Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2000

Status of Coral Reefs in South Asia
Sri Lanka
There are two marine protected areas with coral reefs in Sri Lanka: the Hikkaduwa Nature
Reserve (previously known as the Hikkaduwa Marine Sanctuary), declared in 1979; and the
Bar Reef Marine Sanctuary, declared in 1992. These exist under the Fauna and Flora
Protection Ordinance of the Department of Wild Life Conservation, which is technically
responsible for their maintenance. A management plan was developed for the Hikkaduwa
Marine Sanctuary in 1996, but has not been implemented satisfactorily. The coral reef zones
declared in 1997 in the management plan have not been maintained and all lines and
markers have been lost. Although the Department of Wild Life Conservation has an office in
the sanctuary, no attempt has been made to reinstate sanctuary boundaries and there is no
active control of damaging activities. There is also no management at the Bar Reef Marine
Sanctuary. The coral bleaching in 1998 adversely affected shallow coral habitats in both
sanctuaries and recovery is extremely slow.
There are plans to declare a Fisheries Management Area in the southeast, encompassing the
Great and Little Basses reefs, that were identified for protection due to their unexploited
reefs, unique setting and archaeological importance, including several ancient shipwrecks.
Another 23 sites have been identified for Special Area Management planning in the Revised
Coastal Zone Management Plan of 1997. The Bar Reef Marine Sanctuary and Hikkaduwa
Nature Reserve are being considered for management under an Asian Development Bank
(ADB) funded Coastal Zone Management Project.
Sri Lanka has a need for motivated manpower for conservation management as well as for
infrastructure development, which needs to be combined with political motivation and
support for resource users to find sustainable alternative employment. The sites identified
in the Coral Reef Monitoring Action Plan for regular monitoring include the important coral
reef areas in the country. The status of reef habitats at almost all of these sites is known from
recent studies and as part of the reef monitoring programme of the National Aquatic
Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA), the mandated government agency.
The threats to and condition of reefs are relatively well known, however, this information is
rarely used in management or to select suitable marine protected areas. There is little
funding for conservation management and for infrastructure development for existing
protected areas. The boundaries for existing MPAs are not marked as in the Hikkaduwa
Nature Reserve, which was studied for many years under a Special Area Management
project from 1990 to 1995 with financial and technical support from the USAID. Virtually
none of the management procedures or activities recommended in this project still exist,
there are no trained or motivated staff, the community has no commitment and the value in
training and capacity building has been lost. These situations arise because there is a lack of
political will for conservation of coastal resources; current security problems also provide a
partial explanation.
In Sri Lanka, there are few socioeconomic data for management planning, e.g. there are no
data on reef fisheries or associated economic returns. There have been some studies on the
ornamental fisheries, but other resources are generally ignored and consequently there is
poor understanding of the socioeconomic implications of not managing reef resources.
There is little enforcement of regulations and laws relating to coastal resources, such that
when blast fishermen and illegal coral miners are apprehended they are released with very
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