Pemuteran

The world’s largest archipelago nation, with 17,502 islands, Indonesia is an important habitat and eco-balance center for marine life, including corals. Indonesia possesses the richest assortment of coral species in the world (450 species) from fringe and barrier reefs to atolls and patch reefs. Estimates are that Indonesia’s reefs cover 85,700 sq km, constituting 14 percent of the world’s coral reefs. However, today, only 6 percent of these reefs are in healthy condition. Destruction has come from human activities, such as dynamite and cyanide fishing, pollution, global warming, increased turbidity, over-exploitation and environmentally-unfriendly tourism. Immediate economic gains do not offset the loss and destruction of reefs. Damaged coral reefs take year to recover naturally. Protected artificial reef regeneration speeds nature’s process in restoring coral growth and in even shorter order, providing a protected environment for fish regeneration. The Pemuteran Karang Lestari Coral Conservation project, off West Bali National Park, is Indonesia’s first step in the right direction.

Sustainable eco-tourism requires protection of natural beauty. Yet, conservation often conflicts with traditional resource users. For example, fish are more valuable when they can be viewed repeatedly by divers and snorkelers, versus their value as a single meal. Pemuteran lies in the shadow of mountains to the south and to the north is Menjangan Island, famous for diving and nature treks. Pemuteran receives less rainfall than other island areas during rainy season and is too dry for rice cultivation. Its people traditionally live from the sea. Pemuteran has the largest area of shallow coral reefs in Bali that are easily accessible, because the area is calm and free of strong currents and waves which affect most other parts of the island. The spectacular coral reef growth near land made for a diving and snorkeling paradise. Because the area is furthest from the island’s main tourism centers to the south, it was quiet and unspoiled. Hotels and dive shops were pioneered by Mr. Agung Prana and Mr. Chris Brown, respectively, who worked closely with the village to protect the area.

Pemuteran community declared that the reefs in front of the beach where most hotels are located, as protected no-fishing zones, for eco-tourism use only. Local fishermen banned bomb and cyanide reef fishing in Pemuteran Bay to preserve what was left of their resources. Through such conservation efforts, the healthy Pemuteran bank reefs drew increasing numbers of divers and snorkelers to view the coral gardens. As a result of this protection, many other hotels and dive shops followed, making tourism earnings a major contributor to the local economy, in a region which previously had few cash-earning jobs—in one of Bali’s economically poorest areas. The community quickly grasped the meaning of eco-tourism income, which had positive effects on lifestyle and health for local villagers. To ensure conservation efforts continued, strong education, protection and regeneration programs were put into place, to sustain and grow tourism, with income flow directly to the villagers. And then the economic crisis befell Indonesia.  Vigilance in enforcing fishing bans lapsed during the economic catastrophe of 1998.

Pemuteran’s large sheltered bay, once surrounded by reefs teeming with fish was targeted by migration of whole communities of fishermen from neighboring Java and Madura islands, where their own fisheries had been wiped out by destructive over-exploitation. They brought their destructive bomb and cyanide fishing techniques, steadily destroying almost all of Pemuteran’s reefs. The bank reefs, once full of coral thickets and fish swarms, became piles of broken rubble, barren of fish.

By the time the bombing and cyanide ban was reinstituted, the damage was done. Local fishermen now recognize the industry will not recover until the coral reef habitat can be restored. In the Pemuteran coral conservation project, hotels, dive shops, village fishermen, scientists and conservationists united to protect and restore coral reefs and increase fishery resources, both for tourism and the local fishery economy.

The Karang Lestari Project began in June 2000, when Dr. Thomas Goreau and Professor Wolf Hilbertz, working with Yos Amerta and divers from Yos Dive Shop, built the first coral nursery in front of Pondok Sari Hotel, Pemuteran.  In October 2002, an international workshop on design and construction of coral nursery was held at the site and three more nurseries were installed in front of the Sea Temple. In April 2001, 19 more coral nurseries were installed in front of Taman Sari hotel with assistance from Archipelago Dive Shop, and another nursery was added in front of Reef Seen Aquatics. The project uses the Biorock™ method to increase coral growth rates, increasing reef fish density by providing fish with a suitable habitat. All of the nursery structures are located in the Pemuteran Coral Reef Protected Area. Corals transplanted onto the structures attract high densities of all type of fish. As a result of the dense swarms of fish in and around the coral nurseries, they have become the major focus of near shore diving and snorkeling. Spinner dolphins, which vacated the bay due to bomb fishing, last year returned to the site, where they are protected.

All corals used in the projects are broken pieces found on nearby reefs where they were damaged by rolling or falling. They would sooner or later die if not rescued and attached to the nursery structures, creating attractive snorkeling and diving trails. This has greatly enhanced marine life in the area. In May 2002, seven new fish habitats were deployed in fishing grounds east of the protected area. Like the previous ones, these projects were constructed without any program funds, save a single workshop grant and small donations from area businesses, local hotels, dive shops and visitors. News of the Karang Lestari project’s success has spread rapidly through Bali’s hotels, dive shops and villages, with requests for projects coming frequently. Funding is required for larger scale training to spread the projects. Students from Udayana and Bogor universities, Bali and Java respectively, have begun research programs on the project.