Barge beached in Sipadan

[Repetitive Diver]

Lame excuses, whitewash, guilty parties getting off Scot-free - no surpirses there then.

The threat to close the island is exactly that - a threat because this dude is under pressure and deosn't like 'outsiders' telling him what to do but (and I hate to say this) he is right about one thing:

... some people are exaggerating ridiculously (I am not talking about the concerned people who want to see proper punishment and systems in place to prevent recurrence and to see that the area recovers as quickly as possible) but the 'Sipadan ruined' and 'Massive Tanker crashes into Sipadan' brigade - how quickly it became a tanker!

To them I would say 'Simmer down guys. Are we not trained to Stop, Breathe, Think, Act?'

What has happened is bad - no doubt... and someone should be made to pay but as anyone who knows Sipadan or reads the reports carefully then you will see that, and I quote:

< On Monday and Tuesday, the barge was ferrying building material and equipment to the island and damaged a section of coral near three popular dive sites: the "Drop-off", "Barracuda Point" and "Turtle Cavern".>

Key phrase to quell the sensationalism many seems to favour- "a section of coral near three popular dive sites"

Near - not on. A section of coral - not the whole island.

I will bet that very few can honestly state they have dived that very area. I have been 6 times to dive Sipadan and never went to that spot - why? Because it is completely unremarkable.

So yes it was tragic that such a stupid act could cause such damage to nature's delicate artwork but is Sipadan going to close? - Of course not.
Is Sipadan ruined? - Don't be daft.
Will any of the dive sites you have visited in Sipadan look any different in any way? - Not one iota.

Saying it is ruined and that you wouldn't go there now is like saying you wouldn't sleep with Angelina Jolie because she broke her fourth metatarsal.

I don't mean to downplay the seriousness of the incident (I would happliy lynch those responsible) but we must also be measured in our assessment of what the consequences of it will be.

 

[Kim]

......is like saying you wouldn't sleep with Angelina Jolie because she broke her fourth metatarsal.

I wouldn't sleep with Angelina Jolie. My wife would break a lot more than my 4th metatarsal if I did!

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

I wouldn't sleep with Angelina Jolie. My wife would break a lot more than my 4th metatarsal if I did!

Hey - but you die with a smile on your face...


I don't know what I find more irritating:

1) A contractor beaching a barge with total disregard to the damage he is doing at a world-class tourist destination...

2) The over-inflated hyperbole on how Sipadan, or any of the dives spots, is ruined (&#8216;shredded turtles&#8217; my *****)

Or

3) The minister threatening to close Sipadan to divers, who had nothing to do with the 50 by 20-30 metres of damage, to allow the island to &#8216;rest&#8217; (a knee jerk reaction to number 2 above).

Get the barge off. Assess and rehabilitate the damage. Come up with a protection plan for the island to stop this happening again. Easy?

Mind you - having spent many a surface interval corralled into a small part of the beach with no toilet facilities, its good to hear that they plan to make some allowance to having divers on the island: but why the secrecy?

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[Batfish]

Following quote from Alex Mustard who was there at the time and took the photos which were on the report in FiNS:

I would like to comment is that the damage in itself is in a relatively small area. Say about 3 tennis courts , with spillage of building materials and broken coral down the reef.

From a diving perspective - most of the damage is on top of the reef - and I am sure that many people would swim passed on the wall (as divers tend to be on the wall rather than on the reef flat) and not know what is above them. In fact when i was photographing the damage on the wall I did not know what was above me. And of course all the other dive sites on Sipadan remain undamaged.

I believe it is worth making a fuss because I am upset that such a stupid accident was allowed to happen - on an island that should be protected from development. Hopefully by making a fuss we can stop something similar from happening again.

On a positive note - the fact that the corals were sheared off to a hard limestone base should aid recolonisation. I would expect there to be good coral cover in about 10 years - compared with say a 40 year recovery from bombing.

Alex

Taken from the Underwater Photographers Forum (wetpixel):

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13462

See page 2, post 23.

