Dear all shell collectors,
It take a long time for me to share some information regarding the articles
wrote by GENEVIEVE JIANG (Singapore Newspaper-The New Paper) May 21, 2001
and forwarded by George Sangiouloglou on the Conch-L net on Sat, 9 Jun 2001
22:25:26 +0300
It is true some islands in Malaysia are gazette as a Marine Parks. To be
exact there are total of 38 islands. But I think this figure is relatively
small compare to hundreds of islands in Malaysia.
Marine Parks are established with the following objectives:

1. To protect and conserve the marine eco-system, especially the coral
reefs, for the management of the fisheries resources in the coastal waters
in order to maintain/increase fish landings.

2. To protect and conserve the coral reefs for research on biodiversity; and
for purposes of education and recreation/eco-tourism.

The following activities are prohibited:

= Collecting, removing, destroying or having in possession of any marine
resources such as shells, mollusc, corals and fishes whether dead or alive.
= Possessing and using of spear guns of spearfishing equipments and harpoon.
= Using of fish traps, poisons, explosive and electricity or other method to
catch fish.
= Anchoring of boats directly onto the reef (Please make use of the mooring
buoys found within the marine park of mooring of boats)
= Littering and disposal of waste/rubbish
= Removing and/or destroying any structure such as buoys, notice boards etc.
= Constructing or erecting any building or other structure within the Marine
Park Area, without authorisation.
= Fishing within the Marine Park Area

Here are the WebPages that clearly state about Marine Park in Malaysia.

http://agrolink.moa.my/dof/Agrotourism/mpobj.html
http://agrolink.moa.my/dof/Agrotourism/agrotourism.html

Hopefully this can help you in shelling in Malaysia.

Regards,
Halim

>From: George Sangiouloglou <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Conchologists of America List <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Beware! If u are shelling in Malaysia.
>Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2001 22:25:26 +0300
>
>Dear friends,
>I received the following e-mail from Mrs. GENEVIEVE JIANG, this information
>is
>useful for your shelling trip.
>Lots of thanks to Mrs. GENEVIEVE JIANG that inform me about.
>Best regards.
>George
>
>mark wrote:
>
> > BY GENEVIEVE JIANG (Singapore Newspaper -
> > The New Paper) May 21, 2001
> > (Note: Singapore and Malaysia
> > are 2 sovereign countries. Kindly pass the below
> > message to shell collectors who might be
> > unaware of such existing law in Malaysia with
> > many island resorts).
> >
> > JUST sea shells from the sea shore. But they nearly
> > landed a Singaporean couple in a Malaysian prison
> > They were stopped by Malaysian police as
> > they were about to head home from Pulau Tioman.
> > They were told they could to be thrown into jail for
> > two weeks for picking up shells there.
> > The Malaysian Fisheries Department says it is an offence
> > to pick corals and sea shells in Pulau Tioman because it
> > is a gazetted marine park.The engineering assistant,
> > who wants to be known only as Mr Hoo, 35, had gone to
> > Pulau Tioman for a holiday with his 31-year-old wife on
> > May 5. But the three-days-two-nights holiday ended
> > on a sour note.Recalled Mr Hoo, who stayed at the
> > Berjaya Tioman Beach Resort: "Just as my wife and I
> > were about to board the ferry at 2.30pm on May 7,
> > we were stopped by officials from the Fisheries Department.
> > "My wife was carrying a plastic bag with some snacks
> > and a small bag of sea shells, about 300g, which we had
> > picked up from the beach."The officials told us that we were
> > not allowed to take the shells home and that we had to
> > follow them to the police station."
> > At the station, Mr Hoo and his wife realised that they
> > weren't the only tourists who had been caught.
> > There were six Malaysians including two young children,
> > three English women and a German couple at the station,
> > all detained for the same offence.
> > Said Mr Hoo: "The police told us it was an offence for
> > us to pick up sea shells or corals from Malaysian waters
> > and beaches and take them home.
> > "But the shells I picked up were just ordinary sea shells.
> > Not special corals. Some were even broken.
> > "They told us that we would need a local guarantor to
> > bail us out. If not, we would have to be put in jail for
> > two weeks."I was shocked." They didn't know what to do.
> > Two hours passed. Then out of the blue, their
> > saviour turned up. "A Malaysian businessman who heard
> > about our plight kindly agreed to be our guarantor.
> > So we were let off." They were not told whether they
> > would still face charges or any further proceedings.
> > By then, the last ferry home had already left.
> > Said Mr Hoo: "We had to check into our hotel all over again."
> > He and his wife had to miss a day's work because of this.
> > "We both had to call back to inform our bosses of what
> > was happening. It was quite embarrassing."
> > Mr Hoo had never had such an experience on his past
> > visits to Tioman.
> > He said: "I've never heard of such a law under which
> > people can be arrested for picking up sea shells.
> > The shells we picked up were from the beach in front
> > of the resort where we stayed."

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