Marine Conservation in Indonesia

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

LIPI P20 researcher Mohammad Abrar measures a coral reef at the NHR02 diving spot near Babua Island, Jailolo, West Halmahera, on Thursday (27/7/2017).

Tony Prasetiantono’s economic analysis on the fourth wave of industrial revolution (Kompas, 10/4/2018), a news article in Kompas’ brief section (Kompas, 13/4/2018) and Arif Satria’s article (Kompas, 19/4/2018) suggest that we must be prepared for industrial revolution 4.0

World Economic Forum (WEF) executive director Klaus Schwab said in 2017 that industrial revolution 4.0 would fundamentally change how we live, work and connect with one another. The transformations will take place on a scale, scope and complexity never before imagined by humankind

Therefore, we need to familiarize ourselves with industrial revolution 4.0 technologies that can be used in manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries outside of trade and finance. This writing attempts to unravel the potentials of implementing industrial revolution 4.0 technologies in marine conservation in Indonesia and the possible challenges ahead.

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

Jaam Island, Misool, Raja Ampat, West Papua, is photographed on Wednesday (11/10/2017). In the past, the island was used by shark hunters to take a break and divide their catch.

Why marine conservation?

Two-thirds of Indonesia’s territory is in maritime regions, which have a wealth of biodiversity. We have 75 percent of the world’s hard coral species and around 18 percent of the world’s total coral reef expanse. We have 3,000 of the world’s 15,000 sea fish species and an abundance of maritime genetics and microbe resources for biotechnology and biopharmacological development.

However, Indonesia’s biodiversity is threatened by human activity. From 2003 to 2016, the percentage of healthy hard coral cover decreased all over Indonesia. Now, only six percent of them are in great health (Kompas, 8/6/2017). Overfishing has been reported in many Indonesian seas, with some regions having been completely exploited.

Biodiversity is renewable. Therefore, efforts must be carried out to ensure that resource utilization today will not impede utilization by future generations. Conservation is the way to go to achieve this goal. Conservation in the 21^st century is very different from how it was first conceived 150 years ago.

Conservation has evolved from exclusive to inclusive protection that involves the people and other stakeholders. Conservation today is more about controlling people’s exploitative behavior and practices. It is founded on principles of self-management and self-control in order to provide balance between protection and sustainable use. These principles are important. Without protection, a sustainable supply of biodiversity cannot be ensured. Without sustainable use, it is difficult to fund biodiversity protection.

Conservation is carried out by establishing protected areas such as marine parks and reserves or by implementing policies combined with providing market incentives and establishing quotas for species conservation. Currently, we have more than 170 marine conservation areas spread from Sabang to Merauke, encompassing 19 million hectares. They have concrete economic benefits as most marine tourist activities take place in marine conservation zones, including in Wakatobi and Raja Ampat. Economic benefits in fisheries are also apparent. Conservation zones provide space for creatures with commercial values to lay eggs and grow. These creatures will then swim out to seas outside the conservation zones and be captured by fishermen.

A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Stanford University for WEF in 2017 found that eight of 14 tech clusters in industrial revolution 4.0 can help in marine conservation, especially in species and habitat protection and in supporting sustainable fisheries. These tech clusters in industrial revolution 4.0 include advanced sensor platforms, AI, unmanned aircraft and autonomous vehicles and biotechnology.

These technologies can reinforce species protection, including in implementing an intelligent system to trace and manage migrating species like turtles, whales and whale sharks. Drones and unmanned aircraft can be used in habitat protection, especially in monitoring extraction of biological resources and borders of marine conservation zones.

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

A turtle is seen at conservation area Bat Cave on Menjangan Island, Buleleng regency, Bali, on Friday (27/10/2017). The island with several diving spots is located within West Bali National Park.

Incidents such as cruise ships striking coral reefs need not happen if all marine conservation zones have clear boundaries that are recorded digitally and accessible through satellite images. Such digital boundaries provide information on the presence and location of conservation zones to all cruise ships passing through Raja Ampat.

For sustainable fishery, industrial revolution 4.0 technologies can be used to assist traceability that will increase the competitiveness of Indonesia’s fishery products. This will ensure that fish are captured in sustainable ways, that they are not taken from conservation zones and that fishing does not threaten fish reserves as only mature fishes would be captured and sold. Therefore, it will be easier for Indonesia’s fishery products to penetrate markets with strict requirements, such as those in European countries.

PwC’s latest study, released in January this year, proposed using AI in marine conservation. AI progress has enabled it to “feel” its surrounding environment; to “think”, “learn” and “act” in response to what it “feels” through appropriate programs. Two out of four AI systems, namely augmented intelligence systems and autonomous intelligence systems, are deemed to have the most potential in supporting marine conservation.

Augmented intelligence systems can be used to help understand and predict the uncertain future. For instance, to test whether policies implemented to protect endangered species can recover the species’ population, AI can be used to arrange scenarios and choose the best options. Autonomous intelligence systems can be used to make automatic decisions without human assistance.

Autonomous intelligence systems can also be used to prevent overfishing by establishing fishing limits in certain regions. If demand for certain commercial fish increases, AI will make a decision on how much fish can be caught in certain areas with considerations of availability and population recovery speed. When the limit is reached, fishing activities must cease to enable the fish population to recover.

KOMPAS/ICHWAN SUSANTO

Golden sweeper (Parapriacanthus ransonneti) are photographed at the Shotgun diving spot of the Gili Lawa Strait in Komodo waters in West Manggarai, NTT, on Aug. 29, 2017. The fish live in deep waters of an underwater cave. They eat zooplankton at night.

Challenges in marine conservation

All these examples require a great amount of data. Without data, industrial revolution 4.0 cannot be used to support marine conservation. The problem is that we lack the data we require and the people capable of collecting them.

In order for industrial revolution 4.0 to be able to support marine conservation, underlying development paradigms in natural resource utilization must be changed. Industrial revolution 4.0 technologies will be meaningless if short-term natural resource exploitation still rules the day. A true sustainable development paradigm is required to boost economic, social and environmental benefits at the same time.

Indonesia must also create a blueprint for science and technology development to prepare for industrial revolution 4.0. For marine conservation, the lack of a blueprint may still enable us to be masters in our own homes. However, if we want to see what lies inside, we will be forced to ask faraway countries for help.

Arisetiarso Soemodinoto, Conservation worker for Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Indonesia program, Bogor