Hasanuddin Hamid, Contributor, Makassar

The widespread use of sodium cyanide and explosives in fishing has caused massive damage to coral reefs in South Sulawesi over the past decade, local environmentalists say.

"Some studies show that about 70 percent of coral reefs in the Spermonde islands and on the west coast of South Sulawesi are seriously damaged because fishing activities in these areas ignore the environmental aspect", said Willem Moka, of the Maritime Biology and Research Center for Coral Reefs at Hasanuddin University.

The area is well-known for its strong winds and huge waves and explosives and cyanide are considered effective to catch fish quickly.

In addition, conventional fishing gear will not ensure a good catch. Hence a shortcut is necessary: the use of sodium cyanide and explosives. They are unaware, sadly to say, that this method does great damage to the environment.

Sodium cyanide and explosives are used, among other things, because certain expensive species of fish, for example kerapu, usually hide behind coral reefs and they can be caught only after they are anesthetized by spraying chemicals into the gaps in the reefs.

If they cannot catch the fish easily, they will damage the coral reefs to chase the fish.

The use of chemicals in fishing causes the death of living tissues and the ecosystem of the coral reefs.

Moka says that once a coral reef ecosystem is damaged by chemicals or explosives, its restoration will be very difficult.

It will take about 40 years to 50 years to restore a damaged coral reef ecosystem while broken corals will take about four to five years to return to their normal condition.

"Coral can survive as long as they have living tissues," Moka said.

To prevent the damage to coral reefs from worsening, Moka suggested that a nucleus zone, a protection zone and an exploitation zone be established and modeled upon Maluku's sasi system in which an island is alternately isolated and then opened again. Under this system, locals will be prohibited from fishing at particular times.

Efforts to cut the destruction of coral reefs have been made by some institutions such as the government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the World Bank through its Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Project (Cormap). The South Sulawesi-based Research Institution for Coastal Villages and Community (LP3M) is one of the institutions focusing themselves on the rehabilitation of coral reefs and providing guidance to the people living in the Taka Bonerate National Sea Park in the regency of Selayar.

The director of LP3M, Hermanto Aziz, said that the fishermen in Taka Bonerate were guided through the community-based management pattern, namely building the participation of fishermen in cultivating the sea and determining conservation areas.

The pattern is successful. Several years of involvement in the program to save coral reefs has improved the locals' awareness of the need to keep coral reefs in good condition.

It is the fishermen that determine the protection zone and then manage it well as they can directly look at the process such as the increase in the number of fish and other organisms.

Based on the World Bank's calculation, Hermanto Aziz said, the financial losses incurred on coral mining for the next 25 years reaches Rp 350 billion.

The use of explosives causes losses worth about Rp 165 billion a month while monthly losses of Rp 35 billion have been caused through fish poisoning.

Hermanto said that the sea management and protection would benefit fishermen as they could increase harvests and also maintain the preservation of coral reefs.

Although the management of coral reefs has been successful in reducing coral damage, there are still differences in perception among fishermen as some say that coral reefs management constitutes a fishery activity that must give maximum results.

In relation to the serious efforts of LP3M in Taka Bonerate, Moka said that the condition of coral reefs in the Taka Bonerate National Park was still good.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Willem said, the Taka Bonerate National Park suffered quite serious damage but the extent of the damage had now been reduced thanks to the government's deployment of sea rangers, control by security apparatuses and involvement of non-governmental organizations.