|
|
News
Reef
project in Indonesia
Prof
Black's reef at Heaven on the Planet Resort, Lombok, is completed. You can
read more on Facebook at “Ekas Reef Sanctuary in
Lombok”. Built with assistance and funding from the “Wildlife Conservation
Society” and “Sanctuary in Lombok”, the reef is a first in Indonesia.
Constructed of local limestone rocks, the reef consists of 22 modules, each
3 m long, 2 m wide and 1 m high.
We
are encouraging donors or environmentalists who want to assist or donate to
help the community build more modules. Students are welcome to undertake
monitoring. The cost for each module is not large, but the benefit to the locals
is immense. Donors or participants may contact Moira Healey on
moirahealey@y7mail.com.
Background
Indonesia
has globally-important coral reef eco-systems. The Wildlife Conservation
Society (WCS) along with other NGOs, is working
with the Ministry of Marine affairs and local community institutions to
develop marine protected areas to protect bio-diverse ecosystems.
Communities outside these protected areas often have little incentive to
comply with MPA regulations. In Lombok, communities outside the
newly-developed Bumbang Bay MPA are involved in
mariculture and tourism based enterprises. A local resort on EkasBay,
lying about 15km from the Bumbang MPA has
promoted the conservation of Ekas Bay, its marine
waters and employs many local community members as staff.
Ekas Bay has a coral reef in the centre of the
bay which is locally enforced as a no-take area for fisheries. Coral reefs
in proximity to these communities have been depleted of fish due to
overfishing during the past 20 years, and the reef in the centre of the bay
is one of the best fish sources. The Bay is a natural sink for both coral
and lobster larve, coming with oceanographic
currents entering the bay from the Straits to the east, bringing a rich
abundance of larvae that attempt to settle in the area.
Heaven
on the Planet Resort, as part of its work to build awareness of the value of
coral reefs in Ekas Bay, proposed to build the reef
from locally-sourced limestone and so they constructed a pilot reef. This
proved to be highly successful, colonized by corals and is now teeming with
reef fish. The goals of the reef projects are:
● Provide a source of reef
fish for local communities,
● Create awareness of the
ongoing need to protect nearby marine critical habitats from destructive
and over-fishing
● Provide communities with
ownership of the reef for their use
● Allow tourists to visit
the reef on snorkeling tours to fund the development
of more reefs in the bay
● to educate about the
importance of reefs in marine systems
|
|
|
|
|
Marine Issues being
confronted
While aquaculture is expanding globally, the natural marine system still
provides the biggest output of food. However, like all developing nations,
Indonesia is struggling to meet the demands of increased population. In the
marine environment, resources are becoming scarcer. Fish numbers are down
and average captured fish sizes in coastal communities are rapidly
decreasing.
Indonesia currently
exports some $US700 million of tropical species for the aquarium trade
worldwide. While sustaining livelihoods, fish capturing has a negative impact
on the environment. Moreover, intensive fishing, poor nets and
spear-fishing are taking their toll on stocks. Controlled harvesting and
methods to replace these stocks are urgently needed.
In early 2010, Indonesia
suffered a terrible disaster. Exceptionally high water temperatures in the
archipelago for several months led to mass death of corals (known as
"coral bleaching"). The temperatures may be associated with
Global Warming, but the impact will be felt by poor coastal dwellers. The
marine eco-system is substantially disturbed by bleaching and there is a
high risk of continued bleaching events. Ornamentals are substantially
harmed.
The depleted natural
marine environment needs human help to be able to provide sufficient food
for the population of Indonesia. Accordingly, fish farming is being
promoted. However, for many villagers, the cost of fish food and the cost
of cages/nets are insurmountable. Moreover, other options such as
small-scale coastal prawn farming has failed in much of Indonesia due to
disease, food costs and lack of management skills within the poor village
populations.
Another alternative is
coral transplanting. This is commonly adopted in small regions,
particularly tourist sites, to replenish coral lost by bombing or natural
and man-made disasters. However, the cost and slow growth makes
transplantation impractical over large areas. Moreover, the benefits in
relation to fish numbers are relatively small compared to the cost of
establishment and the daily fish intake of Indonesians.
In Ekas
Bay, fishers are currently capturing juvenile lobster on artificial raft
structures, with settlement plates below. The juvenile lobsters are being
sold to foreign buyers who transport them live to their own countries for
fattening. While the short term income is good, the long term effects on
the Indonesian lobster population are unknown, noting that there are over
300 fishers in Ekas Bay alone. Unfortunately, the
lobsters are mostly unable to recruit successfully in Ekas
Bay due to a lack of suitable substrate. And fishing pressure is removing
breeding adults from the Bay.
Shallow reef in the centre
of Ekas Bay is ideal for zoning (about 1 km by
400 m). Government and surrounding tourist operators supported this with
strong arguments about tourism and benefits for the future of the Bay's
ecology. However, some villagers are skeptical
about the benefits being promised, and to demonstrate the unique importance
of reef structures while enhancing fish/lobster stocks, a new reef in the
bay was built from coral stone (limestone).
Thus, this project aims to
enhance the natural marine systems by supplementing marine habitat, which
is an essential requirement for optimal growth of marine species.
By providing habitat and
hiding spaces, fish, lobsters, etc. are able to develop with greatly
reduced threat of mortality or capture, thereby allowing them to reach
maturity and breed. Moreover, the substrate allows juveniles to find
suitable habitat rather than succumbing in open water.
|
|
|
|
|
The new reef then becomes
a natural classroom ... to educate about fish growth and the taking of
fish. This is especially powerful when people can watch the reef as it
evolves. Tourists will be charged USD5 for each visit and the funds will be
used for enlarging the reef in the future.
The reefs can be nurtured
and harvested like a villager's home garden. Stakeholder ownership and
participation enables local governance for a sustainable future. The
Habitat for Fish sea garden is very similar to a farm on land, and
acceptable within the local social and cultural context.
Moreover, by blending the
village benefits with tourist operations, the reef provides fish for the
communities as well as activities for tourist operators to promote
conservation and governance. The engagement of "Sanctuary in Lombok
Resorts" in this project adds an additional layer of substantial
benefits.
At the same time, the younger generations from the surrounding villages can
be educated about the marine environment, and better associated with the
sea through activities on and around the reef. School visits to the site
are being promoted.
The "Habitat
for Fish" Reef consists of:
● Quarried limestone rocks
placed in shallow water (3-6 m deep). The reef modules are 3 m long by 2 m
wide and 1.0-1.5 m high.
Lombok is ideally suited as it has a ready supply of fossilised coral
building material (soft limestones) in its village quarries. This material
is ideal for reef construction and for marine habitat and recruitment, as already
proven by the trial reef project at Ekas Bay. The
limestone is inexpensive and can be broken into blocks of many sizes so
that habitat in the rock crannies for many different species is created.
Project support
The project was funded by
the Wildlife Conservation Society, with financial help from Heaven on the
Planet Resort. The local fishing village of Ekas
was already familiar with fish caging, seaweed harvesting and they run a
successful village fisher cooperative. The village welcomed and assisted
with the project.
The project has strong
support from East Lombok government (Tourism, Fisheries, Planning, Police,
Military etc.), having already held group meetings at Sanctuary in Lombok
to engage them in the vision. The project extends historical NZAID
initiatives in Ekas Bay.
There are many places in
Indonesia, Phillipines, Pacific
etc. that would greatly benefit from this style of aquaculture, which
operates in harmony with the environment and is sustainable.
|
|
|
|
|