Azahari Omar
Liza Long
KUCHING: A briefing on the setting up of Luconia Shoals National Park jointly organised by the Marine Fisheries Department and Forest Department was held at the Islamic Information Centre yesterday, where interested parties were given until Aug 5 to submit their objections.
According to the deputy controller of National Parks and Nature Reserves of the Forest Department, Azahari Omar, the size of the park is estimated to be around 1.1 million hectares and the park was listed in the Sarawak Government Gazette in Sept 14 last year.
“This national park is still in its initial gazettement stages. There is still time for interested parties in the setting up of the national park to submit their objections,” he said in a press conference held during the briefing.
Apart from that, he also revealed that the gazetting of the national park will take some time to implement as his department hopes to submit the necessary details to the State Cabinet by the end of this year. The briefing was attended by all parties involved in the setting up of the national park, including relevant agencies and those from the marine fishing and recreation industries.
“Fishermen or deep sea fishermen and marine activity operators who will operate at the areas of the national park were given explanation on their rights when they are at the national park. We hope that they will be clear on what can or cannot be done when they are at the national park’s area,” said Marine Fisheries Department deputy management director Liza Long.
Once gazetted, the Luconia Shoal National Park will become the country’s biggest marine national park as the park contains 14 coral reefs including the Beting Patinggi Ali, the most popular among them.