Lesson 17: Marine Resources and
Fisheries
Amy Duray
EVPP 490 003
April 12, 2010
Introduction
• Importance of fish as a component of Asian diets.
In many areas, it is the only source of protein
some consume.
• Incredible sensitivity of fish populations (both
marine and freshwater) frustrates management
regimens
• “Global commons” behavior of marine resources
and those that harvest them
• Southeast Asia is the most important biological
reserve of coral, finfish, and seagrass species
Large Marine Ecosystems of East and
Southeast Asia and Associated Watersheds
34 – Bay of Bengal
35 – Gulf of Thailand
36 – South China Sea
37 – Sulu-Celebes Sea
38 – Indonesian Sea
47 – East China Sea
48 – Yellow Sea
49 – Kuroshio Current
50 – Sea of Japan
51 – Oyashio Current
52 – Sea of Okhotsk
Drivers
• Social and Economic Trends
– Poverty
– Increasing population (60% of the world population, 4 billion people)
– Over consumption of resources and the drive to advance the economy
using those resources
– Inadequate governance of resources (lack of monitoring, enforcement,
effective management and corruption)
– Lack of public participation (lack of incentives, understanding of
environmental issues by the local people)
• Natural Hazards: Increased vulnerability or occurrences
– Tsunami
– Cyclones
– Floods
Understanding the Role of
Climate Change
• Sea Surface Temperatures
– Threatens food security (wild catch and
aquaculture)
– Bleaches corals, reduces biodiversity, changes
species distribution
• Sea Level rises
– Submerges fragile coastal systems, seagrasses
• Ocean acidification
– Biocalcifying organisms, including reef corals
Primary and Secondary Drivers of
Biomass Yields in LMEs of Asia
Large Marine Ecosystem
Primary Driver
Secondary Driver
South China Sea
Fishing
Climate
East China Sea
Fishing
Climate
Bay of Bengal
Fishing
Climate
Okhotsk Sea
Climate
Fishing
Gulf of Thailand
Fishing
Climate
Sea of Japan
Climate
Fishing
Yellow Sea
Fishing
Climate
Adapted from Sherman, K. (2006) The Large Marine Ecosystem network approach
to WSSD targets. Ocean & Coastal Management 49: 640–648
Pressures
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Conversion of marine ecosystems to other uses,
Severe storms
Eutrophication and increased sediment
Over-fishing and destructive fishing techniques
(commercial drag nets and bottom trawling,
artisanal poisoning and blasting)
• Increased sea temperature levels
• Introduction of invasive species
Asia Coastal Populations
Broad Threats to Marine Ecosystems
• Fisheries
• Ornamental trade (including aquarium fish and
coral and shell souvenirs)
• Hunting of endangered species (mainly turtles,
also dugongs, whales and sharks)
• Tourism (damage of habitats by tourists, anchors,
pollution, and constructions)
• Environmental degradation (siltation, pollution,
coastal development, mining, dredging, etc.)
Southeast Asia
• Environmental degradation is largest factor in
declining biodiversity in regional aggregate
• In Malaysia, this effect is the most pronounced
• In Viet Nam and Indonesia, the effects of
overfishing and destructive fishing techniques
have the largest effect
• Impacts from Tourism most pronounced in
Thailand and Indonesia, but also critical in
Malaysia as well
State and Trends
• Decreased mangrove coverage
• Coral reef destruction
• Decreased biomass and diversity from habit
loss (pollution)
• Over-fishing
• Loss of seagrasses
• Increased coral bleaching from increased
water temperatures
Status of Coral Reefs, 2004 (GEO-4)
Impacts
• Reducing mangrove and coral reef coverage leads to the loss of
coast-buffering service from severe storms--leading to a higher
human death toll
• Loss of coral reefs and mangroves leads to a lack of nurseries and
protected areas for young fish populations
• Conversion of mangroves swamps to a populated area increases the
increases risk of malaria--leading to a higher human death toll
• A decreased biomass and bio-diversity threatens the region’s food
security and livelihoods from depleted fish stocks
• Coral bleaching also leads to increased poverty with the decreased
likelihood of tourism that provides economic basis of many of the
coastal communities.
Responses
• Response created via policy and management, economic markets,
technology and restoration:
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Addressing climate change with international agreements
Cap and trade of emissions
Carbon sequestering,
Scrubbing away nitrogen and sulphur
Increasing protection for coastal populations
Coral reef and wetland restoration
Managed coastal retreats and land-use zoning
Fishing gear restrictions
Establishing marine protected areas (MPAs)
Using by-catch reduction methods
International agreements on fishing limits
Mariculture
Marine Protected Areas
• Goal: Improve marine ecosystem conditions, while simultaneously
spurring community-level sustainable economic development.
• Reality:
– Only 10-20% of MPAs in ASEAN Region are effectively managed
– Terrestrial plan being applied to marine systems
– Exploiters become managers
– MPAs cover coral ecosystems, but seagrass ecosystems are largely
unprotected
– Large Gaps (Myanmar, Western Philippines, Sumatra)
– Economic losers create community tension – need to equitably spread
the economic benefit as well as the loss
– Social factors are tremendously important in continuing success of
MPAs
Coral Triangle Initiative (1 of 2)
• August 2007 – President Yudhoyono of Indonesia. Compact
signed in May 2009
• Six Nations:
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Philippines
Indonesia
Timor Leste
Malaysia
Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands
• NGO Partners:
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GEF
WWF
CI
Nature Conservancy
US Dept of State
Coral Triangle Initiative (2 of 2)
• Key program components:
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Lobby for international agreement on Climate Change
National Plans and Targets
Integrated Coastal Zone Management
Socio-economic programs
• Video (WWF) – good footage of destructive
fishing techniques.
• WWF Interactive Map:
http://wwfmaps.org/?zone=coral
Mangrove Destruction (1 of 3)
• Primary Pressure – Agricultural expansion,
secondary is shrimp aquaculture (conversion
and shrimp seed harvesting)
Mangrove Destruction (3 of 3)
USGS ecologists produced this map of mangrove deforestation in Burma’s
(Myanmar’s) Irrawaddy Delta using an older version of the Global Land Survey
dataset. Recent improvements are allowing them to map mangrove
deforestation worldwide. (Map adapted by Robert Simmon from Giri et al.,
2008.)
Mangrove Destruction (3 of 3)
• Impacts:
– Erosion impacts coastal residents – exacerbated
by sea level rise
– Water quality and ecosystem diversity
– Increase in water-borne diseases
Sea Grass Destruction
• Sea grass beds are declining throughout Asia:
Indonesia has lost 40%; Philippines about 50%
• The destruction of the sea grasses is linked to
the loss of mangrove forests.
• The grass beds serve as a link from the swamp
to the reefs and are valuable on a global scale
for carbon storage (Fortes, 2004)
Aquaculture and Mariculture
• Alternative to capture fisheries
• Human consumption and fishmeal production
for agricultural uses
• Implications for food security
• Impacts:
– Mangrove destruction
– Invasive species
– Changing pathogenic and parasitic relationships
• Integrated rice paddy aquaculture
Spratly Archipelago
• Disputed territory claimed by six nations: China,
Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and
Brunei Darussalam
• Highly biodiverse
• Pelagic larval movements indicate that a reserve
in this area could help biodiversity in adjacent
ecosystems, such as the South China Sea
• International community wants to make an MPA
to protect from oil exploration