KUCHING, July 19: Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) dropped its final reef ball at Similajau National Park in Bintulu today, marking the completion of Phase I of the Sarawak Reef Ball Project.
According to a post on its Facebook page, SFC’s reef ball journey began in 2019 to protect Sarawak’s coastal marine ecosystem and its resources.
“Our efforts were quickly recognised by the Premier of Sarawak, and SFC was given the full trust and support by the State to execute the project. Thus, the ‘Sarawak Reef Ball Project Phase I’ dream was materialised under the ‘Projek Rakyat’,” said SFC.
SFC deployed the artificial reef created using reef balls along the coastal waters of Sarawak from Tanjung Datu, Lundu to Lawas.
With the deployment of the reef balls marking the end of the project, SFC hopes that this project will serve as an exemplary conservation project which will benefit marine wildlife and the coral reef ecosystem, particularly sea turtles.
It added that a slight hiccup due to the Covid-19 pandemic did not hamper SFC’s efforts as it managed to deploy 16,829 reef balls in 740 clusters of 20 to 30 reef balls along 720km out of the 900-kilometre Sarawak coastline from Tanjung Datu to Lawas.
“In the long run, this RM70 million project will be a catalyst in improving the livelihood of local fishermen while simultaneously protecting artisanal fishing folks’ fishing grounds from fishing trawler activities.
“The success was evident as quoted by the Premier of Sarawak when he mentioned that the amount of catches had increased in the waters of Sematan on Sarawak’s southern side and Belawai in the State’s central region after the reef balls had been deployed,” it said.
SFC added that it would continue in its quest to conserve the marine ecosystem through this reef ball project and is currently working on project impact studies by conducting marine biological assessments as well as getting feedback from local communities on the project’s outcome.
“We are looking forward to the next phase of the reef ball project, and together let’s take care of our marine ecosystem for our current and future generations,” SFC said. — DayakDaily
