Transcript Transboundary marine corridor for large cetaceans in Ombai Strait

Transboundary Marine
Conservation in the
Coral Triangle:
Towards Integrated Ocean Management of the
Ombai Strait, the Indo-Pacific migratory
corridor between Indonesia and Timor Leste.
Benjamin Kahn
APEX Environmental
Coral Triangle Oceanic Cetacean Program
IUCN Species Survival Commission Cetacean Specialist Group
IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas
[email protected]
The Coral Triangle - Overview
1. The CT includes the coasts, reefs and open seas of six
countries:

Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia (Sabah), Papua New Guinea,
the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste.
2. These waters are regarded by experts as the world's richest
marine environment and account for

30 % of the world's reefs,

76 % of global reef building coral species and

more than 35 % of coral reef fish.
3. Endangered, threatened and/or protected (ETP) Marine
Megafauna in the CT includes:

6 species of marine turtles,

Several species of large elasmobrachs: whale sharks, mantas

the dugong and

over 30 species of dolphins and whales - including Bryde’s,
sperm, humpback, beaked and blue whales.
4. Over 120 million people directly dependent on CT
marine resources.
The Coral Triangle’s deep-sea waters
The vast majority of CT waters are over 200m in depth. Over 85% of the CT’s
delineated surface area can be considered deep-sea…
CT <200m
(coastal/shelf)
CT total
CT >200m
(incl. near shore yet deep-sea)
Reference
http://ctatla
s.reefbase.
org/
area
(ha)
549,223,129
81,868,214
467,354,915
%
100
14.9
85.1
*
*
*
Green and Mous 2008
*
*
*
Coastal-oceanic habitat proximity
within the Coral Triangle
Beach
5 nm
Ombai Strait
Abyssal plain
(0 - >4000 m Savu Sea, Banda Sea)
Beach
25 nm
Deep sea trench
(0 - 8300 m – ‘Planet Deep’, Solomon Sea, PNG)
Increasingly under-represented habitats within
Marine Protected Area Networks.
(proximity = opportunity)
The Indonesian Seas –
A unique location at the nexus
of two tropical oceans
Large-scale characteristics:
•Indonesian Through Flow (ITF)
•Tropical oceanic exchange (unique)
•Monsoons - strong seasonal influences.
• Complex bathymetry, extreme seafloor features.
This results a highly dynamic system with
diverse coastal oceanic and deep-sea habitats:
•Coral reefs and mangroves
•Seasonal upwellings
•Persistent Pelagic Habitats (PPHs – tropical tuna)
• Critical Habitats for wide ranging endangered,
threatened or protected “ETP” species such as the
• Lesser Sunda migratory corridors
Habitat diversity and proximity
‘near-shore yet deep-sea’
1.Opportunities:
• Easy access for research on Endangered, Threatened and Protected
(ETP) spp, field training, site-based conservation and tourism activities.
2.Threats:
• Oceanic species as by-catch in coastal fisheries, habitat degradation
from coastal development and pollution, near-shore extractive
industries.
Foraging sperm whales off Manado Tua – Bunaken
NP
Coastal and oceanic habitats overlap: MPA opportunity:
The Indo-Pacific migratory bottlenecks of the Coral Triangle
Photo: Anneke Augustinus
The narrow yet deep inter-island passages of the Savu Sea (eastern
Indonesia and Timor Leste) function as vital migration corridors for
endangered species including the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus).
Coastal and oceanic habitat overlap:
Trapped blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus; n=5)
in a shallow reef lagoon
along a mangrove coast line
21-27 October 2014
1 blue whale died overnight on 23 Oct;
4 blue whales rescued in the following days
using an Underwater Noise Barrier technique;
Kahn in prep)
Ombai Strait Transboundary Corridor
Overview
1. Transboundary waters between Indonesia and
Timor Leste: the Ombai and Wetar Straits
migratory corridors.
2. The total area = 89,245.0 sq km.
3. Nested within the Lesser Sunda Seascape, which
has been designated as high priority by the Coral
Triangle Initiative (Goal 1).
4. Covers eastern-most part of this high priority CT
Seascape and includes
•
•
exceptional bio-diverse coastal and oceanic
ecosystems of regional importance and
high connectivity.
OSTC: National jurisdictions with maritime mandates
 Two countries
 Indonesia, Timor Leste
 Two provinces
 NTT and Maluku, both in Indonesia)
 12 districts (5 IND+ 7 TL)

Maritime jurisdiction of Timor Leste district governments
are currently being finalised under legal reforms. Possible
outcome expected in 2015.
 4 Fisheries Management Areas (FMAs)
 FMA 573 (Java – Nusa Tengara)
 FMA 714 (Banda Sea)
 FMA 715 (Arafura Sea)
 4 International Sealanes
 IMO vessel separation schemes and
 Archipelagic sealanes)
 All within a CTI Priority Seascape
Ombai Strait Transboundary Corridor (OSTC)
MSP Overview
Reefs at Risk
MSP in the Ombai Strait
Transboundary Corridor 1/2
1. Maritime and ecoregional boundaries
MSP in the OSTC
1.
2/2
Maritime usage

