CORAL REEFS, MANGROVES AND SEAGRASSES: A SOURCEBOOK FOR MANAGERS Frank Talbot and Clive Wilkinson with contributions from Miguel Fortes and Peter Saenger Case Studies from Angel Alcala, Marlin Atkinson, Rolf Bak, Maya Borel Best, Barbara Brown, William Causey, Chou Loke Ming, Sue Clarke, Alasdair Edwards, Richard Grigg, Gregor Hodgson, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Terry Hughes, Cynthia Hunter, Catherine Isebor, Robert Johannes, Tim McClanahan, John McManus, John Ogden, Ross Robertson, Garry Russ, Bernard Salvat, Yacouba Sankare, A Sasekumar, Sam Snedaker and Suharsono. and illustrations by Christopher McLelland This report has been produced for the sole use of the party who requested it. The application or use of this report and of any data or information (including results of experiments, conclusions, and recommendations) contained within it shall be at the sole risk and responsibility of that party. AIMS does not provide any warranty or assurance as to the accuracy or suitability of the whole or any part of the report, for any particular purpose or application. Subject only to any contrary non- excludable statutory obligations neither AIMS nor its personnel will be responsible to the party requesting the report, or any other person claiming through that party, for any consequences of its use or application (whether in whole or part). ©Australian Institute of Marine Science, 2001 Cartoons and sketches by Christopher McLelland ©Christopher McLelland, 2001 Copies available from: Science Communication Australian Institute of Marine Science PMB No. 3, Townsville Mail Centre Townsville Q 4810. Australia Fax: (07) 4771 6138 Email: [email protected] The National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data: Talbot, Frank, 1930- . Coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses : a sourcebook for managers. ISBN 0 642 32208 2. 1. Marine resources conservation. 2. Marine ecology. 3. Marine resources - Management. I. Wilkinson, Clive R. II. Australian Institute of Marine Science. III. Title. 577.7 ii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v INTRODUCTION 1 1 How to use this book to solve problems 3 A WHAT COASTAL MANAGEMENT IS ABOUT 6 A2 Problems of Management and Planning 7 A3 Seeking Solutions 9 A4 The Value of Tropical Coastal Resources 11 BDAMAGE TO COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS AND HOW TO PREVENT IT 18 B5 Coral Reefs 19 B6 Mangroves 35 B7 Seagrasses 39 C MANAGING COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS 48 Ci MANAGEMENT CASE STUDIES 48 C8 Managing Australia's Great Barrier Reef 49 C9 Two Management Models for Philippine Marine Reserves 53 C10 Overfishing and Marine Protected Areas in East Africa 58 C11 Partial Management Success in El Nido, Palawan 62 C12 Sustainable forestry of mangroves - Matang 64 C13 Replanting Mangrove Forests in Bangladesh 66 C14 Planning Restoration of Healthy Coastal Systems in Indonesia 68 Cii MANAGEMENT NEEDS AND METHODS 72 C15 Do Your Coastal Ecosystems Need Management? 73 C16 Marine Protected Areas 77 C17 Integrated Coastal Management for Sustainable Use 84 DCASE STUDIES OF HUMAN IMPACTS ON COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS 94 D18 Overfishing 95 D19 Sewage and Sediment 110 D20 Mining 116 D21 Forestry 119 D22 Introduced Species 125 D23 Oil and Oil Mining 127 D24 Construction, Building and Dredging 134 D25 Multiple Effects 139 iii E SUSTAINING COASTAL RESOURCES 152 E26 Education and Training 153 E27 Monitoring: Simple and accurate methods for monitoring in shallow tropical waters 157 E28 The Law and Coastal Resource Management 167 E29 The Potential of Tourism 172 E30 Restoration 175 CONCLUSION 184 SUGGESTED READING 187 LIST OF ACRONYMS 189 BOXES Box 1 Tourism, fishing and logging values in Palawan 10 Box 2 The value of tourism 15 Box 3 Fishing on breeding aggregations 26 Box 4 Oil and the Gulf conflict 29 Box 5 Mining reefs in Jakarta Bay 34 Box 6 Global climate change and sea level rise 42 Box 7 Transplanting seagrasses 47 Box 8 Value of cyanide fishing versus hook and line fishing 54 Box 9 Blast fishing destroys coral reefs 57 Box 10 Monitoring and survey methods 61 Box 11 Less ozone and more UV radiation 76 Box 12 What are sustainable activities on a coral reef? 92 Box 13 Cyanide and the live fish trade 98 Box 14 Coral bleaching 108 Box 15 Can damaged coral reefs be restored? 