11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

23.930
Green Fins-Thailand: Coral Reef Conservation in The Face Of A Tourism Epidemic
Kanyarat KOSAVISUTTE* 1
1 Green Fins Project, Phuket, Thailand
In Thailand, reefs along Andaman and Thai Gulf coast cover 160 square kilometers.
Only sixteen sites are designated National Parks. Over 670 dive, snorkel tour and boat
operators bring an estimated million guests to visit primary dive sites during the six
month high season each year.
Currently, there are many problems contributing to reef destruction. The Government
lacks infrastructure planning for the growing tourism industry and promotes reef tourism
without conservation and resource management. National Parks possess insufficient
human resources. Dive and tour operators lack an understanding of reef ecology and use
the natural resource for business only. The popularity of reef tourism is ever increasing
and this lack of management is causing devastation on the reefs of Thailand.
The Green Fins mission is to protect and conserve coral reefs by establishing and
implementing environmental-friendly guidelines for divers. We actively seek out dive
operators, introduce our program, educate and encourage operators to become members.
We also arrange for individual members to participate in activities such as cleanups, reef
monitoring, or exhibitions. Members receive certificates and materials to promote good
diving practice. To renew membership, operators are assessed yearly based on Green
Fins Code of Conduct criteria. We use this network to promote sustainable dive and
snorkel tourism industry.
We hope that in the future, tourists will begin to ask operators whether they are Green
Fins members and choose to dive with Green Fins friendly operators. In this way, the
Green Fins Programe will establish a network of active conservationist divers and
snorkels, spreading the word quickly and being an effective voice for positive change in
the dive and snorkel tourism industries. We hope that someday, our methods will be
applicable to other heavily toured nations facing similar problems.
23.931
Lessons Learned and Best Practices in Coral Reef Management
Mark TUPPER* 1
1 The WorldFish Center, Penang, Malaysia
Since the 1990s, over $320 million of Global Environment Facility (GEF) funds were
invested in projects at varying action and technical levels to improve the management of
coral reef, seagrass and mangrove habitats, much of which was part of a broader portfolio
of over $600 million invested in coastal-marine projects overall. The dissemination of
best practices based on lessons learned is a strategic priority for the GEF. The objective
of this project is to formalize the experiences, outcomes and lessons learned from
previous GEF projects, as well as major non-GEF initiatives involving coral reefs and
associated ecosystems. The project aims to comprehensively identify, analyze, and
translate lessons into good practices and information resources, and then disseminate this
information globally for use in future project design and development. A total of 115
projects (65 GEF projects and 50 non-GEF projects) were examined for lessons learned
and best practices. Of these, 53 projects yielded useful lessons learned and best practice
information. These lessons were synthesized and used to create an online toolkit that will
aid managers in decision-making by providing them with information on the successes
and failures of past projects over a wide range of locations and contexts.
Poster Mini-Symposium 23: Reef Management
23.932
Adaptive Management Of Crown-Of-Thorns Starfish in Sekisei Lagoon, Japan
Hiroyuki MATSUDA* 1 , Takuro SHIBUNO 2 , Mitsuhiro UENO 3
1 environment, Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Japan, 2 seikai Institute Of Fisheries
Sciences, Ishigaki, Japan, 3 yaeyama Fisheries Association, Ishigaki, Japan
Coverage, community type, starfish density and other data have been observed in 104 points of
Sekisei coral lagoon, Yaeyama Island, Okinawa, Japan, since 1983. Using these data, we
estimated the 95% confidence interval of the number of Crown-of-Thorns starfish in Sekisei
coral lagoon. The area of each survey grid is 2500m 2 and the area of Sekisei coral lagoon is
approximately 100km 2 . We assumed that the sighting probability is 100% and the 102 observed
grid is randomly sampled. To obtain the required number of catch, we also assumed the
observed rate of population increase is 50% per year. Using bootstrap method and observed
data shown in Table 1, the number of starfish in 2004 was between 217,796 and 21,027. Even
using the lower limit of 95%CI, the increasing number of starfish is definitely larger than the
number of catch in 2003 (4437 starfish). The estimated rate of population increase is between
53 and 73% per year. We need to catch 15000 – 11370 starfish to prevent further increase of
starfish in Sekisei coral lagoon. The total effort of culling starfish in 2004 is definitely short for
preventing further increase of starfish.
23.933
Evaluating The Success Of Four Small-Scale, Community-Based Marine Protected Areas
(Mpas) in The Philippines Through Socio-Economic And Biophysical Assessment: Results
From 3 Years Of Intensive Monitoring
Jan-Willem VAN BOCHOVE* 1 , Shay O'FARRELL 1 , Simon HARDING 1 , Matthew
DOGGETT 1 , Claudio DE SASSI 1 , Harriet MORRALL 1 , Peter RAINES 1
1 Coral Cay Conservation, London, United Kingdom
Sogod Bay, which lies in the Visayas region of the Philippines in the Province of Southern
Leyte, supports a large number of coastal villages mainly through subsistence fishing. The
generally good status of the coastal resources within the bay can be partly attributed to effective
governance by the Provincial Government (PGSL), which is highly supportive of local
initiatives and has successfully upheld local fishery regulations.
Coral Cay Conservation, working closely with the PGSL and local coastal communities, helped
to establish a small network of four MPAs within the Padre Burgos municipality in May 2005
as part of the ongoing Southern Leyte Coral Reef Conservation Project (SLCRCP). During the
MPA establishment process, a number of activities were initiated with the local communities.
These included environmental education and awareness programmes, participatory planning
workshops and visits to well-managed, community-based MPAs in neighbouring provinces.
Monitoring of coral reef parameters such as benthic cover, motile invertebrate and reef fish
abundance was conducted over three years (2005-2007) both inside and outside the MPA’s.
Data for reef fish abundance indicated that populations of selected fish families within the
MPAs have increased since fishing was restricted or prevented. The local coastal communities
have been highly supportive of the MPA initiative, with fishers reporting higher catches after
one year of protection, further encouraging community involvement.
One of the main successes of the SLCRCP is the creation of a vast amount of awareness
amongst local communities about the importance of securing their marine resources in order to
sustain traditional livelihoods. This has resulted in neighbouring communities requesting
assistance for their own coral reef management initiatives. The overall long-term objective is to
establish a well managed and comprehensive network of community based MPAs within the
whole of Sogod Bay.
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