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Indonesia’s coral damage critical
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Three divers tie coral reef stems to a platform. JP/Suherdjoko (JP/Suherdjoko)
T
ourists who are on seaside vacations and want to go underwater to enjoy natural submarine features may take them for granted. Worse, careless tourism activities have been named as among the major contributors to the global decline of coral reefs.
The Bahamian-flagged cruise ship MV Caledonian Sky, which was chartered by a British tour company, made international headlines when it ran aground in the near-pristine waters of Raja Ampat, West Papua, in March. More than 19,000 square meters of coral were damaged, according to officials.
Indonesia is home to 559 species of coral inhabiting about 2.5 million hectares in the sea.
The most recent monitoring by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) suggests only 6.39 percent remained in an excellent condition.
Since 1993, LIPI has been routinely monitoring the condition of coral reefs in Indonesia, a country rich in marine biodiversity, suggesting that the destruction rate during the 2015 to 2016 period was the most threatening, according to a LIPI report released on Wednesday.
LIPI also blames the “seemingly inevitable” impact of climate change as a major cause of the bad coral condition.
Based on routine monitoring in 108 location in Indonesia, LIPI found 35.15 percent of the coral reef in very bad condition in 2016, about a 5 percent increase from the previous year.
