Central and regional governments in Malaysia recognize the importance attached to conserving their natural resources, not just in light of increasing revenue gained through reef-based tourism but also as a sustainable livelihood for subsistence fishers and the commercial fishing industry. Coral reef fisheries in recent years have been estimated to contribute approximately 25% of total annual marine fish production in Malaysia. In Sabah six marine parks have been established all of which have no take zones, these are:
- The Pulau Tiga Marine Park, a beautiful island between Labuan to the south and Kota Kinabalu.
- The Tunuk Abdul Rahman Marine Park, located adjacent to Kota Kinabalu.
- Turtle Islands Marine Park, a group of islands seaward of Sandakan renowned for their year round turtle nesting.
- Tun Sakaran Marine Park, encompassing many islands off Semporna.
- The Sugud Islands Marine Conservation Area (SIMCA), including the notorious resort and diving destination, Lankayan.
- Sipadan Island, the infamous diving destination.
The first four are monitored by Sabah Parks, who work closely with national and international universities. The other coral reef areas are being protected and monitored by governmental agencies. SIMCA by the Sabah Wildlife Department, who works closely Reef Guardian. This private company works worldwide to initiate, implement and enforce coastal management plans. Sipadan Island is protected by the National Security Department. For the most part these marine parks seem to operate quite successfully, although patrolling such large areas all the time is impossible and so inevitably no-take zone laws are breached.
Although present in Sabah detrimental fishing practices such as bomb, cyanide or dynamite fishing are supposedly not as widespread as in the neighbouring countries of Indonesia and the Philippines. Considering the large amount of illegal Filipino settlements (Palawan in the Philippines is a short journey from northern Sabah) one might consider this surprising. Probably it is both a testament to the effective protection of the marine parks and that coral reefs outside the marine parks are largely unvisited. Extensive coral reef survey data exists in Malaysia, however much of these data are unreported and dispersed among many institutions. Reconstruction of central Government after the 2004 elections has resulted in the creation of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, however management and conservation of coral reef ecosystems falls under various regional departments. In Sabah these are Sabah Parks and Department of Fisheries Sabah. Hopefully the flow of data and information between these authorities, their associated private sectors, and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) will become better organized so that important data can reach national and international databases, and the state of reefs in Sabah be better known.
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