoming a destination for snorkelling, with visitors making a stopover from PulauTinggi or nearby Pulau Sibu.
There is talk of gazetting the islands into the marine park island group, but nothing concrete as yet. Taking in the beauty of the island’s landscape, I wholeheartedly see the need to ensure its continued preservation.
Without a doubt, environmental sustainability isa key issue throughout the islands of Johor, and after having seen firsthand the effort put in by the Johor Department of Environment, Department of Marine Parks Johor, Sultan Iskandar Marine Park as well the volunteer work by recreational associations such as Co-op Diver Johor, the natural charm of these islands can continue to be enjoyed by visitors for many more years to come.
TRAVEL FILE
How to get there
Other than Mersing Jetty, Tanjung Leman Jetty is the entry point to Pulau Tinggi and its nearby islands. The jetty is a two-hour drive from Johor Baru and 45 minutes away from Mersing, Johor. For details on Pulau Tinggi or Sultan Iskandar Marine Park, visit www.johorparks.gov.my/en/parks/taman-laut-sultan-iskandar. To learn more about e-waste and how to properly dispose of it, visit www.doe.gov.my/hhew/