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Assessing Tsunami Damage to Indian Ocean Mpas: Efforts Underway to Find Answers Amid Chaos

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Assessing Tsunami Damage to Indian Ocean Mpas: Efforts Underway to Find Answers Amid Chaos Vol. 6, No. 7 February 2005 International News and Analysis on Marine Protected Areas Assessing Tsunami Damage to Indian Ocean MPAs: Efforts Underway to Find Answers Amid Chaos The Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December 2004 normal research. In her brought catastrophic human suffering to coastal surveys since the tsunami, Impacts of tsunami on marine ecosystems communities in South and Southeast Asia. It also Chavanich observed a affected many marine ecosystems in the region, through range of impacts. Some A tsunami can damage marine ecosystems via (A) its initial broken coral reefs, sedimentation, and piling of debris, coral reefs had been surge and (B) the ensuing backwash, the latter of which among other impacts. Efforts are underway region- heavily damaged — even may carry sediments and debris from land. The sediments wide to assess the undersea damage from the disaster, as deep as 90 feet — while and debris can smother and scrape seafloor habitats, such including effects on MPAs. others appeared unaf- as coral, while introducing toxins and disease agents to the fected. Similarly, some ecosystem. Such efforts have not been easy. Tsunami damage to beaches and seafloor areas research vessels has delayed surveys in some areas, while The physical forces of a tsunami are powerful enough to had lost sand, while others scientists elsewhere have had to develop assessment alter river mouths or cause meter-wide coral boulders to had gained it: she observed methods on the fly, unprepared for a rare tsunami event tumble across the seafloor. In the Seychelles, the repeated that a significant amount of in the region. This month, MPA News examines some draining and refilling of shallow bays over the course of sand was missing from one of the assessment efforts so far and what lessons they 26 December exposed reefs there to direct sun and rain — seafloor site 100 feet may hold for MPA practitioners. elements they may not have experienced in more than a below sea level. century, say experts. The assessment effort has Thailand: Measuring coral damage, repairing reefs been essential to grasping Following the tsunami, the government of Thailand the damage to Thailand’s marine resources. However, moved swiftly to initiate assessments of the disaster’s Chavanich warns that the protocol is imperfect and impact on its marine ecosystems. With diving and may result in inaccurate damage estimates. She points other marine tourism accounting for a significant out, for example, that it offers no rigorous method for portion of national revenue, government officials were measuring the percentage of coral damage, aside from eager to measure how the tsunami had affected its relying on divers’ best estimates. Furthermore, she says, marine national parks, which were closed to visitation the protocol requires no prior familiarity with a survey following the disaster. site, thus making it difficult in some circumstances for By 30 December, government and university research- surveyors to tell whether a coral died before the Table of Contents ers were dispatched to collect preliminary data on tsunami, such as from prior bleaching. impacts to sandy areas, rocky shores, mangroves, and “I think these are big problems,” she says. The Assessing Tsunami coral reefs. A week later, the Thai Department of committee that created the survey protocol has said that Damage to Indian Ocean Marine Natural Resources and senior scientists used an error factor of up to 25% between damage estimates MPAs: Efforts Underway these preliminary data to develop an underwater survey and real damage would be acceptable, although to Find Answers Amid protocol for more intensive assessments. The protocol Chavanich says the estimates may be off by more. She Chaos .......................... 1 has since been distributed to eight universities and says one survey team estimated 80% tsunami damage in dozens of volunteer divers nationwide, who have used it an area with which her own survey group was familiar; Scientists: UK Should Set to collect data on the extent of damage, types of coral her group, surveying afterward, estimated only 30% Aside 30% of Waters as affected, and other indicators. tsunami damage. No-Take Reserves ....... 4 Biologist Suchana Chavanich of Chulalongkorn Although the lower figure still is cause for concern, Notes & News .............. 5 University (Thailand) was part of the preliminary survey Chavanich says that at least the impacts to coral in Letter to the Editor ........ 