Design of Community-Managed Marine Reserves

author: Petrus (Peter) J. Mous - COREMAP II - 2007

These technical guidelines are based on lessons learned in establishing and

managing community-managed reserves (Daerah Perlindungan Laut or DPL)

within the context of the Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Program

(COREMAP) in Eastern Indonesia. The target audience for these

guidelines are agencies and individuals involved in facilitating the estab-

lishment of DPLs in the seven COREMAP districts: Sikka (Nusa Tenggara

Timur), Pangkep (Sulawesi Selatan), Selayar (Sulawesi Selatan), Buton

(Sulawesi Tenggara), Wakatobi (Sulawesi Tenggara), Raja Ampat (Papua

Barat), and Biak (Papua).

The function of DPLs is to sustain reef fisheries. DPLs are established

and managed at the desa-level, the lowest administrative unit in Indonesia

that can issue formal regulations (Peraturan Desa or PERDES). Because

the reef area under the control of desa is generally small, with median values

varying between 46 and 377 ha in COREMAP districts, DPLs are generally

much smaller than the optimum size recommended for fishery management

(1000 ha). It follows that DPLs can only serve fishery management needs

for small and sedentary fish. Therefore, in addition to DPLs, authorities at

district, province, and national level must establish medium-sized (1,000 ha)

and large (> 10,000 ha) no-take areas to sustain fisheries for mid-sized and

large commercial species.

In order to sustain reef fisheries for small and sedentary reef fish, DPLs

must fulfill the following design criteria:

• The average size of DPLs per district must amount to at least 100 ha,

and the minimum size must be at least 10 ha.

• DPLs must include reefs, sea grass beds, and/or mangroves.

• DPLs must be established at places that have productive fisheries, or

at places that have been depleted. They should not be established at

places that are unproductive because of natural factors.

• DPLs must extend from the coastline to 100 m beyond the foot of the

reef slope (see text for exceptions relating to very wide reef flats).

• In contrast to earlier practice, DPLs must have only one management

designation—zoning into “Zona Inti” and “Zona Penyangga” proved to

be too costly compared to the small gains in management flexibility.

• DPLs must be closed to any type of fishing. Visitation and passing

through must be allowed because these non-extractive uses do not interfere

with the main management objective of DPLs.

These guidelines recommend the following participatory process towards

proper siting of DPLs:

Step 1. Select a desa. The local Program Management Unit must first

select desa for participation in the DPL program, prioritizing fishing

communities that control a relatively large area of reef.

Step 2. Identify obvious choices. If the desa community has a strong

preference for a certain area, the facilitator should just ascertain whether

this place meets basic design criteria before continuing to Step 8. Otherwise,

continue to Step 2.

Step 3. Define the area-of-interest. Delineate the area at sea where the

community has some measure of control and ownership. Continue to

Step 3.

Step 4. Break up the area-of-interest into planning units. Each planning

unit must approximately fulfill aforementioned design criteria for

DPLs. Continue to Step 4.

Step 5. Use ecological criteria to score and rank planning units. See

text for a more details on scoring and ranking. Continue to Step 5.

Step 6. Consider socio-economic and management criteria. Facilitators

and community members must consider pros and cons in respect to

socio-economic and management criteria for the highest ranking planning

units. Select one or more planning units and continue to Step 6.

Step 7. Delineate the DPL. Refine the boundaries of the selected planning

unit(s) to delineate the DPL. Continue to Step 7.

Step 8. Collect DPL metrics. Estimate the total surface area of the DPL,

the percentage of the DPL that has reefs, and get a coordinate of a position

in the middle of the DPL. Continue to Step 8.

Step 9. Field check. The facilitator must invite an expert from the local

Program Management Unit to conduct a field check on snorkel to ascertain

that (1) the DPL is larger than 10 ha, (2) the DPL contains

reefs, sea grass beds, and/or mangroves, (3) the position coordinate of

the DPL is correct.

Step 10. Formalize the DPL through a village regulation (PERDES).

Examples of PERDES are available from the COREMAP National Coordination

Unit.



Finally, this document contains guidelines towards cost-efficient marking

of DPLs, based on a central marker instead of ineffective and costly boundary markers

please contact the author or COREMAP II for complete guideline