marine-ecology - research
Our vision is to provide our international customers with an exceptionally high international standard of hospitality and experiences unique to Malaysia in an eco-friendly and sustainable manner.
We strive to ensure that our standards of practice are eco-friendly and sustainable to ensure the long-term profitability of the resort. We will train our staff to aspire to provide a memorable and unique experience to our international travelers regardless of where they call home and participate in developing the local community and industry to recognize the importance with an emphasis on the value of protecting our environment.
We will be pioneers and leaders of the practice of eco-tourism in Sabah and Malaysia.
Besides being a spectacular show piece in the water clams actually provide a wide range of benefits well beyond their natural beauty and novelty. Clams are filter feeders, meaning that they help marine ecosystems maintain high water quality by absorbing nitrates, ammonia and other organics that are harmful to sensitive reef inhabitants even in very low concentrations.
Keeping giant clams healthy and growing in a reef aquarium at the MERC or at sea in a coral ecosystem requires a great deal of care. Bright lighting is an absolute necessity, as most clams generate energy by photosynthesis as well as by filter feeding. Moderate to high water flow will ensure that clams receive an ample supply of water to continually feed on. High levels of calcium provided by calcium reactors or daily dosing, will help clams to develop thick and healthy shells and to grow rapidly.
Clams are relatively slow growing reef aquarium inhabitants, a trait that is considered a positive feature by reef tank hobbyists because they do not encroach on other reef tank species, and offer peace of mind as well as beauty for their keepers. However, that also means that in the wild, larger clams are extremely rare and hard to find. Although abundant in the past, they have been collected for the abductor muscle and are over fished to the point of extinction.
Coral reefs provide a wide range of benefits to the local marine life by protect shores from the impact of waves and from storms and reducing the amount of sand and sediment churned up by the flow of water to shore. They are one of the wonders of nature, because of their enchanting beauty and unusual biology. In addition, many consider them to be second only to tropical rain forests as incubators and protectors of biodiversity. Healthy coral reefs foster species diversity. Funguses, sponges, mollusks, oysters, clams, crabs, shrimps, sea urchins, turtles, and many fish seek food and shelter amid reefs. The architecture of corals provides reef fish protection from carnivorous species such as sharks and barracudas. Sea cucumbers, worms, and mollusks burrow into the reef-generated sand to hide from their enemies.
Coral reefs are currently threatened by destructive practices such as fish bombing or cyanide poisoning, elevated sea surface temperatures due to global climate change, rising levels of CO2 and invasive to human disturbances in the environment. Some critical human disturbances include sediments from poor land use, nutrients and chemical pollution. The Marine Ecology Research Center (MERC) has implemented a coral planting program to restore areas damaged by destructive fishing practices such as fish bombing and cyanide. The program is well underway and guests and visitors can participate in activities which help rebuild and restore the local aquatic life.
Broken fragments of coral are collected and inserted into a cement and plaster base. This base is formed into a circle using a ring mould and placed into a tank at the MERC for a week or two while the seed coral stabilizes in its new environment. When the seed coral is ready, the staff at the MERC takes these seed coral from the tanks at the MERC and affix them onto underwater surface structures such as rocks. There are also a series of underwater rehabilitation structures which have been placed in the underwater garden to promote growth and protect the coral. The underwater garden continues to grow just outside the Gayana Eco Resort jetty and a "No wake zone" provides shelter to allow the coral to grow in their new environment. Individual corals are tagged so that their growth can be tracked by their individual planter.
Guests and visitors can participate in coral planting sessions which are available at 10 am and 3 pm at the MERC.
Borneo is home to a large array of unique marine life. However, many endangered and rare marine creatures are constantly threatened by human development and over fishing practices. In conjunction with our education programs focused at eliminating the long term root cause of these problems with local communities, we also provide a sanctuary for creatures in distress to provide them with immediate assistance.
By making an organized effort to save these creatures, we are able to slow their declining numbers as we find solutions to problems affecting them. We also rescue many endangered sea creatures from the dinner tables of local fishermen and educate them on the socio-economic value of marine life and biodiversity to our survival and way of life. Sea creatures rescued from the nets of fishermen are rehabilitated back to health by our research staff at the Marine Ecology Research Center where they are researched, monitored, fed and cared for.