Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
“critical environmental capital,” given its importance in supporting the
fisheries resource.
In terms of the SMP, the distribution of rare and endangered marine
fauna must be taken into consideration in terms of habitat connectivity
in establishing the location of protected areas. In addition the SMP must
consider the siting of industrial or other development areas to avoid heavy
marine tra
c conflicting with marine faunal habitats and any known migra-
tion routes.
Within this study we do apply water quality standards, but also consider
known tolerances from previous investigations on seagrass
5
and corals.
6
4. Results on Sediment Load and Sediment Plumes
Sediment (soil) is eroded from the land catchments of Sabah, during rainfall
events, and is transported by rivers to the coastline (Fig. 2).
The soil erosion at a given location in the catchment is governed by soil
type, land use, terrain and rainfall-runoff, while the amount transported to
the coastline is governed by the river systems. Erosion depends mostly on
terrain and land use and the main generators of soil erosion are croplands,
Fig. 2. Annual averaged (2003) suspended sediment load at the coastline, and sus-
pended sediment concentrations on May 19, 2003 at 18:00.
