NRM News Archive 2003 - 2004
The NRM Headline News has now been archived.
Archived items can still be viewed below. They include selected news items from the Indonesian press and information about the activities of the Natural Resources Management (NRM) Program.
For earlier NRM Stories please see the NRM News Archive 2000 - 2002.
Issue 12, August 18, 2004
World's Second EcoReefs Reef Rehabilitation Installation Successfully Completed on Bunaken Island
On 20 July 2004, dive guides and guests from thirteen dive operators from the North Sulawesi Watersports Association (NSWA) joined the village of Alung Banoa on Bunaken Island to install 300 EcoReef modules on a section of reef that had previously been degraded into a rubble field. Located next to the popular Fukui dive site in Bunaken National Park, this rehabilitation marked the second such installation globally, and was considered a tremendous success by villagers and dive operators alike.
The rehabilitation project was sponsored by the Seacology Foundation (www.seacology.org), who also sponsored the previous EcoReefs installation completed on nearby Manado Tua Island in January of this year. Duane Silverstein, the Executive Director of Seacology, actively participated in the installation along with a Seacology board member, Doug Herst. The event was also attended by Mr. Vincent Perez (the Minister of Energy for the Philippines), and was covered by a Japanese television film crew doing a special documentary on the Bunaken National Park Concerned Citizens Forum and their involvement in the two reef rehabilitation projects.
The 300 modules were assembled in record time earlier in the week by an enthusiastic group of Alung Banua villagers consisting of schoolchildren and their parents and members of the Bunaken Concerned Citizens Forum. Both schoolchildren and adults were later delighted to observe the underwater installation using glass-bottom boats that hovered over the divers throughout the operation.
The installation of the ceramic snowflake-shaped modules provided an instantaneous increase in the three dimensional structure of the degraded rubble fields, enticing fish to swim amongst the modules within minutes of their installation. Divers returned on the following day to complete an initial round of coral transplantation which involved wedging hundreds of live coral fragments (harvested from large healthy coral colonies from adjacent reefs) into the ceramic modules. This transplantation effort was made to jump-start the process of coral recovery in the previously flattened rubble field. Over time, these fragments will biologically cement themselves to the modules and resume growth. Combined with natural recruitment of juvenile corals to the structures, the area can be expected to host a thriving coral reef within 3-5 years if well-managed. It is important to note that the modules were installed within a no-take management zone designated by the villagers as a sanctuary for adult coral reef fishes to grow and spawn within - thereby increasing fisheries yields in adjacent areas.
Two days after the installation at Alung Banua, Duane Silverstein and the Vice Governor of North Sulawesi co-hosted an official launching ceremony for the EcoReefs installation at Negeri village on Manado Tua Island (also within Bunaken National Park). Both Mr. Silverstein and the Vice Governor praised the villagers of Manado Tua for their foresight in creating a special no-take rehabilitation zone in an area previously destroyed by blast fishing. Mr. Silverstein later dived on the installation, which was completed 7 months previously - and was impressed at the rapid gains in coral cover and fish abundance at the site. The Vice Governor closed the ceremony with the unveiling of a monument to the installation on the beach in front of the EcoReefs, and guests were then treated to traditional Sangir dance performances by village children.
Readers wishing to know more about the EcoReefs should visit the website
www.ecoreefs.com
Mark V. Erdmann
North Sulawesi Provincial Advisor
Natural Resources Management Program (NRM III)
erdmann@nrm.or.id
Issue 12, August 18, 2004
Record Tourist Numbers Recorded as Bunaken National Park Management Board Reflects Upon Three Years' of Collaborative Management Experience
This summer has been a very busy one for Bunaken National Park; entrance fee receipts show June and July to have hosted the highest monthly tourist arrivals for domestic (6034) and international (1141) guests, respectively, since records have been kept for the park. This trend looks set to continue, as August and September are historically the peak arrival times for guests to the park. This apparent recovery in tourism arrivals (after 3 years of global terrorism and health disturbances) bodes well for the parks finances - which are largely dependent on entrance fee revenues.
Also in July, the Bunaken National Park Management Advisory Board (DPTNB) held its first triennial review meeting in late July. The fifteen board members, along with the DPTNB executive secretariat and a group of invited stakeholder guests, reflected upon the successes and challenges of the board since its formation in December 2000, and then completed a strategic plan for the next three-year period (through 2007). The board also slightly revised its charter, with the most important changes being the expansion of the board from 15 seats to 19 - to include the newly-created Kabupatens of Minahasa Utara and Minahasa Selatan (both of which have jurisdiction over villages in the park) and to add seats for the Bunaken Concerned Citizens Forum (FMPTNB) and the Bunaken Cottage Owners Association (HPWLB). The staffing plan for the boards secretariat was also changed slightly, with the program manager position split into three field manager positions to better enable coverage of all 30 villages within the 89,000 hectare park.
