 |  | _________ |  Cyanide and blast fishing meet population explosion
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 To help save the reefs of Indonesia, get active with these groups: Buginesia Program Wetlands International World Wide Fund for Nature Lembaga Pengkajian Pedesaan, Pantai dan Masyarakat / Institute For Rural, Coastal and Community Studies
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Indonesia's more than 17,000 islands represent the heart of Southeast Asia's coral diversity, but reefs here are damaged to varying levels that generally increase as one moves west: In the east they're generally in excellent shape, but population growth in the west and associated pollution and overfishing are crippling reefs there. Sumatran and Javanese reefs have been smothered by sediment, poisoned by organic pollution, and overexploited. In central Indonesia they have wilted from blast and cyanide fishing as well as just plain intensive fishing. Irian Jaya has some of the world's most diverse mangroves and coral reefs, but they are slowly coming under pressure from commercial logging, land-clearing, and related sedimentation. Over-extraction of coral rock and sand in Jakarta and Banda are also taking their toll. Indonesia's government, with a foundering economy on its hands, still is making at least a token effort to stop reef exploitation. Selayar Island police arrested 14 fishermen in December 1997 for bomb-fishing in reefs near the Taka Bonerate National Park, as part of a larger campaign to protect the park. But not everyone finds the effort convincing: In March 1998 an official from the ordinarily timorous United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced—insisted, even—that Indonesia must realize that its coral reefs are threatened. "A coral reef poisoned by cyanide or blown apart by dynamite cannot survive and continue to provide for us any more than a father or mother disabled by poison or a missing leg blown off in an explosion can," warned UNESCO Indonesia director Steven Hill. | ||
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