By the year's end, Malaysia hopes to complete, and begin to implement, its management plan for a proposed 2.4-million-acre marine park. Located in Sabah's waters, the newly-created Tun Mustapha Park, is home to one of the two largest concentrations of coral reefs in the country, which local officials believe host more coral and fish species than either the Great Barrier Reef or the Caribbean. (In all, the area is home to 252 coral species and 350 fish species, as well as endangered animals such as dugongs and turtles.) Ultimately, the proposed park will include over 50 islands and islets, and the WWF will help to monitor both the landmasses and the marine life.

On Monday, Malaysia's Tourism, Culture and the Environment Minister Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat said that the area's reefs are important not only for their biodiversity but also for their contribution to livelihoods, marine products, and food security. In an effort to prevent the damage that has occurred to reefs in the Philippines, for example, Kah Kiat pointed out that making a marine park in the area will protect the reefs, which are "threatened as destructive fishing practices through bombing and the use of cyanide still continue and years of destructive fishing and over-fishing on those remote waters have also degraded the reefs."