30.4 Pct Of RI's Coral Reefs Damaged

Jakarta, April 17 (Antara) - The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), through the Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Program (COREMAP), stated 30.4 percent of Indonesia`s coral reefs are damaged and will have an impact on public welfare. Head of LIPI`s Research Center for Oceanography Zainal Arifin in a press release issued here on Thursday said his team was conducting intensive and repeated observation projects in 15 districts. "We are observing coral reefs in eight districts in western Indonesia and seven districts in central and eastern Indonesia," he added. A LIPI researcher, Giyanto, noted that the eight districts being observed in western Indonesia are Central Tapanuli, Nias, South Nias, Mentawai, Natuna, Riau Islands, Lingga and Batam. "The seven districts of central and eastern Indonesia include Pangkajene Islands (Pangkep), Selayar, Wakatobi, Sikka, Biak Numfor and Raja Ampat," he added. Giyanto added that despite a decrease in living coral cover in Nias and Mentawai, the observation results from 2004 to 2011 indicated that coral reefs in the western part of Indonesia showed an increase of four percent per year. The decrease in living coral reef cover in Nias and Mentawai was due to the earthquake and tsunami in 2004. Therefore, the condition of coral reefs in central and eastern Indonesia is not too different from that of coral reefs in western Indonesia. Although coral reefs in Biak have historically been on the decline, the observation results showed an increase of three percent per year. The decrease in living coral reef cover in Biak was due to the hurricane in 2009 and the bleaching of the corals in Biak`s water due to the rising sea temperature in 2010. Another researcher from the Research Center for Oceanography, LIPI, Deny Hidayati, who is a member of COREMAP, explained that the effort to rescue all the living coral reefs is not limited to observation, but it also requires the development of coastal and marine education and research. "We hope that education and research will increase public awareness to save the living coral reefs in Indonesia," said Deny.