Indonesia: Moving toward marine based development

Sukristijono Sukardjo, Jakarta Post 24 Dec 09;

Few other nations should be more concerned about the ocean and oceanographic research than Indonesia. Being located in between two oceans, the Pacific and the Indian, the waters around 17,504 islands greatly influences the climate, economy and health of the people of this Republic.

The industrialization during late eighties brought in agriculture and financial services to reinforce an Indonesian economy entirely based up until then on forestry-cultivation and fun-filled beach-centered tourism. However, despite having a 2.7 million square kilometer Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the ocean based economic activities contributing to the GNP of Indonesia have been unfortunately insignificant.

Considering the fact that Indonesia has one of the highest populations in the world with access to renewable and non-renewable resources, exploitation of oceanic resources will probably follow as the next phase of the nation’s industrial development. There is a great need for an integrated approach in scientific planning, formulation, implementation and overall management of ocean related activities in Indonesia.

The coastal zone is the prime frontier area to study, as it impacts the livelihood of 60 percent of Indonesians in one-way or another. Monitoring change in the 95,181 km shoreline is an important task for the concerned ministries and research institutions. A GIS-based mapping of the coastline using satellite, aerial photography and real-time ground-truthing is taken up to estimate coastal vulnerability against geological, climatological, biological, chemical and physical extremes.

There is a proposal to set-up a few time-series stations around some major islands and outer islands (e.g. Tual, Kai Kecil islands, etc.). Such marine research stations selected on strong scientific rationale would collect data on all possible oceanographic parameters at regular intervals over a stipulated period. Modeling such data would help develop strategies to effectively mitigate coastal problems.

The livelihoods of a large majority of the Indonesian people depend on fishing and the fisheries industry. Complete biomass evaluation and detailed maps of mangroves, seagrass beds, coral reef and fish stock are still insufficient, some not available.

To overcome this shortfall, efforts are now on to identify new fishing banks through bathymetric survey and satellite information. Construction of artificial reefs, mariculture and mangrove rehabilitation and/or restoration are encouraged.

Continuous monitoring of chlorophyll content, sea surface temperature and current pattern are studied to maximize the resource products. Setting up of an integrated coastal zone management framework involving impact assessment certification mechanism and an efficient hazard and crisis mitigation group are being actively considered.

A substantial part of the protein needs of Indonesia come from the sea through captured fisheries — 2,500 fish species have been identified and some of these of commercial value worldwide. A good demand for filleted and other value-added forms of fish should excite the fishing industry and home industry.

Biotechnology and sea ranching mechanism can ensure high food quality and add value to the product. Grounds for deep-water shrimp trawling and possibilities to develop technology for better fish preservation are now explored. The seafood technology arena, in particular, can create a lot of job opportunities. Extracts from marine organisms can also contribute a substantial part of the country’s drug needs.

Indonesia is insisting on well-equipped laboratories and trained human resources to capture the intellectual property rights and other commercial possibilities in the field of bio-prospecting. Indonesian marine invertebrate biotechnology products have a potential value of US$340-780 million per year, and would constitute 5 percent of the world’s total output.

As a fundamental measure, the vast EEZ and the Sunda and Sahul shelf need to be explored in detail to complete geological, chemical, biological and physical mapping. Understanding the submarine landslides, sea floor tectonics and its effect on stability of islands coastlines are of great significance.
Indonesia straddles the ring of fire, has vast continental shelves, and in consonance with Article 76 of the Unclos Convention, geological and geophysical data is necessary for demarcate extension of legal continental shelves. An intensive exploration to identify maritime resources within the EEZ for hydrocarbon potential, seamount cobalt rich crust and phosphorus, hydrothermal metal deposits of the mid-oceanic ridge and associated bioactive compounds is necessary.

Another area in which Indonesia is interested to harvest renewable energy from wind, waves, currents, tides, and from large temperature difference that exist in the water le-vels within a short distance from the shore. The Indian Ocean, stretching from east of Sumatera to south of Java going to West part of Indonesia holds great promise.

Indonesia is lucky to have the Wallace Line which runs from Lombok strait between Borneo and Sulawesi to the Sulu Sea in the Philippines, marking the boundary between the Asian and Australasian faunas of Laurasian and Gondwanan ancestry. Marine creatures (e.g. Coelacanth fish) and pelagic fish e.g. Spermonde islands, are phenomenal to science. Understanding the processes of generation of new oceanic crust at the Central Indian Ridge would be interesting to obtain fundamental information on mantle melt behavior and high-grade sulphide metal deposits.

A host of worms and colorful tubes amazingly occur at this extremely hot (>200o C) deep-sea environment. The genetic adaptations of these organisms biologically in the laboratory may prove commercially potential and academically significant. Studying various dimensions and dynamics of the Central Indian Ridge-Indian Oceans should prove rewarding e.g. the discovery of giant, deep-sea -volcano in the offshore Bengkulu. Oceans regulates climate by absorbing much of the atmospheric carbon.

Hence understanding the biogeochemical environment that controls and relates oceanic productivity and atmospheric composition can help climate prediction. Increased research on air-sea interaction processes and stimulation of ocean-atmosphere coupling would contribute substantially to enhance weather and climate prediction ability.

To this end, Indonesia is now integrated with an international campaign to understand the above delicate aspects. WOC2009 is the milestone of Indonesian contribution to ocean-climate change issues.

By deploying argo floats, data-buoys, tide gauges and sediment traps, Indonesia is poised to generate a wealth of information from her waters. It is proposed to study the Sunda and Sahul shelf and Wallace’s Line seas in detail as the oceanographic parameters of this area greatly influence the tropical climate, the two oceans: Pacific and Indian, and the resultant economy.

From social points also, Indonesian waters are expected to have a wealth of history submerged, myth and legendary. Scientific investigation to catalogue marine archaeological sites of Indonesian waters and trace maritime history through research may bring out unsung pages of culture and commerce in the past.

In order to make use of the ocean in a sustainable way, ministries and institutions in Indonesia should take much interest on the issue, said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the address on the Coral Triangle Initiative Summit 2009. Dewan Kelautan Indonesia (The Indonesian Maritime Council), as a national coordination committee in ocean sciences is being set up by presidential decree for this purpose. Being a responsible contributor to global ocean research campaigns (e.g. Manado Ocean Declaration 2009), Indonesia is on the cusp of qualifying as a hub of marine research activities in the Indonesia waters, between Indian and Pacific oceans.

It is believed that only through visible, rational and responsible marine scientific activities; Indonesia can take advantage of her enormous geographical and strategic potential. If approached judiciously, oceanic activities could become a pillar of Indonesia economy in near future, following the success of Japan, Australia, South Korea, Maldives, and Mauritius that use ocean life to fuel their economy.


The writer is a Professor of Mangrove Ecology at the Center for Oceanological Research and Development, Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI).