Island Promotions

admin January 7th, 2011

Diving in Indonesia

As one of Indonesia’s top areas for scuba diving and a reputation for being the ‘turtle capital of the world’, with year round water temperatures about 28 degrees Celsius, the Gili islands of Trawangan, Meno and Air have become popular for beginners and experienced divers alike.

There are about 18 dive sites around the three Gili islands, with a variety of topography (slopes, walls, ridges and canyons) and an enormous amount of diverse marine life.

This includes black – and white tip reef sharks, lots of turtles (hawksbill and olive ridley), lionfish, scorpion fish, cuttle fish and octopus, moray eels, sea snakes, different types of rays (blue – spotted, eagle and, from December to March, manta rays)not to mention schools of bump head parrot fish every full moon and the occasional whale shark…plus countless varieties of hard and soft corals.

Haan’s Reef on Gili Air is fast becoming renowned for excellent “muck diving” where divers can see rare critters like frogfish, pink - leafed scorpion fish, flying gunard, mantis shrimp, nudibranchs, pygmy seahorses, robust ghost pipefish, blue ringed octopus and ringed pipefish.

THE GILI ECO TRUST -

Concerns about conserving the Gili Island’s dive sites have led to the creation of the Gili Eco Trust.
All dive centers operating in the Gili islands have a fixed price agreement and have agreed to charge a one - time Rp50,000 ‘reef tax’ to every diver. This money is then used to pay for beach cleaning, recycling and conservation of the reefs, including the 33 artificial reef regeneration BIO ROCK projects.

BIO ROCK REEF REGENERATION PROJECTS

There are currently now 33 biorock structure projects on Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air at this time, their aim to recreate more coral reefs and regenerate more marine life around the islands.

Two electrodes supplied with low voltage direct current are submerged in sea water. Electrolytic reactions at the cathode cause minerals naturally present in sea water to build up. At the same time a wide range of organisms on or near the growing substrate are affected by electrochemically-changed conditions, shifting their growth rate.

Stray or loose living corals are carefully collected from nearby damaged reefs and Biorock reeftransplanted onto the structures. They are attached with wires or wedged between steel bars. These coral pieces are quickly cemented into place by growing minerals forming over the structure’s surface. The reefs are electrically charged to grow.

The reef restoration project is only one phase of a bigger overall plan. The timescale of the project is many years as coral grows slowly and releases spores only once a year to repopulate other areas. One of the many benefits of the reef restoration project is that reef fish, schooling fish and many other marine life forms gravitate to the area. It is a fish nursery as well as a coral nursery and therefore will become an excellent snorkeling and dive sites area.

The locations of the new artificial reefs on Gili Trawangan start in front of Villa Ombak hotel and are positioned all along the beach front up untill Nortn Beach. They are all in water 8-16 metres deep, with structures made of steel bars, all vary in shapes and sizes from tunnels to domes and swim throughs, even an aeroplane and a starfish.

Not many people Know that the three Gili Islands of Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air are actually located in a protected marine park called Gili Matra Marine Natural recreation Park.

The Gili Matra Marine Natural Recreation Park was established on 16 February 1993 and has a total area of approximately 3000 hectares, consisting of the 3 islands, Gili Meno (± 150 hectares), Gili Air (± 175 hectares), Gili Trawangan (± 340 hectares), and ± 2,289 hectares of marine area.

In 1993, the area surrounding the 3 Gilis was designated a recreation park under the Minister of Forestry Decree Number 85/Kpts-II/1993, dated 16 February 1993, based on the proposal of the Governor of West Nusa Tenggara Province.

The Management Objectives are:

The management of Gili Matra is based on Act Number 5 of 1990 concerning Conservation of Living Resources and their Ecosystems. Therefore, the aim of the management of this Park is to protect the Park and its ecosystems, and also to utilize it in a sustainable way of the parks natural resources. The resources should be used for research, science, education, recreation and tourism purposes.

The main objectives of the management of Gili Matra are outlined as follows:

The main objectives of the management of Gili Matra are firstly to promote sustainable use of the Park’s resources, and secondly To encourage and integrate local participation in park management to protect biological values of the park and to eliminate further disturbances or alteration of it’s natural habitats, to protect endangered and threatened wild animal species and their habitats, to maintain the locations designated for recreation and tourism development, to maintain sustainable use of commercial fish habitats, and to achieve compatible use and careful management of species’ and their habitats.

The Natural Resources Conservation Office is the Management Authority.

Their responsibility is to manage the 3 Gili islands and the Natural Resources Conservation Office of West Nusa Tenggara (Balai Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam, Nusa Tenggara Barat) under the Directorate of the Forest Protection And Nature Conservation (DG of PHPA), Ministry of Forestry, Indonesia.

