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 negarapesat membangun seperti Malaysia. Pembangunan ekopelancongan Sepang Gold Coast (SGC) di pantai BaganLalang, Sepang telah menyediakan kemudahan pelancongan yang bertaraf dunia. Pembangunan ini telah membawaramai pelancong serata dunia ke Bagan Lalang yang memberi impak kepada ekosistem serta komuniti setempatterutamanya komuniti nelayan. Kajian ini menganalisis impak pembangunan ekopelancongan SGC terhadapkomuniti nelayan di sekitar Bagan Lalang. Objektif kajian ialah mengenalpasti ciri demografi nelayan bagi tujuanpenilaian impak pembangunan SGC ke atas komuniti tersebut. Metod kajian yang digunakan ialah kajian pustakaandan kajian lapangan melibatkan pemerhatian, kajian soal selidik dan temubual pihak berkepentingan. Sampel kajianterdiri daripada 51 orang nelayan dan persampelan yang digunakan adalah persampelan bertujuan. Hasil kajianmendapati fasa pembinaan projek SGC memberi kesan negatif yang ketara berbanding fasa operasi. Dapatan jugamenunjukkan penurunan purata pendapatan nelayan sebanyak 43.6% direkodkan dengan penurunan pendaratan ikansebanyak 45.0% ketika fasa pembinaan. Sementara pada fasa operasi, purata pendapatan meningkat semulasebanyak 36.6% walaupun mencatat penurunan berterusan ke atas pendaratan ikan. Keadaan ini berlaku disebabkanpenglibatan komuniti nelayan bersama pembangunan SGC dan pekerjaan sampingan. Seterusnya, perubahan sosioekonomi,kesihatan, keselamatan, estetika persekitaran fizikal dan budaya komuniti nelayan juga antara impak yangterpaksa ditanggung. Impak positif menunjukkan kewujudan peluang pekerjaan dan perniagaan serta pembangunaninfrastruktur kemudahan asas. Manakala, impak negatif terdiri dari kemerosotan kualiti ekologi laut yangmenjejaskan operasi perikanan dan perolehan pendapatan nelayan. Keseluruhannya, kajian penilaian impakpersekitaran 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-ekonomiEcotourism has emerged as a vital component of a fast developing country’s tourism sector such as that ofMalaysia. The Sepang Gold Coast (SGC) ecotourism project at Bagan Lalang, Sepang has been providing worldclasstourist facilities, bringing in tourists from around the world and impacting both the local ecosystem andcommunity there, in particular, the fishing community. This study analysed the impacts of SGC ecotourismdevelopment on the Bagan Lalang’s fishing community. Primary data were gathered from 51 purposively sampledfishermen. The results of the study showed that the project construction phase had exerted larger negative impactson both Bagan Lalang’s ecosystem and fishing community compared with the operational phase. Fishermen'saverage income decreased by 43.6% in tandem with the 45.0% average decline in fish catches during theconstruction phase. By contrast, during the operational phase, the average income increased by 36.6% despite acontinuous drop in the fish catches. This discrepancy was due to the side jobs obtained by the fishing communityfrom the SGC project. The fishing community also experienced some socio-economic, health, safety, physicalenvironment aesthetics and cultural changes. Positive impacts were also gained by the local community in the formof business opportunities and infrastructure development while the negative impacts were observed in marineecological degradation which affected fisherman’s operations and income.Keywords: coastal development, ecological degradation, ecotourism impact, fishing community, social impacts,socio-economy