Sipadan – Divers Paradise in PerilLovingly documented in Jacques Cousteau’s Borneo: Ghost of the Sea Turtle, Sipadan in Sabah, Malaysia, brings to mind images of an untouched tropical marine paradise so pristine, it’s practically a cliché. Regarded as the tourism jewel of Eastern Malaysia and consistently ranked by National Geographic as one of the world’s top 10 diving sites, Sipadan draws divers and seafaring adventurers from all over the world to explore its treasures.

Unfortunately, its international fame nearly became its downfall. Sipadan has had an embattled history as the epicentre of a lengthy sovereignty battle between Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Its famed fragile eco-system was compromised by unmonitored tourism development until the International Court in Hague ruled in favour of Malaysia in 2002, after which the Malaysian Government stepped up conservation legislation by removing all man-made structures from Sipadan and restricting the number of divers’ permits to the island. Nonetheless, up to today, the fragile eco-systems of Sipadan constantly hang in the balance in the constant struggle between environmental conservation and economic gain, a phenomenon that

repeats itself even on our shores – the choking haze that engulfed Singapore in 2013 from burning forests in Sumatra versus palm oil, the “green gold” of our times, and most recently, the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef from silt versus the building of Abbot Point coal terminal in Queensland, Australia, that promises thousands of jobs in a sluggish economy.

Therefore, it was with gusto that I took up an invitation by the “Luminox Save The Seas” programme to explore the undersea world of Sipadan with world renowned Mexico-based ocean conservationist, Scott Cassell, in June 2012, to capture for posterity the natural beauty of its famed marine diversity in constant danger of exploitation by the tourism trade or (heaven forbid) the palm oil “green gold rush”. We stayed at SMART Resort at the nearby Mabul island, which was truly rustic in all senses of the world. Internet access was completely non-existent, which meant I would be majorly deluded with e-mails by the end of the holiday. But for once, no one checked their iPhones mid-conversation.

A massive green turtle resting on a rock. Th ese gentle giants are reportedly so accustomed to

divers, that some even allow divers to rub their shells.

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Nobody who dives in Sipadan comes away without feeling minuscule at the awe of nature. Jump off the boat and chances are that your fi rst sweeping glance would be at deep blue lands “heaving” about a gentle giant green turtle, gravely endangered globally, but uniquely plentiful in a place called “turtle tomb”, the famous cavern of limestone tunnels off Sipadan where turtle skeletons can be seen. Though visibility was unusually murky during our dives, the waters around us teemed with life – swirling schools of barracuda, gobies, scorpion fi sh, jacks and unicorn fi sh encircled us. Look down no further than a few metres and you would see humphead parrotfi sh picking at colourful splashes of corals. I took my underwater shots with a Canon G9 in a dinky underwater casing but it was challenging with poor lighting, slow lens, lack of strobes amid the fast swimming swirls of fi shes. So I swam along with them to compensate for the movement.

However, amidst this tropical paradise, something was amiss. The documentaries had promised us a shark haven. But we only saw one lonesome blacktip reef shark on a hunt, where there should be a school of hundreds. Our guest conservationist, Scott Cassell, was worried. We prowled through the waters looking for a glimpse of a single hammerhead shark which was supposed to be a guaranteed sighting in all our six dives. At the end of the dives, just that one blacktip shark remained on our dive log.

While Sipadan is protected as a marine sanctuary, ultimately its ocean eco-system is inter-connected. Sharks

are the “health check” of the ocean. As apex predators, they regulate fi sh population and clean out sick individuals that help to prevent the spread of disease. Already the parrotfi sh population on Sipadan is exploding – and a single parrotfi sh eats more than fi ve tonnes of coral a year. Although legislation in Sipadan, and soon the rest of Sabah with Sipadan bound for UNESCO Heritage status, bans the hunting and fi nning of sharks, the migratory nature of sharks makes them susceptible to other shark killing fi elds elsewhere in the South China Sea and as far as the Sea of Japan. International seas are largely un-policed and the enforcement of shark fi nning legislation is sorely lacking worldwide, with more than 100 countries involved in the trade of sharks’ fi ns. Most countries act as exporters, with the main consumer nations being mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

According to the Global Shark Conservation Initiative, the only thing in the world more lucrative than the shark’s fi n trade, which kills 73 million sharks a year, is the illegal drugs trade. Again we see the classic struggle played out between conservation and the huge economic juggernaut that is the shark’s fi n trade.

The world is so beautiful. There is just so little time to capture things of beauty around us. If only we could stop the killing … and stop our own appetite for shark’s fi n soup.

► Magdalene Tan Supreme Court of Singapore

A huge barracuda swims nonchalantly above a fi shnet.

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Singapore Law Gazette April 2014

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Singapore Law Gazette April 2014

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A sea slug lugs along the sandy bottom.

Deadly but captivating – the lionfi sh is known for its long venomous spikes.

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Singapore Law Gazette April 2014

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Captured against the indigo colour of a coral, this translucent mantis shrimp was a sight to behold.

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In the shadow of the underbellies of an encircling shoal of barracuda.

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Singapore Law Gazette April 2014

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