Sustainable fisheries management

Securing livelihoods and marine biodiversity in the heart of the Coral Triangle

Fascinating biodiversity

The so-called Coral Triangle of Southeast Asia boasts the highest marine biodiversity on the planet, with approximately 600 species of reef-building corals and 2000 species of reef fish. At the very heart of it lie the Banggai-Islands – a group of hundreds of islands of various sizes and large areas of coral reefs and seagrass meadows along their coasts. In 2019, Indonesian authorities established the Marine Protected Area (MPA) Banggai Dalaka with over 860.000 hectares in size to protect the outstanding biodiversity of the area and safeguard the livelihoods of thousand of small-scale fishermen that depend on healthy marine and coastal ecosystems.

Protected area under pressure

As with most large protected areas in remote places, regular and extensive monitoring and surveillance of the MPA Banggai Dalaka by government authorities is a difficult task. Hence, violations of no-take zones and the use of detrimental fishing practices like dynamite and poison fishing are still common in the area. The depletion of some fish stocks due to overfishing by industrial fishing fleets and the consequences by climate change and ocean acidification pose further risks to species, ecosystems and livelihoods.

Safeguarding livelihoods and marine biodiversity

Together with our local partner Burung Indonesia, we support coastal communities of the Banggai Islands to secure and improve their livelihoods and economic prospects through sustainbale fishing practices in the long term. Special emphasis will be given to capacity building and organizational development for local stakeholders to set up, produce, and market new products and services based on marine resources. At the same time, we help them to develop their own local governance agreements to manage their natural resources in line with the provisions and zoning of the Marine Protected Area Banggai Dalaka. This includes that they work together with government authorities to improve monitoring and surveillance of the area.

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