Today, the government of Timor-Leste announced the establishment of seven no-take zones in the country’s coastal waters. This development follows the Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) survey
carried out by CI and partner scientists last year, which confirmed the
community-identified zones as being biologically significant. Coral
scientist and guest blogger Dr. Lyndon DeVantier shares his experience.
This
beautiful wrasse (Cirrhilabrus tonozukai) was previously known from
Palau and Indonesian localities, including Raja Ampat, eastern Sulawesi,
and Halmahera. A single male individual was photographed at Timor-Leste’s Atauro Island, which represents a significant southerly extension of the geographic range.(© Gerald Allen)
In August of last year, I joined Mark Erdmann, Gerry Allen, Emre Turak and local scientists in Timor-Leste to participate in a CI RAP marine survey. At the request of the government, we set out to record the marine biodiversity of corals and fishes and assess the overall health of the reefs to help identify areas of importance for conservation and marine tourism.
To their great credit, the Timor-Leste
government has already established a large national park on the eastern
tip of the country, covering both land and sea. The park was
established in 2007 — after the country had spent only five years as an
independent nation — and named in honour of Nino Konis Santana, a
Timorese freedom fighter in the 1990s.
We surveyed 22 reef locations both inside and outside of the national
park and on Atauro Island off the northeastern coast. Having done
similar work in many other parts of the tropical Pacific and Indian oceans over the past 20 years, we had a good basis for comparing Timor-Leste’s reefs with other places.
Left to right, international taxonomists Lyndon Devantier, Gerald Allen and Emre Turak were part of the RAP team surveying Timor-Leste’s waters. (© CI/photo by Mark Erdmann)
I was glad to discover that the reefs, particularly those inside the national park, were in moderate to good condition, with three times more living than dead coral covering the reefs overall.
The dead coral was caused mainly by population outbreaks of the
coral-feeding crown-of-thorns starfish, a species that has wreaked havoc
on other Pacific reefs. There was also some legacy damage from blast
fishing, but most reefs — especially within the park — appeared to be in
an active state of recovery.
Along with neighbouring countries, Timor-Leste forms part of the renowned Coral Triangle, Earth’s most diverse tropical marine realm. Hence we expected to find highly diverse coral reefs. We were not disappointed.
This small nation, with only a limited area of coral reef
habitat, hosts a number of reef-building coral species comparable to
Australia’s enormous Great Barrier Reef — some 400 species in all. Three of these coral species we documented may be new to science.
The fish fauna was also highly diverse; Gerry and Mark recorded some
740 species (including six possibly new species!) With inclusion of
additional records from previous researchers, the Timor-Leste
fish species tally has been raised to 800 species; for the greater
Timor region, the tally is likely to be well over 1,200 species. Local
levels of species richness on individual reefs were also high, although
targeted fish species — including sharks — were rarely seen, an
indication of intense fishing pressure.
Importantly, there was no evidence of recent or past coral bleaching
caused by high sea temperatures. This likely reflects the presence of
relatively cool waters, which were 25–28 degrees Celsius at the time of
our survey — three to four degrees cooler than many nearby locations in
the Coral Triangle.
Why are Timor-Leste’s
waters cooler? It’s mostly because the major ocean current system known
as the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) passes to the north and south,
transporting massive quantities of water from the Pacific to the Indian
Ocean each day. Before passing Timor-Leste,
waters of the ITF are cooled by mixing in the Banda Sea. If this
cooling effect remains consistent into the future, as appears likely,
then Timor-Leste’s
unique oceanographic setting may provide a cool water buffer and refuge
against the increasing sea temperatures predicted from climate change
over coming decades.
Timor-Leste
has already shown great initiative in declaring Nino Konis Santana
National Park, which, with effective management, can play a very
important role in conservation, and contribute to the replenishment of
populations of fishes and other harvested species.
And with the high-quality reefs and miles of sandy beach, Timor-Leste has excellent potential for marine and coastal tourism.
However, it will be important to set clear regulations from the outset
to ensure that tourism development is environmentally sustainable and
provides clear benefits to local communities.
It is promising to see that the government is going a step further to protect these resources: officially recognising seven community-established no-take zones within the national park. The first in the country, these zones will help preserve this wealth of marine life for the food and economic well-being of the country’s people.
Dr. Lyndon DeVantier is a coral ecologist with more than 30 years of experience in international coral survey work. The survey was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of a collaborative project between the Coral Triangle Support Partnership and the Timor-Leste national government. Learn more about CI’s work in the country.
Reference
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