Coral reefs face major threat from man, nature

Coral reefs face major threat from man, nature

By Illa Djamal

JAKARTA (Antara): Armed with a crowbar, the middle-aged man
pried up and down and dug up chunks of coral growing in the
coastal waters off the small island.

He took his booty to the beach and piled it up on a growing
heap that was already covered a cubic meter. Most buyers were
locals wanting the chunks for their houses' foundations.

Activity like this, a common sight in coastal residential
areas across the country, is one of the many causes of the
destruction of the country's coral reefs.

The undersea world where clusters of rocks the colors of the
rainbow grow and diverse species of fish and other marine life
spawn may soon be simply history unless action is taken
immediately to ensure its conservation.

The state of the country's coral reefs is worsening as the
damage, due either to natural phenomena like typhoons, storms,
abnormal sea temperatures and coral eaters or to man's
activities, is now occurring in many more areas than ever before.

A survey conducted by the National Institute of Science (LIPI)
at 416 sites in 43 areas in Indonesia's territorial waters shows
that only 6.49 percent of the coral in Indonesia is in a very
good condition, 24.28 percent in a good condition, 28.61 percent
in a moderate condition and 40.62 percent in a bad state.

According to LIPI expert Suharsono, the reefs in the west of
the country are in the worst condition.

Coral reefs are formed by small rocks comprising thousands of
individual rock polyps in a process lasting thousands of years.
Looking strong, it actually breaks easily.

Coral reefs offer many benefits to man: high-protein food,
medicine and building materials. To some, they are also a source
of income. Moreover, coral reefs obviously protect the coast
against breaking waves.

Human activities

According to LIPI's deputy chairman in charge of social
sciences and humanities, Arjuno Brojonegoro, Indonesia's coral
reefs total 75,000 square kilometers, an eighth of the world's
total.

"Coral reefs are valuable assets which must be conserved in
the interests of human beings in the future," he said.

Natural phenomena such as typhoons and storms lower the growth
capacity of rocks, while abnormal sea temperature, brought about
for example by the El Nino phenomenon in 1982-1983, not only turn
coral white but also kill it off in the West Indo-Pacific and
West Atlantic waters, Suharsono said.

A particular geological phenomenon that brings about tsunami,
as happened in the seas off Flores and Banda, has also damaged
coral reefs. In addition, sea porcupines or sea urchins, which
feed on coral reefs, pose a threat to the sustainability of these
reefs.

However, the greatest threat to the sustainability of coral
reefs seems to come from humans. Although the damage caused by
individual acts is usually minor, it has taken place and will
continue over a long period of time so the impact will be very
serious.

Threats to the sustainability of coral reefs are closely
linked with population density in coastal areas and the presence
of industrial centers in these areas.

Industrial waste, oil dumped by fishing vessels and household
waste dumped by local people as well as other pollutants such as
those one can see in the waters off the Seribu Islands have
caused the coral reefs located close to coastal areas to become
very vulnerable.

Monitoring conducted over 10 years shows that the household
waste dumped into the waters off the Seribu Islands has increased
almost tenfold in quantity. At the beginning of the survey, in
1985, most of the waste was organic in nature, in 1995, 90
percent of it was plastic.

Bombs and poison

The worst thing that can happen to coral reefs is the use of
bombs and potassium in fishing because this technique also kills
off small fish and destroys coral.

Observations made on the scene show that bombing has obviously
been conducted in the waters round Puteri island, in the Thousand
Islands chain, at a depth of between eight and 15 meters. As a
result, the rainbow of coral has been destroyed and only white,
hard rock remains. Only a small portion of the coral is still
alive.

"If you use a bomb containing half a kilogram of explosives,
coral within a radius of 3.5 meters will be totally destroyed and
within a radius of six meters will be damaged. In such a
situation 25 percent of the fish will be killed instantly, 30
percent will float and only 45 percent will be worth catching,"
according to Masyhuri, a LIPI researcher.

Coral reefs are not only damaged out of avarice or a desire to
obtain as large a profit as possible. Poor fishermen in Tanjung,
North Lombok, for example, collect coral and burn it to make
lime. This is their only means of livelihood.

If marine biota becomes rare in the waters close to the coast,
fishermen dependent on marine produce will simply go fishing
further out to sea.

Habibi, a fisherman from Kelapa island in the Seribu Islands
who works in a fishing vessel, said that every year he goes
fishing out to sea twice, for four months each time. Sometimes he
sails as far as the Philippines. He is paid Rp 400,000 (US$50)
for one outing while on land he does earn so much as a cent.

This is the gloomy picture painted by fishing communities
across Indonesia. Some of them realize that environmental
conservation is important for the sake of the mankind's survival
on Earth. Yet they have no other options.

Fishing nets

Coral reefs may also be damaged if people use nets, plaited
rattan traps and seines when catching fish in reef areas.

Marine tourism also causes damage to coral reefs, especially
when dive boats drop anchors on the coral or divers collect
marine biota a souvenirs.

It is true that regulations and laws on the utilization and
conservation of coral reefs have been enacted but the trouble is
enforcement is still weak.

The government has created 25 marine conservation areas
covering a total of 4 million hectares across Indonesia, six of
which have been made into national parks.

The next step the government will take is to undertake a coral
reef management and rehabilitation program in 10 provinces,
namely East and West Nusa Tenggara, North, South and Southeast
Sulawesi, North and West Sumatra, Riau, Maluku and Irian Jaya.

This program, according to Sugiarta Wirasantosa, a member of
the preparatory team, is scheduled to take 15 years. It begins
this month and will have three stages of implementation --
initiation, acceleration and internalization. The objective is to
minimize damage to coral reefs and, if possible, revitalize the
individual ecosystems.