H I S T O R Y
~For over 50 years blast/ dynamite fishing has occurred in Indonesia. Blast fishing is used for its effectiveness- by simply throwing a fishing bomb into the water one is able to kill multiple fish at once with its shock wave, which then conveniently float up to the top of the water. However, it is now known that this method of fishing causes permanently alter coral reefs. In 1985 blast fishing was made illegal in Indonesia. The law is not properly enforced, leading to cases such as the recent Coral Gardens bombing (which is part of a national park)
~Coral bleaching around the world is largely Indonesia’s fault. A common practice is clearing forests with fires there, which emits a lot of greenhouse gasses. This had made Indonesia the third largest emitter of greenhouse gasses- in turn heating waters and killing corals. The burning of forests began to become mainstream in the
1970s and 1980s among the rice-farmers living in the plains and valleys. The population was rising
rapidly, and the farmers needed more land. The easiest way to obtain new land
was to burn neighboring forests- creating CO2.
~In the later 1980’s run-off from the increase in farms got into the ocean (similar to Australia). This smothered and killed the coral reefs.
~In the late 1970s over-fishing had taken a toll on Indonesia. The 5.6 million people involved with fishing had only over-fished while other industries polluted waters (mainly agricultural run-off). This wreaked havoc on the food-chain in local coral reefs.
~In January 1975, a Japanese supertanker that was 237,600‐tons ran aground in a storm. The ship was named the
Showa Maru. The ships was carrying oil, and three of the twelve tanks spilled into the water. 800,000 gallons were
spilled that stretched over three square miles. It was a major environmental disaster for the fragile coastline and the
shallow water coral along with it. Once oil came into contact with corals, it killed them or impede their reproduction,
growth, behavior, and development. The entire reef ecosystem suffered afterwards; many species of fish, crabs, and other marine invertebrates that live in and around coral reefs were affected.
~In 1984 Indonesia set government management targets. Originally, Indonesia had planned to have 85 marine protected areas covering 10 million hectares by 1990 and 50 million by 2000. However, in 2000, Indonesia had just 51 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that include coral reefs, covering an area of 6.2 million ha. These areas were not all managed effectively, leading to cases of blast fishing inside of these “protected” areas.
-They have since established 17 million ha in marine protected areas, however that only covers 3% of total marine area when it is recommended that the areas should cover at least 20%-30% of marine areas.
~There was no identifiable institution to protect and manage the coral reefs until 1999.
