Snorkel Manukan - not what it used to be

Photo: Jetty Manukan Island, By Sal

Upon arriving to Manukan Island, I was a very excited to jump into the water. It has been awhile since I swim here and this time I brought a camera with me to snap all the beautiful underwater creatures. The first thing I noticed was that the fishes under the jetty are less abundant and diverse. There used to me many different types of species there and even the number of fish was notably less.

I went to the public washroom/changing room and was happy (and surprised) to see that it was clean compared to the previous year (Hooray!).

Photo: Debris from mainland?, by Lan

It was a good day for swimming as the sun was scorching hot. After having a light breakfast and slathering on heavy sun-block, we hit the water. Well first thing I have to say is that visibility was not so great, only about 5 meters. This is probably due to rain the day before.

Photo: Solitary 8-banded Butterflyfish among dead corals, by Lan

Because of the fish feeding activity that people do here, the fishes were aggressive and not shy at all. We were attacked by a group of sergeantfish looking for free food. I love butterflyfish but only saw three. One was Beaked Coralfish and two were the Eight Banded Butterflyfish. We saw a lot of herbivorous fishes in large school feeding on algae. On the sandy area, there were rabbitfish and goatfish. Lots of colorful damsels that hide in between branching corals if you get too close for comfort.

Photo: Rabbitfish, by Lan

The corals are a bit disappointing. We saw a lot of dead corals and rubbles. There were patches of reef overrun with algae. We did note that some algae patches were tended by territorial damsels… hehe they were kinda cute. There was a large patch of branching corals that are gone now… so sad.

This trip to Manukan Island for me is to explore the island and compare it to how it was 10 years ago. I used to snorkel Manukan reefs a lot when I was a kid. So I suppose I do have high expectation.

Overall I have to say that it Manukan reefs is still fun but I gotta say that it is now only a glimmer of its former beauty. I suggest Sabah Parks put a stop to the fish feeding activity. I don’t know of any Marine Parks around the world that encourage fish feeding??

Related Posts by Categories