Bandar Seri Begawan - The two books recently launched on Brunei's coral reefs and reef fishes will soon be made available to the public, but they would not be hitting the bookstores just yet.

The books, Coral Reefs of Brunei Darussalam and Reef Fishes of Brunei Darussalam are the products of a survey carried in 2008 and May this year, which has found that the Sultanate possesses a coral cover of 50 square km in its waters.

Fisheries Director Hjh Hasnah Ibrahim said the department had enlisted a foreign company to produce the books and they are currently awaiting for the shipment to arrive.
"It won't be much longer now. But at the moment, the books will be sold at the Fisheries Department," she told The Brunei Times.

Hjh Hasnah said that for the time being, the public can only purchase the books directly from the department, but she did not disclose how much the books will be sold for. However, the department hoped to secure a local firm to produce and distribute copies of the books to bookstores and other relevant platforms to showcase Brunei's rich marine biodiversity.

After a total of 500 man hours spent underwater, the survey showed that Brunei boasts more than 400 species of coral and over 670 species of reef fishes, even though coral covers only about 0.12 per cent of the Sultanate's more than 40,000 square kilometres of territorial waters.

The books were hoped not to only showcase the diverse species of coral reefs and reef fishes found in Brunei waters in written record, but also raise public awareness of their existence and the need to protect these treasures.

"It is hoped that these books will become promotion material to promote the uniqueness of the country to tourists and expose the beauty of the coral reefs found in our waters, to be explored and to appreciate their wonders," the Minister of Industry and Primary Resources said during the books' launching.

The books are the outcome of the first and second phases of the marine biodiversity survey carried out by the Fisheries Department, which enlisted the expertise of four world class coral and reef fish scientists.

The books would also be reference source for scientists and researchers studying Brunei's waters. Hjh Hasnah said that only a limited number of copies of the books would be available once the shipment arrives. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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