Yes to reefs, no to plastic

Coral reefs are the breeding ground of most tropical fish and they also function like the rainforests on land. If coral reefs were depleted many of the fish that we have on our menu would eventually cease to exist. Already climate change and rising temperatures are bleaching the world's coral reefs and, unless we do something to combat it, there is a danger that the world would lose its coral reefs over the next 30 years, including the world's longest and largest stretch of reefs, the Great Barrier Reef.

To bring the danger closer to home, a coral reef expert, Dr Gregor Hodgson, has predicted that Brunei Darussalam will lose 10 per cent of its reefs at Pelong Rocks this year (The Brunei Times, July 24, 2010). Dr Hodgson, executive director of Reef Check Foundation, a non-profit organisation made the assessment during a recent visit with representatives of the Fisheries Department. "Right now in Brunei and Southeast Asia we have a (coral) bleaching event and it is killing a lot of coral," he said. However, he said besides the bleaching in that vicinity Brunei's coral reefs, which were as complex as those of the Great Barrier Reef though much smaller in size, were in good condition but needed protective action to maintain them. In this respect, it is good to read that the government is in the final stage of a feasibility study on setting up Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the country.

Fisheries Director Hjh Hasnah Ibrahim, who disclosed this to The Brunei Times (July 25, 2010), said, "We are going to complete the (feasibility) study now... Maybe after that we will come up with our own plan with regard to the MPA." It is good for Brunei fisheries and fishermen as under the MPA the authorities can oversee and regulate fishing as well as access to the controlled area to ensure that there is no overfishing. They can also close off a section of the reefs completely so that fish will be allowed to mature and grow before they are fished. Like the Heart of Borneo initiative on land with its virgin forests, it is good to see Brunei extending its green initiative to its marine environment as well.

Well done, but there is still one initiative that the local authorities should move faster on — doing away with plastic bags. On Sept 2, 2003, the National Geographic magazine reported that, according to the United States Environmental Agency, between 500 billion and one trillion plastic bags were used yearly worldwide. Most plastic bags are discarded after single use, and, being extremely cheap and durable, pose the biggest danger to the environment and to wildlife on land and sea.

Many countries have taken the "no-plastic" initiative, municipality by municipality, city by city. Brunei had also had a "Day without a plastic bag" on a December day in 2006, 2007 and 2008. This year a "No Plastic Day" was initiated in conjunction with Earth Day by the Ministry of Development. However, in this respect, Brunei has been overtaken by Miri which succeeded in persuading several supermarkets and hypermarkets to support its move to promote reusable shopping bags from May 1, 2010 (The Brunei Times, July 24, 2010). People who wanted plastic bags had to pay 20 cents for each. A total of 20,000 plastic bags were sold in May with the revenue being divided equally between the outlets and the municipality for their favourite charities and for environmental spending respectively. Plastic bags sold fell to 15,000 in June and is still falling. Brunei could similarly extend this green initiative.