The marine ecology component of the Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA) was undertaken by MRF on behalf of Chemsain Konsultant Sdn Bhd for the Development of Oil and Gas Industrial Base Project commissioned by the Labuan Corporation.
The project involved a reclamation development as part of a larger development area of the Rancha-Rancha Integrated Port, located approximately 3 km from Labuan City within the Rancha-Rancha block of southern Labuan. The reclamation proposed to cover an area of approximately 80 ha of sea with an area of approximately 180 ha to be dredged for vessel access. The reclamation fill was expected to be sourced from a 400 ha borrow site situated approximately 9 km east of the proposed reclamation site and 2 km south of Pulau Daat.
MRF was contracted to identify, analyse and describe marine features (coral reefs, seagrasses, fisheries and other key marine lifeforms (including mangroves, macrobenthos and meiobenthos) within a 5 km radius from the proposed site. Marine features were to be marked, mapped and documented. Other important marine based economic activities encountered during the survey were also to be highlighted.
MRF was also tasked with conducting surveys and interviews with fishermen and relevant stakeholders, particularly the Department of Fisheries to describe and determine the importance of the fishery industry in the area, and to identify important fishing ground area in nearby vicinity and list of typical catches (species composition, characteristics, and average catches, and convert image information (coral, seagrasses, sensitive fishing grounds, etc.) into individual GIS layers.
MRF was also tasked with determining the potential impacts of the
resuspension of sediment resulting from the reclamation and sand mining activities (using the modeling results from another consultant) on the marine ecosystem, and to propose appropriate mitigating measures and monitoring programmes to minimise the anticipated impacts.
