KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 22 -- Malaysia has lost the equivalent of 47,250 football fields' worth of coral cover over the past three years, as the health of the nation's reefs continues to decline, according to Reef Check Malaysia's 2025 Annual Survey Report.

The report, based on surveys at 297 locations nationwide using the globally standardised Reef Check methodology, found that average live coral cover stood at 39.94 per cent in 2025 - a drop from 44.65 per cent the year before.

"National average live coral cover reduced from about 44.65 per cent in 2024 to 39.94 per cent in 2025. That's a loss of five percentage points, or about 10 per cent of coral cover in just one year," Reef Check Malaysia chief executive officer Julian Hyde said.

Loo...