Togean oceanic park 'under serious threat'

Togean oceanic park 'under serious threat'

By Rustam Hapusa

PALU, Central Sulawesi (Antara): The ocean park in the Togean Islands of Central Sulawesi, which boasts Indonesia's largest coral reef, is teetering on the brink of oblivion.

The park, which has become increasingly popular with western tourists, is facing a grave threat from uncontrolled fishing using explosives and poisons.

Data acquired by the Joint Consortium to Develop Conservation Areas shows that fishermen damage between 200 and 300 hectares of the 98,000 hectares of coral reef in the area every year.

Anchors dropped from fishing boats and ferries, along with effluent from their engines are highly damaging and unchecked poaching of natural predators such as Napoleon wrasse has allowed pests such as Acanthaster planci to multiply at an alarming rate.

According to the head of the consortium, Yani Subekti Permana, increasing human encroachment into the Tomini straits is accelerating the degradation of reefs around the 53 islands that make up the Togean archipelago.

Yani, a graduate from Palu's Tadulako University, said that coral reefs lying off the islands of Taipi and Malenge, which became a popular diving haven among western tourists four years ago, have been seriously damaged.

"The rate of destruction is also alarming. More than 20 percent of the coral reefs have been seriously damaged," she said.

Yani urged the relevant government agencies and non- governmental organizations to launch a concerted effort to save the abundant biodiversity in the area. The 20,000 families who live in the area would also benefit from the conservation program if it succeeded in preserving the natural resources they depend upon for a living.

The Togean islands boasts 30 dive sites and are the home to rare species of animals such as the cuscus and the alo bird.

Potential

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has stated its intention to develop the Togean islands' potential for tourism and already the numbers of tourists arriving in the area has shown a marked increase.

In 1994, ministry records show that 2,000 tourists visited the area, a number which by 1997 had risen to 6,728. A total of 7,322 tourists had visited the area as of Oct. 20. this year.

"I estimate that the number could double by the year 2000 if access to the area is improved," said the head of the local office of culture and tourism, M. Said Siregar.

According to Siregar, tourism in the Togean islands is hampered by the lack of direct access from the provincial capital of Palu. It currently takes tourists at least two days to travel the 480 kilometers from Palu to Wakai in the Togean islands.

There are no direct flights or ferries to the area, making it necessary for tourists to stay one night in Ampana, a small seaside town en route, and another night in Wakai waiting for a motorboat to return to the mainland.

The Central Sulawesi development board has been trying to solve this problem since 1994. They have asked the central government to create a regular flight connecting areas popular with tourists in Sulawesi.

But the proposed diagonal route connecting Tana Toraja in South Sulawesi with Tentena and Wakai in Central Sulawesi, and Manado in North Sulawesi is still awaited.

A proposal for a regular ferry service connecting Ampana and Wakai has also been submitted but, like the proposed air service, has yet to be acted on by the authorities.

"We do not know why our requests have not been met," commented the head of the Central Sulawesi development board, Yahya Ponulele.

Despite the problems, Yahya said he was optimistic that the proposed flights and ferries would be running by mid 2000 because Jakarta has promised greater development in eastern Indonesia once the economic crisis is over.

To secure the oceanic resources in the 1.6 million hectare area, a number of non-governmental organizations active in the Togean islands have suggested designating the area as a national park.

"We hope that our proposal to turn the Togean islands into a national park will be approved soon so that what is left of the oceanic resources there can still be saved," the director of the Toloka Institution Jafar Amin said when commenting on a meeting between Central Sulawesi Governor H.B. Paliudju and representatives if the Togean islanders.

The government is expected to divide the area into zones with different functions, including fishing and tourism.

"After the Togean islands have been turned into a national park, any violations of the law could be dealt with firmly," Jafar said.

In response to the NGOs' proposal, Paliudju said that a request to turn the area into a national park had been submitted to the provincial government two years ago and was now under consideration, adding that the Central Sulawesi development board had asked him for more details on the proposal in 1997.

"If the central government doesn't make the Togean islands a national park soon, I think it's resources will run out, leaving it's current natural wealth as nothing more than a memory", said the head of the Central Sulawesi office of the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations.