KOTA KINABALU: Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa is working to conserve dugongs and their habitat through cooperation with the communities of the proposed Tun Mustapha Park in northern Sabah.
The initial cooperation is between the resort and the community at Berungus, Pitas. The cooperation was recognized this week at the Second Coral Triangle Initiative Regional Business Forum in Kuala Lumpur.
The cooperation supports fisheries management and dugong habitat conservation by the Berungus community residing within the boundaries of the proposed Tun Mustapha Park.
The proposed park area is home to Malaysia’s second largest concentration of coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds and endangered marine species, including turtles and dugongs.
Tun Mustapha Park is a key component of Malaysia’s action plan for the Coral Triangle Initiative.
Part of the resort’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative includes a dugong protection programme which supports the protection of dugongs and their habitat, and the implementation of sustainable fishing practices.
Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa has also adopted the dugong as its official mascot.
Kilung the dugong appears on the logo of the resort’s Cool Zone Kids’ Club and Cool Box Ice Cream Bar while dugong plush toys are sold in the hotel shop to raise funds for the resort’s dugong protection programme.
Through the cooperation, Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa is buying sustainable fish from the Berungus community to support their efforts to stop illegal fish bombing and poison fishing on their local reefs.
The resort receives these responsibly-caught fish on a weekly basis to serve as a “catch of the day’ in the resort’s restaurants.