Southeast Asian coral reefs

Southeast Asia coral reefs have the highest levels of biodiversity for the world's marine ecosystems. They are also under tremendous pressures from damaging fishing practices, overfishing, sedimentation, and bleaching.

Indonesia has 2,915,000 kilometers squared of marine area. The reef area is 51,020 kilometers squared. Of that amount, 82% of it is at risk. Indonesia holds 17% of the worlds total coral reef areas. Blast fishing, which has been illegal since 1985 still goes on today, along with cyanide fishing (1995), and murbami fishing. Another factor that is hurting the coral reefs in Indonesia is the amount of coral that they export. They are the worlds largest exporter of corals. They export about 500 tons of coral per year.[1] COREMAP is helping Indonesia with their distruction of corals by working in 9 of the 32 providences. They want to: 1. Heighten law enforcement to protect coral reefs; 2. Establish coral reef monitoring and information systems, in order to conduct research on the status of coral reefs and more effectively disseminate that information to stakeholder groups; 3. Develop community-based management systems and increase public participation in coral reef resource management; 4. Increase institutional capacity and strengthen inter-institutional coordination in planning and implementing policy that affects coral reef management, and; 5. Enhance public knowledge of the importance of coral reef and motivate people to actively participate in the management and sustainable use of coral reefs. [2]

The Depletion of Coral Reefs in Southeast Asia

Off the coasts of Indonesia and the Philippines is where the world’s most diverse coral species and organisms exist. Disappointingly however, these coral reefs are susceptible to severe damage everyday by environmental impacts and mankind. The majority of the destruction of coral reefs in Southeast Asia is due to illegal fishing practices and explosives. These explosives kill fish and shatter the coral skeletons resulting in depletion. Scientists agree that pollution, overfishing, cyanide fishing, and bleaching have negatively impacted about 85% of Indonesia’s reefs. Blast fishing, or dynamite fishing is also a major contributor to the destruction of coral reefs. Even though blast fishing was banned in 1985, it still remains to be a huge threat for the Indonesia coral reefs.

Furthermore, the Philippine waters are considered as having nearly 70% of its coral reefs destroyed with only 5% in good condition. Although this dynamite and cyanide fishing may be targeted at one specific location, it destroys the surrounding habitat as well, spreading over one kilometer upon each impact. It takes over one hundred years for these reefs to grow into substantial sizes, at a rate ofone inch every five years. These poor fishing practices not only threaten the food habitats for many species, but also the biodiversity that makes these Philippine and Indonesian coasts so beautiful. Inland human activities is what mainly pressures these reefs' pristine states; from indirect activities such as the increasing demand within the fishing industry as well as directly, through coastal run-off and pollution.

State of Coral Reefs

For the past 50 years, the proportion of degraded reefs in Indonesia increased from 10 to 50%. From 1989 to 2000 reefs with over 50% live coral cover declined from 36 to 29%. Western Indonesia, which is more developed and holds the majority of the nation's population, faces the greatest threats to its coral reefs. Surveys concluded that reef condition improves from west to east. The percentage of reefs in good or excellent condition (live coral cover of 50% or more) is 23% in western Indonesia versus 45% in eastern Indonesia. 65% of surveys taken from the Maluku islands had evidence of bomb damage. In addition, reefs affected by land-based pollution (i.e. sediment discharge into reefs by deforestation, industry, sewage, and fertilizer) show 30-50% less diversity at depths of three meters and 40-60% less diversity at 10 meters in comparison to pristine reefs. The 1997-1998 el Nino event triggered widespread bleaching in Indonesia, with western and west-central Indonesia most affected. Bleaching was recorded in East Sumatra, Java, Bali, and Lombok. In the Seribu Islands northwest of Jakarkta, 90-95% of coral reef from the reef flat down to 25 meters died. Two years later, the Seribu Islands significantly recovered, with live coral cover of 20-30% (2000). [3]

30% of the Philippine's coral reefs are dead while 39% are dying. The news isn't all bad: Establishment of the Sumilon Island marine reserve has resulted in a marked comeback of fish in adjacent areas. [4]. Destructive fishing techniques are thought to be the largest contributor to reef degradation in the Philippines. The first ever mass-bleaching event in the Philippines was reported in 1998-99. It began at Batangas, off Luzon, in June 1998 and then proceeded nearly clockwise around the Philippines, correlating with anomalous sea-surface temperatures. Most reefs of northern Luzon, west Palawan, the Visayas, and parts of Mindanao were affected. Subsequent mortalities were highly variable, with decreases in live coral cover ranging from 0.7 to 46 percent and up to 80 percent in Bolinao. Recent surveys in 1997 found a low percentage of reefs to be in excellent condition. They found only 4 percent of Philippine reefs in excellent condition (i.e., over 75 percent hard or soft coral cover), 28 percent in good condition (50-75 percent coral cover), 42 percent in fair condition (25-50 percent coral cover), and 27 percent in poor condition (less than 25 percent coral cover). The Visayas have experienced the most significant decline in coral cover, exhibiting an average of only 11 percent hard coral cover. [5]

A study in the early 90's revealed that coral reefs are damaged by a variety of human activities such as household sewage, industrial waste, and agricultural chemicals from land that are washed to the sea. [6] This was a new finding for the time period in which it was widely believed that the main damage to coral reefs was causes by oil spills or from pollution dumped by ships. As a result of these findings, groups such as Coral Cay Conservation (CCC) were established to preserve coral reefs not only in SE Asia but also worldwide. [7] The CCC has been responsible for establishing marine protected areas both in the Philippines and Indonesia. Moreover, the CCC has been instrumental about raising awareness amongst the locals in Indonesia, showing the natives how valuable and important coral reefs are in counteracting the greenhouse gas effect.

External Sources

"Experimental Assessment of Coral Reef Rehabilitation Following Blast Fishing" University of California Berkeley. Department of Integrative Biology. Conservation of Biology Volume 19. No 1, February 2005

http://www.nature.org/joinanddonate/rescuereef/ [The Nature Conservancy Website] http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/students/coral/coral5.htm http://reefsatrisk.wri.org/casestudy_text.cfm?ContentID=98