She gave the figures in response to the uproar following the butchering of manta rays and other marine creatures yesterday in Mabul Island, in plain sight of foreign tourists.
Australian Institute of Marine Science researcher, Johanna Zimmerhackel, is currently in Mabul to conduct a scientific study into the economic value of sharks and rays to the Semporna region in Sabah’s east coast.
“A recent study in nearby Nusa Penida, Indonesia, valued manta tourism at US$3.5 million (RM13.6 million) a year while global manta tourism is estimated at more than US$75 million a year,” she said in a text message to FMT.
“This is significantly more than the value of a dead manta for its gill rakers which is a mere US$500 in comparison.
“The long-term economic benefits from manta tourism massively outweigh short-term returns from fishing.”
Photos emerged yesterday showing two manta rays, 13 devil rays and one shark being slaughtered in shallow waters in a sea village on the island, well-known as a popular diving destination off Sabah’s east coast.
Six fishermen were said to be involved in cutting up the sea creatures, a scene that a spokesman for a shark conservation group called a “horror show” for the divers who were tourists from China, the United States and some European nations.
Sabah Shark Protection Association head Aderick Chong told FMT yesterday that divers pay up to RM4,000 for a trip to see creatures such as the semi-protected manta rays underwater but they saw the rays being cut up on shore instead.
Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun said the scene of the manta rays being cut up in the presence of foreign tourists on Mabul Island was a “slap to the state’s tourism industry”.
“I agree that it’s a horror show for the foreign divers to have witnessed the manta rays being slaughtered.
“Foreign tourists pay good money to see these creatures alive and swimming during their diving trips, but to see them being chopped up is something else,” Masidi said.
He added, however, that the manta rays are currently only prohibited from being exported without a licence but they can be caught and consumed domestically.
“I’d like to urge the relevant authorities, those being the Fisheries Department and the district tourism action council, to ensure that tourists don’t get to see such activities.
“Such a thing is a slap to our tourism industry and portrays a bad image of us to the world.”
The state government, through its Fisheries Department, proposed last year that the great hammerhead shark, smooth hammerhead shark, winghead shark, oceanic whitetip shark, oceanic manta ray and reef manta be officially classified as endangered species, in order to protect them from such killing and domestic consumption.
Masidi: Slaughter of manta rays a slap to Sabah’s tourism industry