Bidong Vessel Reef Survey - Phase 1

Artificial reefs offer promising solutions for enhancing marine resource management by providing additional habitat, promoting biodiversity, and improving ecosystem resilience. However, their success relies heavily on effective monitoring and evaluation, which have been lacking in many projects. A critical element in understanding how artificial reefs can be integrated into a more general marine resource management framework depends on the ability to evaluate their performance. Despite significant developments in construction and design, artificial reef projects have been criticized for a lack of planning in the development of adequate monitoring programs that will provide scientists and managers with essential information.
Submerged vessels, also known as shipwrecks or sunken ships, have been widely used as artificial reefs in the marine environment. The Fisheries Department of Malaysia has sunk more than 1,000 fishing boats and Vietnamese refugee boats since 1984 (Amin et al., 2022). The first vessel reef on the east coast was constructed with seven vessels on 18 Mac 1984 in Pulau Kapas, Terengganu. The project was then extended to Kuala Besar, Kelantan on 25 August 1984 with 14 vessels. However, as noted by Amin et al. (2022), over time, the wooden vessels were slowly eaten up by the teredo worms, commonly known as shipworms, whereupon the old wooden ships began to decay and landed on the nearby beach. On the other hand, Utusan Malaysia reported on 16 August 2020 that since 2010, a total of 144 seized foreign fishing boats were sunk in Terengganu waters to be used as artificial reefs. Among them were seven vessels that were sunk around Pulau Bidong, Terengganu
The aim of this research is to assess the ecological services offered by submerged vessels as artificial reefs in Pulau Bidong. Specific objectives include:
a. Toinvestigate the status of ARs physical condition and stability on the seabed.
b. To validate the ARs condition on seabed using side scan sonar.
c. To determine physical and chemical parameters of seawater at ARs.
d. To determine the sediment characteristics at ARs.
e. To determine biodiversity and abundance of living organisms associated with ARs.
We hypothesised that the vessel reefs of Pulau Bidong provide significant new habitat for colonisation by sessile and motile marine organisms as well as the fish community. In addition, the reef structure has a significant impact on the characteristics and scouring pattern of the sediments on the seabed. Ultimately, these decommissioned or purposely sunk vessels could provide a variety of ecological services and benefits to the surrounding ecosystem.