7. Status of Southeast Asia Coral Reefs

Most of Southeast Asia’s coral reefs continue to remain under threat, mainly from anthropogenic impacts. Weak management capacity contributes to the further degradation of reefs, particularly from destructive and over-fishing. The lack of monitoring capacity in some areas adds to the difficulty of reaching more accurate assessments. Amid the general widespread trend of declining health are isolated instances of effective management and successes in reef protection. The reefs of Indonesia that were monitored under COREMAP showed improvements in live coral cover. Active management resulted in improved reef health from monitoring reports in Thailand and Vietnam. Also evident is the recent and renewed expansion of reef monitoring and management activities supported by international agencies. The transfer of lessons learned from successfully managed reefs and the overall enhancement of management capacity are strong requirements to overcome the general decline of reef health in the region. 123 LOKE MING CHOU, VO SI TUAN, PHILREEFS, THAMASAK YEEMIN, ANNADEL CABANBAN, SUHARSONO AND ITH KESSNA Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2002 INTRODUCTION Southeast Asia’s 100,000km2 of coral reefs is 34% of the world’s total, and also contains the highest coral biodiversity. The recent Reefs at Risk analysis estimated that 88% of the region’s reefs were at risk, with half at ‘high’ or ‘very high’ risk. Over-fishing threatens 64% of the reefs while destructive fishing threatens 56%. Coastal development affects 25% of the reefs, and a further 20% face the impact of agriculture and deforestation. Over 90% of the reefs of Cambodia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Singapore are threatened, as are the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. For Malaysia and Indonesia, over 85% of the reefs remain under threat. It was further noted that the region’s 646 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) covered only 8% of its reefs. This inadequacy in management is further emphasised by the fact that only 14% of the 332 MPAs where management effectiveness could be assessed were considered to be well managed. Increased attention from international agencies was more evident in the past two years. A UNEP/GEF regional project ‘Reversing Environmental Degradation Trends in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand’ was implemented in 2001 with coral reefs as one of its 124 TURNING A BOMB FISHER INTO A RESOURCE MANAGER IN INDONESIA In North Suluwesi, Indonesia, awareness raising within the Blongko community transformed the life of Salindeho (Pak Deho) Adilang, who once gained his livelihood from bomb fishing on coral reefs. Now he is a member of the community sanctuary management board and firmly on the side of reef conservation. A theme in Proyek Pesisir (a USAID funded project) was to teach community members how to assess and monitor reefs to prepare maps of the resources as a prelude to management. They trained Pak Deho how to assess reefs over a large scale using the manta tow technique (a method recommended by the GCRMN) and took him to an area where blast fishing was rampant. When he saw the damage that the bombs were causing to the corals, he reformed his illegal behaviour to become a supporter of the reefs. He subsequently joined the sanctuary management committee, and when a Canadian film crew asked him about the change, he replied that he started bomb fishing when he was young and did not know what he was doing. Proyek Pesisir recommend seeking out the bomb fishers and involving them in monitoring training, thereby complementing their expertise on the water. Some can take up a leadership role in further training and eventually resource management. This approach is a start, but cannot tackle the problems of bomb fishers from outside the community. The value of involving community members in monitoring and mapping activities has been in transforming many stakeholders into stewards – ‘when you start mapping, things happen’. After training in assessing coral reef quality, the community generated their own coral reef map. The head of the nearby Talise marine sanctuary management committee stated that the map produced by the exercise was the catalyst for the community to establish a sanctuary; ‘the project did a survey of the resources here, and the villagers thought it was important to keep it’. From Proyek Pesisir. Johnnes Tulugen ([email protected]) or Brian Crawford ([email protected]) Status of Southeast Asia Coral Reefs focus ecosystems. In an ICRAN (International Coral Reef Action Network) project, also implemented this year, capacity transfer in reef management was targeted. Reefs under different but successful management regimes were identified to serve as demonstration sites to benefit identified target sites through transfer of learning experiences and expertise. Three management regimes were selected: integrated coastal management; ecotourism; and community-based management. UNEP’s Regional Coordinating Unit for East Asian Seas (RCU-EAS) is currently managing a small grants initiative to enhance coral reef monitoring in the region. At an international workshop on World Heritage sites held in Hanoi early this year, over 20 reef sites throughout Southeast Asia were identified as having outstanding universal value and feasible for nomination for World Heritage status. The Sulu-Sulawesi seas are identified as one of the world’s marine ecoregions by WWF, based on its marine biodiversity. A Biodiversity Conservation Vision for the SuluSulawesi Marine Ecoregion has been formulated and joint activities between the three countries sharing those seas (Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia) are being developed. In October 2001, the Universiti Malaysia Sabah, conducted the ‘Regional Workshop to Establish a Network of Marine Protected Areas in the East Asian Seas Region’ with funding from the UNEP/ RCU-EAS and ICRAN, and in May this year, The World Commission on Protected Areas, Nature Conservancy, and U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration collaborated in a joint project to develop a Regional Action Plan (RAP) aimed at strengthening and improving the effectiveness of a network of ‘marine reserves’ in Southeast Asia. A WCPA-SEA Marine Working Group was established to further develop the RAP. A more coordinated approach was adopted in the preparation of this regional report. National coordinators were identified and participated in a meeting in Ishigaki, Japan in March 2002, hosted by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment. It was agreed that national coordinators contribute directly to the present report as co-authors. National workshops of Malaysia and the Philippines were supported by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, while those of Thailand and Vietnam were supported by the Regional Coordinating Unit (East Asian Seas) of UNEP. Summarised data of reef status derived from the national reports appear in this paper. In addition, reports were received from a number of people in response to the call for additional information. Relevant pieces of information from these reports are incorporated. STATUS OF CORAL REEF BENTHOS AND REEF FISHES This section provides updates to the 2000 report. National reports containing more detailed information are being prepared by participating country coordinators. While monitoring of reef benthos remained at an active level, a paucity in information on reef fish was evident.