On the establishment of the lowest astronomical tide for marine parcel commencement in peninsular Malaysia

Tidal datum is a standard height defined by a certain phase of the tide. Tida datum is also the beginning for establishing privately owned land, state owned land, Territorial Sea, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and high seas boundaries. A review of previous studies shows that technical aspect is one of the major problems in marine cadastre development because there is no reference datum to implement marine administration for marine cadastre. Thus, technical aspect is needed to support marine cadastre development. Foundational to this, marine parcel is a part of space in marine administration which included air space, water column, seabed profile and subsea. It is also consisting vertical and horizontal and water tidal datum elements in marine area. The objectives of this study are to determine the tidal datum, Lowest Astronomical Tide (LAT) for Peninsular Malaysia and to analyse the stability of LAT as a datum for marine cadastre commencement. Tide datasets were processed using Total Tide Solution (TOTIS) software for computing the LAT as the reference datum for marine cadastre. Tidal epoch is from year 1992 to year 2013. Based on the analysis, the range of stability value for LAT with respect to Mean Sea Level (MSL) is -0.002 metre to -0.500 metre. Therefore, LAT is potential to be used as a reference datum for marine parcel commencement in Malaysia due to its stability and consistency as a lowest water level

Sustainable marine space managements - Malaysia perspective

The management of good governance of marine space administration has been debated since at least the 2000s. An extensive literature and research report it is hardly surprising then that this marine space is under serious threat from a myriad of overlapping and conflicting interests. The evidence of change is compelling and manifest. It is therefore imperative to manage, administer and govern the coastal zone in a considered, sustainable and structured manner as well as to protect and nurture the environment we live in. Failure to do so may have disastrous consequences for future generations (FIG, 2006). This includes polishing the management system, particularly the governance of marine space administrative to support marine rights. Sutherland and Nichols (2006) said that the oceans provide an opportunity to not make the same mistakes we have made in land resource management and land information systems. Marine space administration and management can help to improve our governance and information systems on coastal and marine areas. This unresolved problem has led to the lack of a concerted effort in the existing management in the marine space and the quality of sustainable marine space administration is indirectly being affected. From the perspective of management, Malaysia has many institutions that manage and administering the marine environment. However, the developing of institutional framework is still uncertain with ambiguities, conflicts and overlapping on administration and management models due to the bill of act. This paper explores the contributing elements of the Malaysia marine space administration issues towards sustainable marine space administration