Bonerate marine park is a tourist eden under threat

Bonerate marine park is a tourist eden under threat

By Jupriadi

UJUNGPANDANG (JP): "What are they looking for in the sea?"

The question has been raised time and again by locals watching
foreign tourists diving and playing in the clear waters of Taka
Bonerate National Sea Park, about 450 kilometers south of here.

Taka Bonerate, which boasts the world's third largest atoll
after Kwajifein in the Marshall Islands and Suvadiva in the
Maldives, is an undersea haven for international divers and
researchers on marine biota.

Falling under the administrative territory of Pasimasunggu and
Pasimarannu subdistricts in Selayar regency, the sea park is
famed for its abundant marine flora and fauna.

Its spectacular coral reefs have been described by fanatic
divers as a "vast colorful underwater carpet."

"This is a haven that challenges divers to come and explore,"
exclaims a foreign tourist who had just spent his holiday in the
park. Taka Bonerate consists of 21 islands, 14 of which are
uninhabited. Among the park's riches are 167 of the approximately
200 known species of tropical marine fauna, 134 coral reef
species and 101 mollusks.

A great variety of turtles, squids, sea slugs (tripang),
octopuses and trocus roam the area. Black coral is one of the sea
park's most precious species. However the undersea haven that is comparable to North
Sulawesi's Bunaken Marine National Park is in grave danger and
teetering on the brink of extinction.

The existence of the breathtaking coral reefs which first drew
the world's nature lovers to Taka Bonerate is coming under
increasing threat from fisherpeople who use methods harmful to
marine biota.

The use of explosives, poison, electrocution and trawls to
catch fish of all sizes, as well as coral theft are deemed the
most common threats to the local underwater environment.

It is understood that the havoc has seriously affected the
whole of the atoll and its environs, which are divided into three
zones: nucleus, bumper and conservation.

Two researchers from Canada, Charley Cyr and Louise Perreault,
who have been studying the sea park's marine biota for two years,
describe the current situation as "quite appalling".

They say they are worried about the ongoing environmental
destruction of the 53-hectare site, which comprises 18.3 percent
of the whole of Indonesia's protected sea areas.

In fact, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) has long
warned about the threat to Taka Bonerate due to the unchecked
destructive fishing methods.

In 1995 LIPI told the local government that unless it did
something to stop the illegal fishing methods and reef theft, an
estimated 60 percent of the sea park would be destroyed in the
next few years.

Reef Check, the World Wide Fund for Nature-sponsored program
established to protect coral reefs, has also fired a similar
warning salvo. Its team has reported that the coral reefs in
Tinanja, Latondu and Ampalas island are "finished" and the seabed
looks like a "sand desert".

LIPI and Reef Check's findings were confirmed by the Institute
for the Ujungpandang-based Studies on Coastal Villages and
Communities (LP3M). According to the institute, the environmental
destruction has reached 75 percent.

"The rate will be higher if the government fails to take stern
action against the perpetrators," says Kamaruddin, a researcher
from the institute.

He points out that one of the most serious offenses is the
theft by locals of coral to use as building materials.

"We are taking measures to save the sea park," he says.

In cooperation with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank,
the Australian government's Ausaid and several non-profit
organizations in Japan and Canada, the institute has begun a
Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Project.

Although starting somewhat late in the day, the project has
won applause from many quarters. Environmentalists say that the
park needs 100 years to return to its original state -- and that
is only if all the destructive activities stop now.