The Natural Resources Conservation Office Problems:

The actual problems in the Gili Matra Marine Natural Recreation Park were those faced directly such as fishing using bomb blasting and poisoning.

Anticipating the problems, sources of problems are first identified and then addressed. To do so, coordination among related institutions and parties is required since the problems cannot be managed by only a single agency such as West Nusa Tenggara Natural Resources Conservation Office.

Based on continual identification, the problem sources can be grouped into management intensity, social-economic conditions of the local communities, and the awareness of communities. However, the Park’s management ability is still limited. This is due to a lack of facilities, land a ack of expertise in marine ecology, limited human resources both in quality and quantity, and lack of technical guidance.

Many related institutions and parties are not really aware of the designation of Gili as a Marine Park. Therefore, some conflicts between biodiversity conservation efforts and other development activities still exist. Thus, the benefits from Park management are not easily observed.

We are pleased to inform that fish blasting and poisoning has been stopped since the year 2000, and many reefs have recovered substantially as has the fish population.

Other problems include muro-ami fishing. This method is very destructive to coral reefs, therefore West Nusa Tenggara Natural Resources Conservation Office in collaboration with Taskforce Gili Patrols, must patrol and inform users not to engage in this sort of fishing, especially in the conservation area.

In July 2002, Taskforce Gili Patrols and West Nusa Tenggara Natural Resources Conservation Office caught a group of muro-ami users. This case was solved using awiq-awiq, a law based on local customs. Fortunately, blasting and poisoning of fish and other marine species has not been observed and stopped since August 2000.

Transplanting corals around Gili Matra Marine Natural Recreation Park and successful Management.

1. Establishing a designated management plan for the years 1998 – 2008.

2. Zoning for the protection of the park, and watching exploited zones.

3. Education of the Youth Conservation Group. This group then forms a Youth Front Foundation of  Taskforce Gili Patrols.

4. Joint protection operation between West Nusa Tenggara Natural Resources Conservation Office, Police, and Community (Taskforce Gili Patrols) in 2000 has succeeded to catch fish bombers that were sentenced to 9 months in jail.

5. Implementation of the agreement with coastal community in Northern West Lombok, which was signed by the Head Of the Village and the Head of the Tanjung District, Gangga District, and the Head of the Pemenang District for:

* The establishment of the Foundation of Fisherman Community Organization in Northern West Lombok to help the implementation of coastal security activities by Taskforce Gili Patrols.

* Building and implementing the traditional rules, “awiq-awiq,” which was implemented since 19 March 2000.

(The maximum penalty is a fine of Rp. 10,000,000. There have been 6 cases recorded: bombing, 2 poisoning, and use of muro-ami. The sum of the collected fines was Rp. 25,500,000.)

* The sea and coastal security activities is done by the community, funded by NGO’s, with awiq-awiq penalties, including activities such as:

+ Conducting daily patrols.
+ Installing Park border signs.
+ Supporting infrastructure for coastal security activities.
+ Helping on community awareness and sustainable use of marine resources
+ When patrols arrest someone, the system of penalties is as follows: Firstly, awiq-awiq system. The sanction will be a penalty or a property seizure and signing a statement not to repeat the offence. Secondly, processing by law to conduct a further investigation by the police, and then bringing the case to court.

  6. Installing mooring buoys in Gili Meno, Gili Air, and Gili Trawangan, 10 units each.(This is now many many more)

   7. Sea turtle conservation programmes.

   8. Coral reefs inventory was conducted by the West Nusa Tenggara Natural Resources Conservation Office, in cooperation with Mataram University and NGO’s.

   9. Making audiovisual documentation in Gili, in cooperation with Diponegoro University, Mataram University, and West Nusa Tenggara Natural Resources

Conservation Office.

  10. Establish environmental conservation groups in the Marine Park to clean organic and inorganic pollutants.

11. The development of buffer zone areas and coastal community building was done through coral rehabilitation using a transplantation system, conducted in cooperation with Taskforce Gili Patrols and West Nusa Tenggara Natural Resources Conservation Office.

Current Legislation and Further Needs:

There are many laws in Indonesia pertaining to conservation. Listed below are some that could apply to the management of the Gili Islands.

1. Act Number 9 of 1985 concerning Fisheries.

2. Act Number 5 of 1990 concerning Conservation of Living Resources and Their Ecosystems.

3. Government Regulation Number 68 of 1998 concerning Sanctuary Reserve and Nature Conservation Area.

   4. Sea and coastal management strategic plan 1998, Provincial Development Board (Bappeda) of West Nusa Tenggara Province.