 

[Strapongzh3]

Very interesting discussion and a lot of emotions in it. I just came back from Sipadan a few weeks ago and initially I was shocked when I read about this "Disaster"....
I come to the conclusion so, that the Sipadan is not Destroyed (yet...) . Living now for almost 6 years in China, I have given up to believe that I can make a difference to the ignorance of Government Officials, Politicians, Police, Park Rangers etc.... Usually, one gets more out of the situation if you make them believe they are great, smart people and that you admire them. Putting them into a corner wont help. They become defensive and "close the island"..... :-(
I am frustrated... But, play their game...

 

[Zippsy]

They are building such things as "restaurants and toilet facilities" on the island. That's what the barge is doing there.

Other than the animals that lived there, who cares about the new parking lot? Well I do but I'm a bleeding heart liberal.

Who cares that they are building restaurants on the island? If you don't, there is something wrong with you.

Who cares if the idiots who planned and will profit from this demand silence, obedience and acquiescence? If you don't, there is something wrong with you.

IMHO

 

[Batfish]

Email I received today from Alex Mustard, who was there and took the photos on that original report in FiNS.


Hi Jamie,

Thanks for the links. I have a lot of work to catch up on since my return from Sipadan and I don't have time to post my views on all the scuba forums around the place. However, I am very happy for you to include the following quote from me - should you want more people to read my eye witness account:

It is important to note that this accident has not ruined diving on Sipadan. It has just heavily damaged a section of the reef. I think it is important to publicise this damage to insure it does not happen again, so I am happy to distribute my pictures.

It is also important that divers are not put off from going to Sipadan - because without the income generated by tourism Sipadan would soon be consumed by the fishermen (just as the rain forests and reefs around Semporna have been). If the island didn't have the divers and Malaysian army there it would be ravaged in days (in fact a fisherman was caught with nets filled with Barracuda at Sipadan at night during my stay).

Alex

His web site: www.amustard.com (nothing on there about this incident, but he takes some darn fine photos!)

 

[malaysia-islands]

The key attraction of Sipadan lies some 10-15 meters deep. From the photos, it seemed like the affected area was within 1 meter depth only. The only time I've been to the Drop-Off was to laze in the sun (I did snorkel once, and the more interesting corals were more than 3 meters deep).

I don't really like hearing about the sarcasm about building Mahathir's palace or whatever. Let's be realistic. I know, everyone, including Zipsy (who had accused me of stealing somebody else's photos of my dive in Menjangan) is really upset. The construction was probably to erect better shelter for the army, better toilet (the current ones are quite smelly), etc. What happened is really unfortunate. They should have NOT used that barge. There are other ways.

If indeed what got destroyed was just a bunch of coral gravels in the first place, I would be more concerned with my recent dive in Sipadan where I saw 4-5 liveaboard divers casually touching the corals and one actually picked up a yellow crinoid fresh off its resting place among the corals to be brought onshore! And yes, he was a foreigner.

Bear in mind, this was only what I saw. God knows what else local or foreign divers are doing in Sipadan that could be worse than this.

 

[SayLeng]

Fact is, the development plans are not public until the construction works have started. If there is public outcry over the matter then, the works usually stop, at least until after the media coverage blows over. Check out the link below.

http://malaysiadivingcommunity.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=262&st=0&#entry20332

I prefer to highlight this issue in a rational manner lest the authorities claim foreign interference and sovereign rights on Sipadan. So, i urge everyone to keep cool while discussing this. Please?

 

[Zippsy]

The main damage is actually slightly above sea level. It's where they are planning to build restaurants and toilet facilities (per Tan Sri Bodoh). Several of you who have obvious vested interests keep saying the diving is uneffected. As long as you do, I'll keep saying that the experienced is ruined. They kicked the operators off the island so they could keep it in pristine condition. Now they are going to build restaurants and toilet facilities on the island???????? How is that going to keep it pristine? Are you waiting for the helicopter pads to be constructed? (ps, they one they just tried was too deep) Think Tioman. Will they be building housing for the staff of bringing them in daily? Does that mean they need a better jetty? How about a marina? Where does the waste go? They ship that off the island daily? The human waste? Does that get shipped off too? Are they still planning on limiting visitors to 80 per day? (forgive me if that figure is slightly off) Or is it going to be 80 divers and unlimited restaurant guests?

You know, when they kicked the operators off the island, some of my friends were betting on how long it would take before some connected Tan Sri got permission to build a luxury resort on Sipadan with exclusive rights to the diving. I had 5 years and I now think I may have overestimated.