Sipadan Island is a small oceanic island in Malaysia, and renowned as one of the world’s top ten dive destination. However, it was only recently that the island was gazetted as a Marine Protected Area. The aim of this study is to assess the carrying capacity of Sipadan Island Park. The objectives are to enumerate diver and dive frequency, and to record the presence and sighting rate of iconic fishes in each of the 11 established dive sites on Sipadan. The study was carried out monthly over a 12-month period in 2011 and 2012. In that period, we recorded a total of 66,243 dives, of which, more than one third (35%; n=23,215 dives) was in Barracuda Point alone. In comparison, the least popular dive site - West Ridge–North Point - recorded just 154 dives. Thus, Barracuda Point, along with three other sites are found to have greatly exceeded the carrying capacity of a dive site. Iconic fishes are present throughout the year, and their sighting rate was similar in all months (p>0.05). However, our data showed a significant correlation between popular dive sites and sightings of iconic fish (p<0.05).

References

[1]       Brooker, R. M., Munday, P. L., Mcleod, I. M. & Jones, G. P. (2013). Habitat preferences of a corallivorous reef fish: predation risk vs food quality. Coral Reefs, 32, 613–622.

[2]       Daw, T. (2004). Reef fish aggregations in Sabah, East Malaysia: a report on stakeholder interviews conducted for the Society for the Conservation of Reef Fish Spawning Aggregations. (Western pacific fisher survey series: society for the conservation of reef fish aggregations) 5, 59. Available at https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/29721/.

[3]       Hawkins, J. & Roberts, C. M. (1997). Estimating carrying capacity of coral reefs for SCUBA diving. Proceedings of the Eighth International Coral Reef Symposium, 2, 1923–1926.

[4]       Isley, J., Christopher, S., Enderby, S., Oldfield, M. & Munns, R. (2005). Sipadan, Mabul Kapalai: Sabah’s Underwater Treasure. Malaysia, pp.198: Natural History Publications (Borneo).

[5]       Kobayashi, D., Friedlander, A., Grimes, C., Nichols, R. & Zgliczynski, B. (2011). Bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) status review. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-PIFSC-26, pp. 133, US: Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center.

[6]       LESTARI-UKM. (2004). Kajian Daya Tampung Pulau Sipadan (Unpublished report for Malaysian National Security Council, Malaysia). Pp. 228.

[7]       Trade Environmental Database, (1996). Scuba Diving and Coral, SCUBA Case. Case number: 277. Trade Environmental Database, The Mandala Projects, American University. Available at http://www1.american.edu/TED/scuba.htm.