5. Policy and strategy on coral reefs management in Indonesia, 2000.

   6. Decree Head of Provincial Development Board of West Nusa Tenggara Province Number 5 of 1998 concerning Provincial Task Force Building in the Implementation of Coral Reefs Management and Rehabilitation Activity in West Nusa Tenggara Province.

7. Governor instruction Number 2 of 1998 concerning Prohibition of Coral Reefs Mining.

8. Governor Decree Number 141 of 2000 concerning Local Communication Forum Building in West Nusa Tenggara.

9. The “Awiq-Awiq” (traditional rules) of fisherman community of Northern West Lombok in March 2000, is a coastal community agreement in Northern West Lombok on sanction toward people who destroy marine resources, signed by Village and Sub District Officers.

The future efforts to increase the quality of marine resources in the context of community welfare through tourism are:

   1. Capacity building by training and education.

2. Supply of supporting infrastructure for officers in Gili.

3. Publicising the zoning scheme in the Gilis in order to conserve marine resources.

  4. Strengthen coordination amongst stakeholders.

5. Technical and non-technical cooperation with domestic and international NGO’s.

In order to implement those efforts, it is necessary to obtain:

1. More support from local government, other agencies, and local community.

2. Support from central government to strengthen relationships with international NGO’s.

Strategy and Program

A conservation strategy for Gili was developed by considering groups of problem sources, the Park’s potential values, regulations, as well as environmental and socio-economic conditions of the surrounding communities. The strategies developed are:

* Promoting management activities for the Park and its resources.

* Assisting local communities to find other sources of income.

* Increasing the awareness of local community.

* Strengthening coordination among related institution and parties.

Each strategy is being detailed in action programs as the basis of management activities to be implemented. A five-year action plan was established in the form of a Five Year Plan that was described and detailed an annual plan. The annual plan is used to propose to the government to obtain budget for technical cooperation with other institutions.

Action programs formulated may vary from year to year. However, the basic program remains the same. The action programs implemented are shown as follows:

* Conservation planning:

o Annual plan preparation
o Proposed program activities plan preparation

* Monitoring and inventory:

o Coral reefs monitoring and inventory
o Database development and management

* Biodiversity management and safeguarding:

o Hawksbill turtle semi-natural hatching development
o Artificial reefs establishment
o Integrated operation
o Regular patrolling
  * Data and information:

o Providing data on visitors, disturbances, and Park biodiversity

* Manpower management by training

* Facilities provision and maintenance:

o Provision of facilities and equipment
o Maintenance of facilities and equipment

   * Assisting local community development:

o Providing demonstration plots of marine flora and fauna, managed by local community

    * Promoting community awareness:

o Coordination meetings on planning and sustainable utilization
o Conservation education and extension
o Conservation exhibitions
o Information dissemination

Conclusion

The paper provides a brief overview of the present management status of the Gili Matra Marine Natural recreation Park.

Inputs based on experience from other marine parks will be adopted and integrated for better management at Gili. It is hoped that the experience of management from The Gili Matra Marine Natural Recreation Park may one day be useful for other marine protected areas.

With Thanks to Edi Djuharsa,
Natural Resources Conservation Office,
West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia.

Breaking News, 26th January 2012

According to CI, as many as 100 sharks are captured and killed each day in the waters around Bali, primarily off the shore of Nusa Penida and Ahmed, near Karangasem.

Conservation International (CI) is urging the provincial government of Bali to outlaw the capture and harvesting of sharks, particularly long-tailed sharks for the harvesting of shark’s fins.

According to CI, as many as 100 sharks are captured and killed each day in the waters around Bali, primarily off the shore of Nusa Penida and Ahmed, near Karangasem.

Quoted by Beritabali.com, a researcher from CI Indonesia, Mark Van Erdman, said on November 11, 2011 that the large-scale slaughter of sharks threatens the sustainability of the shark population. This is of particular concern in Bali, which is considered a breeding area for this species.

Van Erdman pointed our how 100 sharks harvested each day can have a massive impact on the potential tens of thousands of shark that come to Bali to breed the next generation of these sharks.

The CI researcher contends that sharks have a much higher value as a sustainable object of tourism attraction that far outweighs amy commercial value obtained from killing the fish for their edible fins. Using the example of turtles to make his point, Van Erdman said how a turtle is estimated to have a “tourism” attraction value of US$179,000 during its lifetime, but if caught, slaughtered and sold will only fetch US$274 from the transaction.

Tourists can help preserve the shark population, seen as critical to the ocean’s food chain, by urging restaurants that sell sharks fins to seek other sources of income, and refusing to patronize such business if over time they continue to sell sharks fin.

Attributed to www.balidiscovery.com.

• 3 Gilis