TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Makassar scientist works with poachers to restore coral reefs
They have restored to health 11.5 hectares (roughly 30 acres) of corals around a group of 120 islands known as the Spermonde archipelago in the Makassar Strait off Sulawesi.
Change Size
Scientist and lecturer Syafyudin Yusuf, 54, dives as he investigates coral in the waters of Badi Island, South Sulawesi province, Indonesia, May 29, 2023. (Reuters/Rachman Muchtar)
F
or nearly two decades, marine scientist Syafyudin Yusuf has worked with former poachers to rehabilitate coral reefs destroyed by their use of dynamite for fishing.
They have restored to health 11.5 hectares (roughly 30 acres) of corals around a group of 120 islands known as the Spermonde archipelago in the Makassar Strait off Sulawesi.
Fifteen years ago, only 2 percent of the area's original reef area remained undamaged, according to research by Makassar's Hasanuddin University, as fisherfolk used explosives and chemicals, which have now been banned.
"We enter their lives and try to influence their... mindsets to be able to change from destructive fishing to being conservationists," Syafyudin said, adding that his team anchors frames into the seabed to allow corals to grow undisturbed.
Indonesia's roughly 5 million hectares of coral reefs account for a fifth of the world's total, according to Greenpeace.
Experts say coral reefs are crucial to coastal and marine ecosystems, playing a role in preventing erosion and flooding. They are increasingly at risk of dying with oceans warming as they absorb greenhouse gas emissions.
