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A fisherman from Bali’s capital city of Denpasar has won the national Kalpataru Award, cited him as a “savior of the environment.” The award has been given to Wayan Patut from the island of Serangan, locared within Denpasar’s city limits, who is well known for his untiring dedication to reef preservation and restoration along the shore of his island community.

The Kalpataru Award is an annual recognition bestowed by the Indonesian government to individuals or groups who have pioneered conservation and environmental preservation efforts. Wayan Patut received his award at a special ceremony held at the National Palace in Jakarta on June 7, 2001, held only two days after World Environment Day on June 5th.

Beritabali.com cited Patut’s hard work dating from 2003 to re-grow coral reefs near the reclaimed beaches of Serangan that began after he saw the massive destruction coral reefs caused by reckless development of his island home.

“Before 2003, the fishermen and coral miners at Serangan, including myself, actively destroyed the surrounding reef. We cut and picked away at the coral to sell as building materials at a pretty high price,” explained Patut.

A transformed man and now a devout conservationist, Wayan Patut now dedicates himself to rebuilding the coral he once destroyed and exploited with his fellow villagers. Over the past seven years, Wayan Patut’s days have been filled with acquiring the know-how and skills to plant and encourage new coral growth off the shores of Serangan island.

At a shore-based workshop, Wayan Patut and fellow villagers build the frames with nicknames such as “reef ball” and “pyramid” on which new coral reef will be planted, take hold and grow. The group, calling itself “Karya Segara,” also make the “base rock” that is attached to the frames, acting as the catalyst for the reef that will eventually cover the frames.

The man who once destroyed coral reef is now a tireless campaigner, reminding everyone he can of the key roles played by coral in the ocean’s food chain. In this way, he warns the coming generation that the destruction of the natural environment can’t be tolerated for any reason.

Wayan Patut warns: “The coral reef is very important for the life of the sea. In addition to be the place where a variety of fish live, the coral reef also absorbs carbon, helping to clean pollution from the atmosphere.”

Scientists with Conservation International (CI) have discovered nine potentially new marine species while conducting a survey of the waters surrounding the Indonesian island Bali. Among the discoveries are eight potentially new species of fish and a potentially new species of coral.

The marine survey, part of CI’s 20-year-long Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) was conducted at the request of Bali’s government to assess the health of the reefs. The survey, in addition to one previously conducted by CI in 2008, documented 953 species of fish and 397 species of coral, according to a press release from CI.

Full press release below:

(Bali, Indonesia / Arlington, Virginia, U.S.) – A two-week marine survey conducted by scientists with Conservation International (CI) in Indonesia, along with local partners, led to the discovery of eight potentially new species of fish and a potentially new species of coral in the waters surrounding Bali island.

The survey, part of CI’s 20-year long Rapid Assessment Program (RAP), was undertaken by CI at the request of the Bali provincial government and the Department of Fisheries and Marine Affairs to assess reef health and provide management recommendations for 25 areas proposed to be developed into a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in Bali, which will be designed to be ecologically-connected and resilient.

Among the potentially new species documented were two types of cardinalfish, two varieties of dottybacks, a garden eel, a sand perch, a fang blenny, a new species of goby and a previously unknown Euphyllia bubble coral. Further study will need to be done to confirm the taxonomy of each species.

This RAP survey, along with a previous survey conducted by CI and partners for the Bali government in November of 2008, documented 953 species of reef fish and 397 species of coral in the waters off the coast of Bali.

“We carried out this present survey in 33 sites around Bali, nearly completing a circle around it, and were impressed by much of what we saw” said Dr. Mark Erdmann, senior advisor for the CI Indonesia marine program. “There was a tremendous variety of habitats, surprisingly high levels of diversity and the coral reefs appeared to be in an active stage of recovery from bleaching, destructive fishing and crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks in the 1990’s.”

Acting Executive Director for CI-Indonesia Ketut Sarjana Putra added, “Compared to twelve years ago, we observed an increase in healthy coral reef cover in the area surveyed, indicating a recovery phase. That is why it needs serious protection and management, to complete the revitalization.”

Though the survey found the reefs to be recovering well, with a seven-to-one ratio of live to dead coral, the RAP survey team observed that commercially important reef fish were severely depleted. In over 350 man-hours of diving, the team only observed a total of 3 reef sharks and 3 Napoleon wrasse – a stark contrast to a healthy reef system where a diver would readily encounter this number of large reef predators in a single dive. The team also saw that plastic pollution was omnipresent and noted the encroachment of fishers on no-take areas in the West Bali National Park.

“This RAP survey highlights how important these Marine Protected Areas are to improving economic returns from marine tourism while also providing food security and ensuring the sustainability of small-scale artisanal fisheries,” Erdmann said.

Among the recommendations made by the CI team are a prioritization of which areas need immediate protection, the need for spatial planning to reduce the clash between marine tourism and many unsustainable fishing practices, the need to commit to enforcement and public funding to manage the MPAs and the need for strict measures to be put in place to manage pollution from plastics, sewage and agricultural runoff.

CI’s partners in the Marine RAP survey include the Bali Government’s Office of Marine Affairs and theBali Department of Fisheries, as well as the Marine Research and Observation Office and Warmadewa University.

Funding for the scientific survey was provided by USAID Indonesia as part of Coral Triangle Support Partnership (CTSP). The Coral Triangle Support Partnership-Indonesia (CTSP-I) is a collaborative five-year project to bring about the protection of marine systems and their myriad habitats for the benefit and sustainable livelihoods of communities across the Coral Triangle Region of Indonesia, which is the global center of marine biodiversity – with the most diverse marine ecosystems in the world, and more than 500 species of coral, at least 3,000 species of fish and the greatest remaining mangrove forests on Earth.

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PHOTOS available for media download and use: http://smu.gs/iRXuRW
**note that photos may only be used in editorial stories about Conservation International’s recent survey in Bali, and provided photographer credit must be included with publication

For more information, contact:

Kim McCabe, Media Director, Conservation International
Office + 1 703-341-2546; mobile + 1 202-203-9927
email: k.mccabe@conservation.org

Fachruddin Mangunjaya
Conservation International Indonesia (Indonesian Bahasa)
Email: f.mangunjaya@conservation.org

Note to editors:
Conservation International (CI) — Building upon a strong foundation of science, partnership and field demonstration, CI empowers societies to responsibly and sustainably care for nature, our global biodiversity, for the long term well-being of people. Founded in 1987, CI has headquarters in the Washington, DC area, and nearly 900 employees working in more than 30 countries on four continents, plus 1,000+ partners around the world. For more information, visit www.conservation.org and follow us on Twitter: @ConservationOrg or Facebook: www.facebook.com/conservation.intl

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