Impak ekopelancongan terhadap komuniti tempatan di Malaysia: Kajian kes komuniti nelayan Bagan Lalang, Sepang, Selangor (Ecotourism and its impacts on local communities in Malaysia: A case study of Bagan Lalang’s fishermen, Sepang, Selangor)

Abstract

Pembangunan ekopelancongan kini menjadi komponen penting dalam pembangunan sektor pelancongan negara
pesat membangun seperti Malaysia. Pembangunan ekopelancongan Sepang Gold Coast (SGC) di pantai Bagan
Lalang, Sepang telah menyediakan kemudahan pelancongan yang bertaraf dunia. Pembangunan ini telah membawa
ramai pelancong serata dunia ke Bagan Lalang yang memberi impak kepada ekosistem serta komuniti setempat
terutamanya komuniti nelayan. Kajian ini menganalisis impak pembangunan ekopelancongan SGC terhadap
komuniti nelayan di sekitar Bagan Lalang. Objektif kajian ialah mengenalpasti ciri demografi nelayan bagi tujuan
penilaian impak pembangunan SGC ke atas komuniti tersebut. Metod kajian yang digunakan ialah kajian pustakaan
dan kajian lapangan melibatkan pemerhatian, kajian soal selidik dan temubual pihak berkepentingan. Sampel kajian
terdiri daripada 51 orang nelayan dan persampelan yang digunakan adalah persampelan bertujuan. Hasil kajian
mendapati fasa pembinaan projek SGC memberi kesan negatif yang ketara berbanding fasa operasi. Dapatan juga
menunjukkan penurunan purata pendapatan nelayan sebanyak 43.6% direkodkan dengan penurunan pendaratan ikan
sebanyak 45.0% ketika fasa pembinaan. Sementara pada fasa operasi, purata pendapatan meningkat semula
sebanyak 36.6% walaupun mencatat penurunan berterusan ke atas pendaratan ikan. Keadaan ini berlaku disebabkan
penglibatan komuniti nelayan bersama pembangunan SGC dan pekerjaan sampingan. Seterusnya, perubahan sosioekonomi,
kesihatan, keselamatan, estetika persekitaran fizikal dan budaya komuniti nelayan juga antara impak yang
terpaksa ditanggung. Impak positif menunjukkan kewujudan peluang pekerjaan dan perniagaan serta pembangunan
infrastruktur kemudahan asas. Manakala, impak negatif terdiri dari kemerosotan kualiti ekologi laut yang
menjejaskan operasi perikanan dan perolehan pendapatan nelayan. Keseluruhannya, kajian penilaian impak
persekitaran manusia komuniti nelayan ini penting bagi menjamin kesejahteraan sosial dan sekitaran lestari.

Katakunci: impak ekopelancongan, kemusnahan ekologi, komuniti nelayan, pembangunan pesisiran pantai,
perubahan persekitaran manusia, sosio-ekonomi

Ecotourism has emerged as a vital component of a fast developing country’s tourism sector such as that of
Malaysia. The Sepang Gold Coast (SGC) ecotourism project at Bagan Lalang, Sepang has been providing worldclass
tourist facilities, bringing in tourists from around the world and impacting both the local ecosystem and
community there, in particular, the fishing community. This study analysed the impacts of SGC ecotourism
development on the Bagan Lalang’s fishing community. Primary data were gathered from 51 purposively sampled
fishermen. The results of the study showed that the project construction phase had exerted larger negative impacts
on both Bagan Lalang’s ecosystem and fishing community compared with the operational phase. Fishermen's
average income decreased by 43.6% in tandem with the 45.0% average decline in fish catches during the
construction phase. By contrast, during the operational phase, the average income increased by 36.6% despite a
continuous drop in the fish catches. This discrepancy was due to the side jobs obtained by the fishing community
from the SGC project. The fishing community also experienced some socio-economic, health, safety, physical
environment aesthetics and cultural changes. Positive impacts were also gained by the local community in the form
of business opportunities and infrastructure development while the negative impacts were observed in marine
ecological degradation which affected fisherman’s operations and income.

Keywords: coastal development, ecological degradation, ecotourism impact, fishing community, social impacts,
socio-economy