Another important July event in the park was the awarding of 150 elementary school scholarships (5 in each of the parks 30 settlements) to needy children. Sponsored by the North Sulawesi Watersports Association (NSWA) and jointly administered by the NSWA and the Citizens Forum (FMPTNB), these scholarships reflect an expansion of the NSWAs previous program, which was focused on a limited number of university and high school students. This change was made based upon the recommendations of FMPTNB members, who felt that a larger number of scholarships aimed at the elementary school level would have a broader positive impact within the park.
Two final important developments in the park include the recent finalization of revised zonation plans for Meras, Tongkeina, Bahowo and Tiwohu villages in the northern mainland section of the park, as well as the rapidly proceeding construction of the USAID-funded Bunaken Visitors Center on Liang Beach. With the signing of the zonation plans for the four above-mentioned villages, the five-year process of revising the zonation of the park is now entering its final stages on Nain Island - with the hope of completion in late September. The visitors center construction has now entered its third phase, having already completed construction of a picnic area with 26 large benches and an open-air handicrafts market with 14 gazebos to house the women villagers from Bunaken who have traditionally sold handicrafts. The main display building should be finished by early September, while construction of the outdoor cultural theater has now been funded by a generous grant from the Seacology Foundation to the FMPTNB - and should begin in late August.
Mark V. Erdmann
North Sulawesi Provincial Advisor
Natural Resources Management Program (NRM III)
erdmann@nrm.or.id
Issue 12, August 18, 2004
Manado Tua Villagers and NSWA Dive Operators Cooperate to Install EcoReefs
Over the course of three weeks in early 2004, villagers from Manado Tua Island in Bunaken National Park worked in close coordination with 13 dive operators from the North Sulawesi Watersports Association and the staff of USAID's NRM project to transport, assemble and install 620 ceramic EcoReef (
www.ecoreefs.com) modules as part of a coral reef rehabilitation program funded by the Seacology Foundation (
www.seacology.org). Seacology awarded the EcoReefs grant to Manado Tua villagers in recognition of their strong commitment to preserving their reef systems and the fisheries that depend upon them by setting up a series of five "no-take" sanctuary zones around their island. The villagers requested that Seacology fund a reef rehabilitation program for a roughly 1 hectare stretch of reef that was once the most productive fishing area on the island before blast fishers leveled the reef over 15 years ago. Sadly, there has been no natural recovery in this vast rubble field, though the placement of the 620 EcoReef modules is meant to stabilize the substrate, provide an immediate shelter for reef fishes, and promote recovery of this reef area into a productive fishery area once again.
Preparations
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More than 100 villagers helped...
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After dive operators donated boat and staff time to transported 900 boxes of ceramic components to Manado Tua, the villagers set up two enormous outside workshops to assemble the snowflake-shaped modules. Men, women and children worked side by side for 3 days to assemble and epoxy the modules. Upon completion of the assembly, approximately 60 NSWA divers then donated several hundred hours of dive time to install the modules on the barren rubble field.
Mark Erdmann lowering module
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Diver carrying module
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While the Manado Tua villagers have pledged patience in allowing 3-5 years for the rehabilitation project to increase coral cover and fish abundance in the area, the results after just 3 months have amazed divers and villagers alike. Both demersal and schooling fishes have rapidly moved in to the once barren area, and the modules are now covered with encrusting coralline algae, bryozoans, tunicates, and the first coral recruits. Even more exciting, coral transplants cemented to the ceramic modules and resumed growth in less than a month. Given this outstanding initial progress, it is hoped that within five years the area will once again support a thriving reef and associated fisheries. NSWA operators have been so impressed with the results that they will be assisting a second installation of approximately 300 EcoReef modules on Bunaken Island in late July 2004. Interested divers should consider a trip to North Sulawesi to assist with the installation; enquire with any NSWA operators.
Placing modules
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Fish on EcoReefs after 1 week
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Mark V. Erdmann
Marine Protected Areas Advisor
NRM/EPIQ SULUT
erdmann@nrm.or.id
Photographs © Arnaz Mehta/Mark Erdmann
