Health check for Karimunjawa’s coral reefs
November 28th, 2007
Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Jepara
Putri Yuanita was impatient for her turn to dive in the Karimunjawa waters, 98 kilometers north of Jepara, Central Java.
From her position on the deck of a Karimunjawa fishing boat — locally called a sopek — she could watch her peers emerging on the surface. Each of them was equipped with the standard mask, regulator, oxygen tube and pair of fins. Some wore diving suits while others were only in their shorts or pants, but all carried waterproof white boards.
Two boats were ready with 25-30 people each. Thirty-nine divers joined the 2007 National Reef Check and Diving Jamboree in the Karimunjawa National Park on Nov. 11-15. The event was organized by 19 marine science students as members of the Marine Diving Club, Diponegoro University, Semarang.
From Sunday through Tuesday, Nov. 11-13, the 39 participants applied their reef check knowledge on the seabed after prior briefings on this activity in Jepara. “It’s my first diving experience in Karimunjawa. With the reef check, it’s indeed interesting. We observed coral reefs, invertebrates and fish for direct recording underwater. So we first found the method to do it correctly,” said Putri, a student of marine science at Bandung’s Institute of Technology.
The simple yet scientific reef check method was designed to survey coral reefs and other marine organisms. According to Diponegoro University’s Marine Diving Club chairman Achmad Mustofa, the reef check program in tourism is focused on the fields of education, environmentally friendly marine tourism and coral reef monitoring all over Indonesia.
“Through this program, we strive to bridge the gaps between coral conservation efforts, user communities, stakeholders and business circles. In cooperation with these groups, the reef check operation is meant to arouse their awareness to protect coral reefs and encourage their involvement in coral conservation in a mutually advantageous and sustainable way,” Mustofa said.
The Reef Check International Foundation was set up in California, U.S, in 1996 as a marine protection volunteers organization to rescue coral reefs on a global scale and particularly in California. The foundation is now active in 82 areas and countries, including Indonesia. A year after its formation, the reef check method was applied in Karimunjawa in 1997, with annual programs taking place since then.
How to do it?
Reef check localities representing the whole region of Karimunjawa are first determined. They are the waters of the islands of Menjangan Besar, Menjangan Kecil, Cemara Besar, Cape of Gelam, and the sea in the core zone of Taka Solusi near Taka Malang Island. Surveys will continue to be conducted in these areas to ascertain Karimunjawa’s marine ecosystem developments. To this end, their seabed is tagged with plastic strings bearing lead weights that are pegged into the ground.
Missing tags due to natural factors and inadvertent disruption have to be replaced in the same positions by tracing those that are still intact. The waters being surveyed are three meters and 10 m in depth. On the seabed, 100-m string lines are fixed for the tagging, which are made more noticeable with white measuring tapes. Along these tapes, divers are required to observe coral reefs, invertebrates and fish.
This time, the reef check participants were divided into two groups on sopek-A and sopek-B. Each diver was charged with examining survey areas three m and 10 meters deep, so that the data gathered would be more complete and mutually complementing. “Some divers may overlook groupers or giant clams while others notice them. All data will be matched to support each other,” said club supervisor Jensi Sartin.
Two or three divers went down at a time in the submarine research with the guidance of a senior buddy to direct them to survey areas and ensure their safety. The divers recorded what they saw, starting from coral reefs, invertebrates, to fish species, on their boards with water-resistant pens, each thus registering three kinds of encounters.
The names of fish and invertebrates had to be memorized as well, such as butterfly fish (Chaetodontidae), groupers (Serranidae), moray eels (Muarenidae), parrotfish (Scaridae), snappers (Litjanidae), lobsters (Malacostraca), pencil urchins (Heterocentrotus mammillatus), tritons (Charonia tritonis), prickly redfish (Thelenota anamas) and giant clams (tridacna spp).
They were also supposed to be familiar with the shapes of dead coral, tabulate coral and brain coral, for example. Any confusion would require them to consult waterproof dictionaries before jotting something down, without having to hurry as they were allotted an hour underwater. Reef check divers can be beginners as well as professionals.
Felix Yonathan, 53, from the Octopus diving club in Semarang, for instance, claimed to be a novice. “I joined the club after entering middle age, when my children were already independent. I’ve got an A1 certificate, meaning ‘beginner’. Reef check diving is interesting because it’s something new. I was only diving for fun previously,” said the father of two.
The same thing was experienced by Sakinawa, 51, a professional diver from Bangka Belitung. “We are all seven here as members of Emas Diving Club — Bangka Belitung. This jamboree and reef check diving is a new experience,” he pointed out. These divers do the job of salvaging corpses from their provincial waters.
“Many small-scale tin mining workers have died on the seabed due to accidents. We lift dead bodies to the water surface almost every week,” said the daily executive chairman of the Emas club. With around 250 islands in his province, Sakinawa and his colleagues are determined to increase the number of club members. “After checking the coral reefs and organisms in Karimunjawa, our region’s marine conditions are not inferior,” he added.
Surikawati, an employee of the Environment Impact Control Agency in Sabang, We Island, Aceh, brought along two nautical vocational school students, Ari Gunawan and Ramadan, and their teacher Agus Fitra to the program. “The reef check event in Karimunjawa challenges us in Sabang to conserve our coral reefs and marine life. It’s our responsibility,” said Surikawati.
The data collected from the Karimunjawa waters, which was presented to community leaders in the region and staff members of the Karimunjawa National Park on Wednesday, Nov. 14, revealed the coral reef conditions in the archipelago had indeed declined since the 2004 reef check. A large number of reefs were damaged by human behavior such as fishermen’s anchors dropping, and diving tourists’ unscrupulous acts. Besides, there were big storms causing huge waves at the end of 2006.
The data finally served as input for Karimunjawa’s 8,600 people (80 percent of whom are fishermen) to take greater care of their marine areas. If the coral reefs around them are damaged, their catch will be reduced and they will have to cover longer distances to get more fish. The forum therefore became a mutual learning process through the sharing of information and data in the spirit of coral conservation.
Reef checkers in Indonesia established the Indonesian Reef Check Network in 2001. Until 2004, it had conducted observations in hundreds of locations in 15 provinces and involved over 1,000 volunteers. With the increasing demand for coral reef conservation, the Indonesian Reef Check Foundation was set up in 2005 with its head office in Denpasar, Bali.
Through reef check programs, Indonesia is expected to possess one of the world’s richest coral reef zones, and gather data on coral reefs and available resources for scientific management.
This country of 17,500 islands in fact needs a community based scheme for coral reef management, and reef check events may be the best way to respond to the problem.
Source: The Jakarta Post
Entry Filed under: World Tourism News
Trackback this post