6 group and also participated in follow-up research trips. Thailand do not appear to be as severe as first feared. She Her work focused on the coral-laden Ko Similan says the effects have been greater on the tourism industry, Marine National Park, a popular destination for dive where offices and tourist lodgings in most of the marine tourists and a site she had surveyed previously as part of continued on next page national parks were destroyed. “This is the peak tourist “However, there may be longer term repercussions that season, which ends in April,” she says. “It may take two will need several years of monitoring, such as the loss of to three months to build even temporary buildings.” structures used as cues for fish-spawning aggregations. It’s hard to know. Also, the extreme damage on land While repairs to the tourist infrastructure are underway, may have very strong impacts on the recovery of reefs: so are efforts to repair broken and smothered corals. changed river mouths and underground streams, mobile From 19-24 January, 140 volunteer divers worked in debris persistent over multiple years, or trapping of waste Ko Similan to uncover smothered sea fans, table corals, sludge or other materials into depressions on reefs.” and other reef structures and re-set them in the seafloor. Henry Aruffo, director of the Coral Reef Institute, a The draft guidelines, he says, are not so much a list but research and education organization in nearby Phuket, a set of recommendations on key variables and indica- was a participant. “A significant percentage of the larger tors to measure, and how to conduct sampling at coral species still had a majority of corals alive,” he says. different levels of expertise. “Because people have used He expects survival rates for corals that were completely a variety of monitoring techniques in the past, and to buried in sand to be 20-50%, whereas broken but not maximize compatibility with past surveys, users will be buried corals could have 80% survival rates. urged to use a strategy similar to their past ones, while More resources on also trying to cover broad areas and make their results The sites for repair work were selected in part based on compatible with others’,” says Obura. tsunami results of the intensive assessments: the sites with The guidelines are fairly comprehensive, with tips on IUCN Information Paper: greatest damage were repaired first. “At whatever rate site selection, data units, damage indicators, data “Recovery from the the corals survive — and we will monitor survival in the management, and even how best to use photo/video Indian Ocean Tsunami - future — repopulation of the reefs will occur much faster equipment, among other information. The authors Guidance for Ecosystem than if the corals had been left unrepaired,” says Aruffo. state two “critical rules” to follow when sampling within Rehabilitation Incorporat- a given area: ing Livelihoods Concerns” Standardizing the long-term monitoring of (1) Always use the same methodology, so that data http://www.iucn.org/ tsunami effects region-wide can be compared; and info_and_news/press/tsunami- What Thailand did in facilitating a national damage- (2) Do not pre-select areas to sample (such as guidance-info.pdf assessment campaign, an international project is aiming to do for the entire Indian Ocean. Led by regional and selecting only areas with maximum damage), as this IUCN Tsunami Response global coral-research institutions, the project has biases the damage assessment. http://www.iucn.org/tsunami/ produced a draft set of guidelines for rapid assessment Karenne Tun, Southeast Asia regional coordinator for UNEP Tsunami Response and monitoring, to be finalized within the next several GCRMN, says the guidelines when finalized will be http://www.unep.org/tsunami/ weeks. The guidelines were assembled from a range of distributed to practitioners throughout the Indian sources, including a technical manual for post-disaster Ocean. “GCRMN and ICRI will publish regular WorldFish Center environmental assessment in the Caribbean (see box on updates on the impacts, and will produce a more http://www.worldfishcenter.org/ opposite page, “Importance of conducting surveys prior detailed report in the second half of 2005 for global ReefBase Tsunami Impacts to disasters”). The project is led by the Global Coral release,” says Tun. “There are also plans to publish http://www.reefbase.org/ Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), the Interna- several papers on the socioeconomic and ecological Tsunami.asp tional Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), the International effects of the tsunami on coastal communities.” Society for Reef Studies (ISRS), and CORDIO, an international research program created to respond to Sri Lanka: Assessing coral reefs and the coral reef degradation in the Indian Ocean. protective role of MPAs The draft guidelines are available for viewing at http:// The draft guidelines mentioned above have already been www.unep-wcmc.org/latenews/emergency/tsunami_2004. The tested in Sri Lanka as part of post-tsunami reef assess- document is intended to serve two purposes: to assist ments there. Jerker Tamelander, South Asia regional field teams and monitoring programs to collect relevant coordinator for CORDIO, GCRMN, and the IUCN tsunami data, and to promote comparisons of data from Regional Marine Programme, applied the methodology local to national and regional levels. By standardizing in rapid assessments of six sites, including a no-take such surveys, says David Obura of Kenya-based MPA — Hikkaduwa National Park.
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