Well-respected Indonesian Coral Expert Reveals The Current Health Index of Corals of Indonesia

The CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat (RS) with NCC Indonesia hosted a public lecture entitled “Health Index of Corals of Indonesia” presented by Prof. Dr. Suharsono, a well-respected Indonesian coral expert from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), at the RS Headquarters, Manado, Indonesia, Monday, 29 January 2018.

The coral reefs health index is measured by the percentage of live coral cover, rubble, targeted fish biomass, fleshy seaweed, and resilience potential. The scale ranges from 1 to 10, where 1 is "very bad" and 10 is "very good".

Prof. Suharsono highlights some key findings generated from 366 monitoring posts across 31 locations in Indonesia (1993–2016) under the Coral Rehabilitation and Management Program Coral Triangle Initiative (COREMAP-CTI):

1. The coral health index is needed to manage coral reefs and related ecosystems.
2. In 2016, Western Indonesia had the best coral coverage compared with Central and Eastern Indonesia.
3. The average coral reefs health index in Indonesia ranges from 3 to 6. Nevertheless, 5 monitoring posts scored 10 (very good) and 14 posts scored 1 (very bad).

On the same occasion, Prof. Dr. Widi A. Pratikto, Executive Director of CTI-CFF, appealed to the other five Coral Triangle member countries to publish and socialize similar health indices for corals, especially to relevant authorities.

On behalf of LIPI, Prof. Suharsono announced an opportunity for fellow scientists and organizations across CT6 countries to participate in a limited upcoming Regional Training on Reef Health Monitoring in October 2018. More information: www.lipi.go.id or email humas@mail.lipi.go.id

Download the presentation here.

See gallery here.

Indonesian Sea Statistics

Total coral reef

2.5 million km2

Total land area

5 million km2

Total sea area

3.1 million km2

Territorial sea (12 miles)

0.3 million km2

Continent shelf

1.5 million km2

Economic Exclusive Zone

2.7 million km2

Total shoreline

108,920 km

Number of islands

16,056*

Length

• West - East: 5,100 km
• North - South: 1,888 km

*Named and verified by the Indonesian Government to the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (UNCSG) as of August 2017.

Written by Andie Wibianto