On the Way to Management of West Sumatra’s Coastal Ecosystems A. Kunzmann Abstract Various impacts on the coast of the Indonesian province of West Sumatra are presented together with activities and achievements to address them, e.g. public awareness, public relations and capacity building, including the establishment of a marine protected area. Introduction Indonesia has addressed the (1997) and the International Year of situation by implementing the Oceans (1998) and hosted the 9th Research by the Indonesian conservation-oriented projects and International Coral Reef Symposium Institute of Sciences (LIPI) (Nontji raising public awareness to of the International Society of Reef 1999) has revealed that 85% of rehabilitate and manage its coral Studies (2000). It established a Indonesia’s coral reefs (which cover reefs. It has established marine National Council for the Sea (DKN) 25% of the coral reef area in the protected areas and marine parks in 1996, the Indonesian Maritime world) are negatively influenced by now covering 28,000 km2. The Council in 1998 and most humans and some 70% are in poor government celebrated the Year of importantly, the Ministry for Marine condition. Marine Tourism (1996), participated Affairs and Fisheries (DKP) in 1999. in the International Year of the Reef The above are examples of what have been achieved on the national level. On the provincial level, West Sumatra can serve as an example of how things do work or do not work. West Sumatra: A Case Study West Sumatra, one of 27 S) 0 Indonesian provinces, represents approximately 1% of the area of Latitude ( Indonesia. It consists of about 100 islands, some 1,400 km of coastline and 20,000 km2 of territorial waters. The exclusive economic zone of West Sumatra is about 140,000 km2; and 6,000 fishers operate in the waters. The coastal area is regulated and under control through laws and regulations, mainly national but also Longitude (0E) some regional regulations. There are 26 existing regulations that directly Fig. 1. Part of the territorial waters of West Sumatra Province. Note the string of islands and concern marine matters. breaking reefs paralleling the coast, named “Barrier Reef System”. This map also displays Several years of research on the Siberut Island, where Sarabua Bay is located. 4 Naga, The ICLARM Quarterly (Vol. 25, No. 1) January-March 2002 feature West Sumatra “Barrier Reef System” coral reefs and their fishes can be (Fig. 1) have resulted in insight into found in Kunzmann (1997a, 1997b), problems with the implementation of Wallace (1997), Randall and regulations and in the compilation of Kunzmann (1998a, 1998b), Steffen some scientific information. Patch (1998), Kunzmann et al. (1999), reefs and fringing reefs are both Kunzmann (2000) and a number of around coral islands (in the north) Indonesian and German theses on the or volcanic islands (in the south) website: http://www.zmt.uni- A. Kunzmann Bungus Bay, 20 km south of Padang (West also along the main coast of Sumatra. bremen.de/projects/Indonesia/ Sumatra). Construction of an oil pier in the The are also reefs around the iczmthes.html. middle of a coral reef ecosystem. Mentawai islands, some with Along the coast of Padang, many mangroves and seagrass beds. The users of the coastal area with case of the Bungus Bay plywood percentage cover with live coral for differing significance for and impact factory, studies indicate a direct various locations shows both reefs on the coast are found. These include negative influence over the past with almost no corals left, but also numerous villages and the provincial years (Nusyirwan 1995). reefs with a very high cover. More capital with one million inhabitants, Overexploitation of selected fish than 150 hard coral species were and sectoral activities such as stocks, are mainly due to more than identified and the total reef area is agriculture, forestry and mining, 300 Bagan units operating in the estimated at 900 km2. The reef fish collectively causing heavy sediment, Padang area (Ortmann 1995; diversity was found to be high for fertilizer and waste and sewage loads Rohdenburg 1995; Maack 1996). Indian Ocean reefs. Some new washed down in rivers to the coastal Illegal fishing is also practiced in species (both fish and coral) were areas. The local industry mainly artisanal fishing areas and overlaps found here and new westernmost comprises palm oil, rubber and largely with Bagan fishing (Sofyani distributions for Pacific species were cement, and is feeding a large 1994, Abdurrahman 1995; Evarita confirmed. Several studies on commercial port in Teluk Bayur, 1995; Siregar 1995; Syufri 1995). In degradation of reefs with different equipped with separate coal and addition to the use of destructive natural and anthropogenic influences cement terminals. A fishing harbor, fishing methods, unwise use of highlighted the heterogeneity of reef plywood factory and oil landing pier marine resources, which includes communities in the region