Scentific Expedition to Pulau Sembilan

SESMA I & II

The first SESMA (Scientific Expedition to the Seas of Malaysia) voyage to the little known islands of Pulau Jarak, Pulau Sembilan and Pulau Perak has resulted in the publication of “Gems in the Straits of Malacca” which aptly sums up the beauty and rich biodiversity of these islands. Gems however has never intended to give a complete treatise or exposure of the scientific findings that were accumulated since SESMA I, and with more data collected from SESMA II to the islands of Jarak and Sembilan, it is felt that these valuable knowledge, most of which are new, should be communicated to the scientific community. This special publication of the Malaysian Journal of Science intends to do this at where Gems has stopped; it is a compilation of 17 papers describing first the geology of these remote islands, then the water quality of surrounding waters in the straits, and followed by the biodiversity of the islands and surrounding marine waters.