SEMATAN:The Sampadi-Tanjung Datu waters here have the potential of becoming a tourist attraction through the placement of 1,100 reef balls to protect and preserve marine life in the area.

Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said the artificial reef project was among various initiatives of the state government to turn the area, 107 km away from Kuching city, into another tourism centre for the state.

“One of the benefits of this project is that ecotourism can be developed here such as sport fishing and scuba diving,” he said when launching the reef ball project at Putra Sentosa Camp, here, today.

He added that the state government had allocated RM70 million to Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) to instal 16,800 reef balls in an area stretching 1,000 km in the state’s waters, from 2018 to 2021.

To date, SFC has placed over 5,000 of such balls for the artificial reef in the waters off Tanjung Datu in southern Sarawak, up to Lawas, the most northern district in the state, he said.

Abang Johari said artificial reefs would help marine life to breed and grow to their maximum size, thus increasing the amount of catch for traditional fishermen.

“The minimum income for fishermen in Igan (in central Sarawak) has increased to RM200 per day from RM100 previously, due to the reef balls. As for the fishermen in Mukah, their minimum income has increased to RM300 from RM100,” he added.

-- BERNAMA