and can also be found, all in Bungus Bay shell and coral mining (Syarif 1994) identified significant differences (Fig. 2). and harvesting of turtle eggs and between inner and outer shelf reef Industrial and fishing activities adults (Hendra 1997; Setiawan sites. interfere with tourism activities, as 1999), is seriously increasing. More scientific details about the in Pasir Kandang and Bungus. In the West Sumatra faces the problem of fishing with explosives and cyanide, on both a small and large scale (Kunzmann 1997a, 1997b, 1998). Dugout canoes use self-made mini bombs inshore, while larger vessels from Jakarta and Sibolga use big bombs on the outer islands. Fishing using various cyanides for fish and lobsters is done from canoes and small boats with hookah-diving in the inshore areas. A large-scale enterprise, heavily engaged in the live reef fish trade for groupers and wrasses for export to Hongkong, is operating on the Mentawai islands, ironically with its base in the Sarabua Bay, which is supposed to A. Kunzmann be a marine park. In addition, there Intact reef formation in 3-6 m depth on Pieh Island, 12 nautical miles west of Padang. Joint Indonesian German coral reef monitoring team at work. are still anomalies facts about Naga, The ICLARM Quarterly (Vol. 25, No. 1) January-March 2002 5 and seagrasses was conveyed to students, staff and university administration, as well as to key figures of the provincial government, who were in charge of budgets or research plans for the university. Also, the Governor’s office and the provincial offices for fisheries (Dinas Perikanan), conservation (BKSDA) and the Navy were involved in these very first awareness-raising activities. At the same time, a long-term S) research and monitoring program 0 was started, involving students, staff and scientists from other universities. Latitude ( Preliminary results on the status of the reefs were presented in science meetings and workshops (Kunzmann et al. 1993; Kunzmann and Efendi 1994, 1996; Zimmermann and Kunzmann 1994) and resulted in a proposal to protect Pulau Pieh and surroundings and a first application for a marine protected area (MPA) in 1993. Longitude (0E) Formal cooperation with the Navy was established including Fig. 2. Detailed map of the Padang Islands coastal zone. Two strings of islands extend all the way from north to south, the eastern string on the shelf, and the western string on the shelf bringing out moorings and having slope. Conflicting interests in the use of the coastal areas (e.g. Bungus Bay) are shown in more radio communication via a hotline. detail on the website: http://www.zmt.uni-bremen.de/projects/Indonesia The red triangle indicates the marine protected area (MPA) around Pieh Island. licenses from fishing authorities for public awareness (PA), public export of CITES-listed species relations (PR) and capacity building (Convention on International Trade (CB). with Endangered Species). However, The first activity was raising since the enterprise is paying taxes, awareness on the university campus providing income and loans for and within the provincial and A. numerous fishers and investing in municipal government. In 1992, the education and training, the opera- general attitude towards the sea can Fishing with poison in Pieh island (West Sumatra) kills corals. After bleaching they tions are tolerated, although it is be best described by citing a are completely overgrown by algae. obvious that a few people earn a university official: “As long as the fortune while the fishers get only a water is blue and looks beautiful, and small amount. As a consequence of as long as fish is sold on the market, several years of destructive fishing, our seas must be in good condition.” the reefs of the Mentawai islands are Since the fisheries faculty of Bung in a degraded condition. Hatta University was very much oriented towards catching, Activities and Achievements processing and selling fish, other marine ecosystems had little A. Kunzmann Activities and achievements to attention. The existence and Destroyed reef section after bombing. The crater size is about 10 m in diameter. Pandan change things for the better include: importance of coral reefs, mangroves Island, 10 miles west of Padang, 5 m depth. 6 Naga, The ICLARM Quarterly (Vol. 25, No. 1) January-March 2002 feature With the help of an island guard, who opportunity of having experts in 1999)). was trained and equipped with place was used to simultaneously • potential of marine natural binoculars and an FM radio, four organize a number of advanced products (Handayani et al. 1997a, fishing vessels were caught by the training courses, which contributed 1997b); and Navy within six months, illegally significantly to the capacity building • activities in rehabilitation of reefs fishing using explosives. The crew of university staff and students, and coral farms (Freytag 2001; was put in jail and the vessels were including other universities of the Johan et al.