March 24 - Week 12
1997 International Year of the Reef

Regional efforts in support of the International Year of the Reef (IYOR) in the Western Indian Ocean started in late February this year with a coral reef workshop held adjacent to Mombassa Marine National Park in Kenya. These efforts will be given further impetus this week (17-18 March) when governments of the region gather for the first Conference of the Parties to the Nairobi Convention, i.e. the "Regional Seas" treaty for a coordinated approach to the conservation and sustainable development of their shared marine environment.

Although biodiversity and sustainable development in this part of the world usually means elephants, lions and tourism to most people, in fact, the region’s marine environment also supports a wealth of natural wonders. The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) is comprised of a diverse mix of settings which support coral reefs. There are the continental countries - Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique; a large continental-type island - Madagascar; several groups of volcanic islands - the Comoros, La Reunion, and Mauritius; and the Granitic Islands of the Seychelles, with a few atolls and reef banks as well.

These coral reefs abound with a high diversity of coral species, including some that are endemic to the region (i.e. found nowhere else), and a myriad of fish and other reef plants and animals. What is most important to understand about this biological diversity, though, is that it directly supports the cultural diversity of the region by providing an important source of food and income for the populations of coastal fishing communities. The WIO coral reefs are also of major commercial importance for fisheries and tourism, the latter of which is increasingly a source of alternative livelihood for the people of the islands and coastal areas of the region.

However, it is these same populations which pose the major threat to the coral reefs of the Western Indian Ocean. The increase in the use of reef resources and impacts to coral reef systems as a result of rapid population growth is a critical issue for the future of these coral reefs, especially those located near population centers. The escalating subsistence harvest of fish and other reef resources is resulting in serious over-exploitation. What is worse, as a result of the growing human population and diminishing harvests, fishers are using methods which exacerbate the overharvesting or destroy the reef habitate. Methods such as the use of nets with small meshes and pull seines. Some are turning to the use of even more destructive and illegal methods such as fishing with dynamite. More insidious and widespread are the impacts of sedimentation, pollution and eutrophication which result from land use practices and coastal development. This often includes direct destruction of coral reefs through the "reclamation" of near-shore reefs to create land or the extraction of reef corals and sand.

The situation is serious and getting worse. In 1988 it was estimated that 20 % of the coral reefs and 5 % of the seagrass beds in the Western Indian Ocean had been destroyed. Although it is widely known that the situation is rapidly deteriorating, there is little hard data on which to base management and conservation actions. This was one of the main concerns of the region’s coral reef scientists and managers at the workshop in late February which was sponsored by non-government, government and private sector organizations, including The Pew Charitable Trust, The Wildlife Conservation Society, Kenya Wildlife Service Wetlands Program, and Blue Lagoon Water Sports.

The workshop participants reviewed the status of coral reef information and monitoring needs of the region, concluding that some parts of the region are severely lacking in basic scientific description and only a few have the personnel to monitor both the factors that influence reefs. Nearly all parts of the WIO region are lacking reliable funding for coral reef monitoring and management. There are, however, some hopeful signs, such as the increased level of trained personnel and a few long-term studies. National coral reef management programmes supported by monitoring information are essential to the future of the region’s coral reefs and coastal communities.

To put these concerns and their experience into action, the workshop participants spent a good deal of their time in field studies on the coral reefs of the adjacent marine park, focusing on developing Rapid Assessment Procedures (RAP). RAP are simple and effective ways to measure the health of coral reefs and are particularly suited to the WIO where there is so little information on coral reef status and trends. The workshop looked at RAP methods similar to those being developed by IUCN - the World Conservation Union - and its partners in an innovative project which is giving coastal communities in the Tanga District of Tanzania the means to understand and manage their coral reefs for sustainable use. The workshop results showed that RAP are a valid way to evaluate coral reefs. They are a valuable means to assess and monitor coral reefs for management needs, such as measuring pollution impacts and fishing pressure, without the time and financial cost of detailed, site specific scientific studies.

Coral reef RAP will be an important part of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), which the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and IUCN are developing. The GCRMN will provide a framework for assisting the development of national and regional coral reef monitoring programmes, in support of local coral reef conservation and management. The GCRMN will also provide a mechanism for linking these programmes into a global understanding of reef status and trends which will give international organisations as basis for assisting with the conservation and sustainable development of coral reefs.

The future of the coral reefs in the WIO is a shared future. The reefs are linked via the currents that transport the free-floating larvae of corals, fish and a mix of other reef organisms between them. These same processes mean that the water-based impacts on reefs, such as sedimentation and pollution, can be transported far from their source, often across the watery boundaries which politically separate the region’s nations. The coral reef scientists and managers of the WIO recognise the critical need for collaborative, coordinated regional efforts to address coral reef issues, as do the region’s governments. The governments of the WIO have joined together under the Nairobi Convention to tackle common marine environmental problems and have just conducted their first meeting to design the shape of the programmes which will largely determine the future of the coral reefs they share.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE CORAL REEF OR THIS SUBJECT, PLEASE CONTACT MATT STOUT
AT: 202-482-6090 OR coralreef@www.rdc.noaa.gov

OR CHECK-OUT THE NOAA CORAL REEF WEB SITES AT: http://www.noaa.gov/public-affairs/coral-reef.html
AND http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov

or contact:

Dr. T.R. McClanahan, Coordinator for Coral Reef Programs,
The Wildlife Conservation Society
Mombasa, Kenya.
ph. (254 11) 485 570
fax (254 11) 472 215

Dr. Rodney Salm, Coordinator, East Africa Marine and Coastal Programme, IUCN
Nairobi, Kenya.
ph. (254 2) 890 605
fax (254 2) 890 615

Dr. Ian Dight, Coordinator, Coastal and Marine Affairs and Aquatic Biodiversity
Water Branch
UNEP. Nairobi, Kenya.
ph. (254 2) 622 022
fax: (254 2) 622 788

IUCN - The World Conservation Union and the US Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are working together to publicize the urgent need for conservation and sustainable use of coral reefs as part of the International Year of the Reef (IYOR). The IUCN - NOAA partnership will heighten public awareness by providing a coral reef story idea to international media outlets each week throughout the IYOR. To provide story ideas which highlight coral reef issues of local, national, regional and international importance, IUCN and NOAA are in contact with NGOs, coral reef scientists, government officials, inter-governmental organizations and others to submit story ideas for possible use in the media outreach program.

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