Concern over extra Sipadan diving permits and rules
Published on: Sunday, October 09, 2022
By:
Daily Express, Malay Mail
A dive boat prepares to pick up divers for the early morning trip to Sipadan.
SEMPORNA: Sabah Parks has decided to be flexible and allow three dives at Pulau Sipadan, instead of two, effective Oct. 1 to those who have already bought dive packages and registered with Parks.However, while welcoming it, established operators are worried that a sharp increase in the number of diving permits coupled with new rules may have a negative impact on the world famous and top 10 dive sites.
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“On Sept. 22, Sabah Parks announced that from Oct. 1, 2022, only divers with Advanced open water level certification and above and with Sipadan permit, can dive at Sipadan limited to only 2 dives daily, instead of three.
“The diving fees were increased from RM140 to RM250 per day for Malaysians and RM350 for non-Malaysians per day per individual,”said Alex Loh, an operator.
“The Conservation/Entrance Fee is fixed at RM50 per Malaysian per day, and RM100 for non-Malaysian per individual per day with effect from next year, 2023.”
Sabah Parks at Sipadan Island would only start registering divers arriving from Mabul Island at 6.30am, so boats leaving for Sipadan Island start at 6am, not early as in the past. The Esscom Curfew imposed on Sabah’s East Coast districts up to Kudat is from 6pm to 6am.
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On the increase in diving permits, the Semporna Professional Divers Association is unhappy with the manager and custodian Sabah Parks for the arbitrary decision in August.
They said in the last two years, the 176 permits were shared by 24 operators but that the management committee abruptly decided to add 13 more companies to conduct dives around the underwater paradise.
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“This will obviously only lead to a bad impact on marine life in Sipadan.
“The 24 operators that we had were already impacting the marine environment on Sipadan, what more 37 operators? That’s akin to around 254 visitors/divers per day. We might not be among the top 10 in the world anymore,” it said in a statement.
The group questioned the reason for the additional permits.
“Did they apply to be included in the permit sharing? Did they apply long ago? Did the authorities agree to increase the number of permits at the expense of the environment?”
Semporna is widely known as the jump-off point to many beautiful islands including the world-famous Sipadan.
The east coast Sabah town houses over 150 dive outfits, most of them without certification standard like Professional Association of Diving Instructors (Padi) or the National Association of Underwater Instructors (Naui).
An operator said Sabah Parks recently invited the 24 existing operators to a meeting to announce the new restrictions for the permits. The 13 new operators were also invited.
The new restrictions dictate that only scuba divers with Advanced Open Water (AOW) certification would be allowed, dives were restricted to two a day; no repeats of the same dive sites (for example, Barracuda Point can only have 50 divers maximum at a time); and allowing a dive guide a maximum of five divers, among others.
Other operators also expressed similar discontent at having to share the pie.
“They hit us with the announcement that only divers with AOW licences are allowed, among others. This does not make sense. Some Open Water divers have hundreds of dives under their belt, and are far more experienced than those holding the AOW, which only takes nine dives to obtain.
“This is an arbitrary rule that is not practical. Also, to give us barely a week’s notice. Some have sold packages to divers abroad and imagine having to tell them that they can longer dive here?” complained one operator who also requested anonymity.
Others claim lack of transparency in the decision making, claiming some dive outfits have operated for years without being granted permits to dive while others have not even set up operations and were given a share of permits.
“There needs to be some standard or criteria, or else it just looks political. Anyone with the right connections can get it,” an operator said.
Clement Lee, a former course director with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors and veteran of Sabah’s diving industry, said:
“I know many who have dived all the over the world, for decades and have accumulated thousands of dives but on an Open Water licence. The licence alone does not dictate one’s skill.”
Lee, who used to be part owner of Borneo Divers that was situated on Sipadan, asked if the authorities had carried out research before deciding at what number to cap the dives to protect the marine environment there.
“Back when they first started the permit system, it was 120 permits and four dives per permit per person. So that’s 480 dives per day. I would hope that they arrived at that number through research and data and not plucked it out of the sky.
“So even with that, they eventually reduced it to three dives per permit but increased the number of permits to 176, increasing the number of dives to 528. Now it would seem that its 254 permits, but limited to two dives a day, which is still about 508 dives per day.
“Can the island sustain that? It would be good if they clarified that so the operators can understand the basis of their decision making,” Lee said.
Lee said there was nothing wrong with wanting to open up the island to smaller shareholders, but there must be some regulation as to how permits are given.
“Perhaps they should appoint a consortium to work out a sharing basis so they can regulate who gets what, when evenly and monitor their performance. Or maybe limit each dive site to a few boats only with an anchor buoy. So if there’s already, say, five boats there, no one can enter until someone leaves,” he said.
Lee said it would be prudent for the authorities and stakeholders to meet and discuss the matter reasonably and find an amicable solution.
“If a better solution can be found that meets the aim of protecting the island, they should take up the suggestions. In this industry, everyone needs to be supportive of each other.
“Ultimately, they are on the same page. If they don’t protect the island now, there will be nothing to protect in the future,” he said.
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