International / Archipelagic Sealanes (ASL),

Fisheries Management Areas (FMA)
2. Marine Spatial Planning for conservation goals. Adopted by BAPPENAS National
Development Planning Agency:
 MPAs
 Existing
 Designated
 Proposed
 Areas of Interest (AoI)
 Transboundary AoI
 Deep-sea AoI
OMST: Overview of MSP
Overlap of offshore industries and EBSAs
• Large regional scope: CTI and SW Pacific incl. Fiji
•
(Kahn and Vance-Borland 2013)
• 1st study to quantify all areas of overlap and identify the hotspots
• Shipping Lanes overlap with Migratory Corridors.
•
•
•
Sections categorised according to estimated ship traffic (density)
Start to asses chronic and acute threats to EBSAs:
Threats:
• Direct strikes
• Noise pollution
• Marine pollution from
bilge and ballast
waters (MARPOL)
• Exhaust emissions
(sulphur loading IMO)
• Accidental collisions
at sea
• Accidental wreckage
on coast (reefs)
• New port
development –
support
Kahn and Vance-Borland 2013
Why do we need to plan ahead?
The need for Integrated Ocean Management
(IOM) and MPAs:
Regional issues, local impacts
 Fisheries: coastal and pelagic – several projects active
 Maritime Transport –

Regional shipping; AU-Asia “resource run” - 10-fold increase of ship traffic



Sea lanes overlaps with migratory corridors for blue and sperm whales
(Indonesia, Timor Leste, PNG).
ASL overlap with Banda blue whale habitats
Port development – “Sea corridors” a national priority

Extractive Industries and Energy sector:

“East and Deep”




Oil and Gas
Deep sea mining
Coastal mining (Submarine Tailings)
Future activities and emerging usage of our CT Oceans…? Deep sea mining
(85.1% of the CT is deep-sea)
Ombai Strait Transboundary Corridor (OSTC)
Overview – Conservation values
1. Region of dynamic oceanographic processes of global importance
(major exit of IFT, heat conveyor belt, climate change adaption)
2. Reefs to (deep-sea) Ridges approach suitable: extreme and unique
habitat diversity and proximity, and maritime cultural significance
(traditional sperm whaling community)
3. Critical corridor of regional importance to multiple species groups –
cetaceans, turtles, (whale)sharks, mantas, mola mola, tropical tuna.
4. Exceptional species diversity (n=18) and high abundance of oceanic
cetaceans incl. 4 “great whale” species.
5. Important Persistent Pelagic Habitat (PPH – Part of the strongest
seasonal upwellings in the NE Indian Ocean)
6. High degree of cold water mixing – reefs resilient to coral bleaching.
7. Important regional site for EBSA and KBA processes (and IMMA).
Ombai Strait Transboundary Corridor (OSTC)
Overview – Opportunities
1.
Indonesia and Timor Leste (and the CTI) will make a substantial contribution
to their national Aichi Target 11 commitments
 Importantly, OSTC will include numerous oceanic and deep-sea habitat categories
that are still under-represented globally under Aichi Target 11.
 Joint progress towards the CTI’s Regional Plan of Action – Goal 5.
2.
The 1st site-based yet transboundary management approach for the region.
3.
Large-scale Marine Spatial Planning is in progress for the region.

National and ecoregional MSP initiatives.
 OSTC is well positioned within a priority seascape of the CTI.
4.
Integrated Ocean Management: Corals and Corridors.

5.
OSTC has high conservation values for both coastal and oceanic ecosystems with a
well-established transboundary management framework already in place (CTI).
OSTC will provide connectivity between national and regional MPA Networks
 Indonesia, Timor Leste, Australia (NW)
Ombai Strait Transboundary Corridor (OSTC)
Overview – Challenges
1.
Promote awareness amongst all stakeholders about the
need and suitability of a transboundary management
approach and opportunities for the OSTC.
2.
Large-scale ecosystem-based management approach with
limited institutional capacity in both countries.
3.
Define the appropriate management framework: CTI (i.e.
Goal 1 - priority seascapes and Goal 5 – endangered
species) or a separate bilateral arrangement?
4.
“Start-up”: Small initial investment in the OSTC
development phase:
 Initial scoping meetings in each country.
 Consolidate all current studies on the ecological and
socio-economical profile of the OSTC
 Quantify total of increased % to Aichi Target 11, as
well as habitat-specific %’s – i.e. coral reef, corridor,
seamounts.
In Summary,
The Ombai Strait Transboundary Corridor
has a unique set of oceanographic, ecological and transboundary conservation values,
at a location that boosts coastal and deeps-sea habitat representativeness
within the CTI RPOA and Aichi Target 11 as well as
MPA Network connectivity within the broader region.
The Coral Triangle Oceanic Cetacean Program
Thank you for the opportunity to present at this meeting.
More information is available from:
www.apex-environmental.com
Physeter macrocephalus