115 Box 16 Tourist checklist 144 Box 17 More food from the reef? 156 Box 18 Recognising stress in mangroves 165 Box 19 Reefs as breakwaters: the cost of replacement 177 Box 20 Monitoring a regenerating mangrove forest 180 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We first conceived the idea for this book about 5 years ago, when there were few guidelines to management of tropical coastal areas, particularly coral reefs. Since then, some excellent books have been produced (see suggested reading) but often these are rather long. Sometimes they are very technical, using the language of science and management theory. We have written this book for the practising resource manager in developing countries, who may have limited training in science but is still required to manage complex ecosystems. The basis for the book is a series of real case studies showing both the successes and failures in marine ecosystems and attempts to manage them. These case studies have been provided by experts from around the world (specifically acknowledged on the title page and after each contribution). We very much appreciate the valuable input of these authors and wish to thank them particularly for their generous contributions of time and pictures. As editors, we have had the challenging task of condensing and simplifying rigorous scientific work into a format suitable for our intended readership. We trust we have remained faithful to the essential themes of your studies. Thank you all. Two people provided special contributions. Peter Saenger of Southern Cross University in Lismore, Australia, provided most of the input on mangrove forests and many of the photographs and Mike Fortes of the Marine Science Institute of the University of the Philippines in Manila guided us through the material on seagrass beds. Our special thanks to you. This book is a contribution to the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) and its operational programme, the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network. We are particularly grateful for the financial support of partners of ICRI: the Department of State and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the government of the USA. The major financial support for coordination of the GCRMN has come principally through the help of Jamie Reaser, Peter Thomas, Brooks Yeager, and Adrienne Stefan of the Department of State, and Ned Cyr, Charles Ehler and Arthur Paterson of NOAA. Their support has been supplemented by generous contributions by the home institutions of Clive Wilkinson (Australian Institute of Marine Science – AIMS) and Frank Talbot (Graduate School of the Environmental, Macquarie University). WWF in Europe through Carel Drijver, IUCN in the USA via John Waugh and Jordan West, and the Great Barrier Reef Research Foundation through David Windsor, have contributed additional funds for production, as has the CORDIO project and Sida via Olof Linden. We thank these donors. v Coral Reefs, Mangroves and Seagrasses These financial contributions have enabled us to reduce the cost of this book for the target audience, coastal resource managers in developing countries. We wish to thank the four co-sponsors of the GCRMN: the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, with particular thanks to Ned Cyr and Patricio Bernal; the United Nations Environment Programme, via Agneta Nilsson; IUCN offices in the USA; and the World Bank, via Marea Hatziolos and Andy Hooten. The Global Secretariat of ICRI has also provided considerable support, especially Bernard Salvat, Francis Staub Genevieve Verbrugge, Olof Linden, Robert Jara and Ed Gomez. The Director and staff of the Australian Institute of Marine Science have supported the production of this book and provided photographs. GBRMPA also assisted with photographs. Special mention goes to the staff of Science Communication: Liz Tynan, Steve Clarke and Wendy Ellery. Fiona Alongi assisted with the layout. Hugh Sweatman kindly read and commented on the manuscript. Finally, thanks to Margaret Stoneman who helped us enormously with the editing, translating our messy text into the product you have before you, and to Chris McClelland who provided the inspirational cartoons – without them we would still be talking about how to get our messages across in print. Sue Talbot and Madeleine Nowak kept us sane and inspired us to continue, while Hoo'mi kept us amused. vi 1. INTRODUCTION This book is written for resource managers and educators. Its goal is to provide information and practical examples to help prevent further damage to coral reefs and other tropical coastal ecosystems. Already 11% of all coral reefs have been damaged beyond recovery or totally destroyed. Another 16% were wrecked in 1998 by climate change related coral bleaching. Without effective management, another 30% of the world’s reefs will become seriously depleted in the next 20 to 40 years - which is a very short time in human history. While this damage is occurring all over the world, the causes are mostly local – what is happening at each site. This estimate excludes the 1998 coral bleaching caused by higher sea surface temperatures. This bleaching will add to the damage but the full extent is unknown. Most reef damage has been caused by human impacts, usually accidental or unintentional, and is often exaggerated by natural stresses. We now know enough to prevent most of this local damage. More than 50% of the world’s mangrove forests have been cleared without understanding the enormous value of these muddy coastal forests. Seagrass beds have had similar losses in many areas. Both these systems are rich nurseries for coastal fish and prawns, and both act to protect fragile shorelines from erosion. Economists and managers have begun to measure the dollar value of these resources to coastal and marine fisheries, and to shoreline protection.