In mid-December, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) for the first time awardedlocal governments and local leaders for consistently designating marine protected areas (MPAs).

Sharif C. Sutardjo, Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of Indonesia stated on his opening speech that hard work and commitments from local governments were the integral parts to the achievement of targeted wide area of MPAs.The EKKP3K Awards (the award for Effective Management of Marine Protected Areas, Coastal and Small Islands)then would be given every two years, comprising one award for favorite category, 5 awards for pilot category, and 17 awards for acceleration category.

In an event taking place at Pulman Hotel, Marine Protected Area of Alor District (Kawasan Konservasi Perairan Daerah Kabupaten Alor/KKPD – Alor) won an award for National Pilot Conservation Area (Konservasi Percontohan Nasional), since KKPD – Alor was classified into pilot category. Besides AlorDistrict located in East Nusa Tenggara Province, 4 other regencies/districts, i.e. Sabang Regency – Aceh Province, Sukabumi Regency – West Java Province, Klungkung District – Bali Province, and Raja Ampat Regency – West Papua Province were also awarded for pilot category.

“This award is a proof of the strong commitment of Alor District in ensuring the sustainability of marine, coastal, and fisheries resources for Alor communities in the future,” Simeon TH Pally, Alor Regent, explained after receiving the award.
World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF),one of the non-governmental organizations supporting Alor government in managingAlor marine protected area since 2006, admitted that the management activities and utilization were not yet fully controlled. Data obtained from the last WWF survey (2013) by applying Manta Tow method shows that there is a decline in the health quality of coral reefs caused by several factors, which one of them is destructive fishing. Therefore, the local government of Alor tries to promote mutual collaboration that engages all management organizations to intensely monitor and regularly sterilize the area from destructive activities, to collect corroborative baseline data, and on top of that to secure sustainable financing.

1Manta Tow is the best method to obtain a general description of large areas of measures of broad changes in abundance and distribution of organism and large-scale disturbance (cyclones, COTS, bleaching) (Hill J, 2004). This method has been used in several areas in South East Asia as one of the approaches to monitor coral reefs. Manta tow can be modified and adjusted in its use by engaging local communities in order to raise public awareness of their coastal environments, consequences of destructive fishing and other human activities that can cause changes in coral reef condition, and ways in which they can contribute to the coral reef protection.

Alor Regent also thanked and greatly appreciated WWF that had been supporting Alor government, where Alor marine protected area finally received EKKP3K award as one of the best pilot sites for marine conservation in Indonesia. He also asked WWF to continue its conservation programs in Alor.

For more info on WWF-Id Solor – Alor Programs please contact M Ridha Hakim, Nusa Tenggara Regional Coordinator (Email: rhakim@wwf.or.id; Mobile: +628123778055).