PLANTED 10,000 MANGROVE SEEDLINGS TO SUPPORT SUSTAINABLE GRACILARIA CULTIVATION
Saturday-Sunday (26-27/09/2020) WWF-Indonesia aquaculture program together with 150 volunteers who are members of the Sinjai-Bone Mangrove Brotherhood carried out environmental care social actions in the form of beach cleanup on the coast of Marannu Beach, East Sinjai and planting 10,000 mangrove propagules on the coast of the Tongke-Tongke Village tourist area, East Sinjai District, Sinjai Regency. The local government is very supportive of this social action, with a note that it must still comply with health protocols considering that it is still in the conditions of the COVID 19 pandemic.
The activity began on Saturday afternoon, mangrove volunteers registered and set up tents at Marannu Beach, in the evening volunteers together watched a mangrove educational film followed by a community discussion. Sunday morning, volunteers carried out a beach cleanup action and before noon, participants shifted to the Tongke-Tongke ecotourism area, East Sinjai, to plant 10,000 mangrove propagules.
The calf- and knee-deep mud at the planting site was no obstacle. It took about an hour to complete the planting of 10,000 Rhizophora mucronata mangrove seedlings. In this activity, community leaders were also involved, namely Mr. H. Tayeb as a mangrove pioneer in Tongke-Tongke Village since 1985. Mr. H. Tayeb has gone through many ups and downs while planting and maintaining mangroves in this Tongke-Tongke mangrove forest.
"Before there were mangroves, this village was often flooded. From there, I thought what to do to prevent flooding. Then I found mangroves. The community was indifferent at first, until finally this mangrove is big and provides many benefits. I used to plant 2000 mangroves myself, it took me 4 hours to complete. After I planted them, I took care of them, and I replanted the dead ones," said Mr. H. Tayeb, an environmental leader who received the Kalpataru prize.
The purpose of this activity is to strengthen friendship and rejuvenate the spirit of the youth to remain at the forefront of saving Indonesia's coast. This planting was also WWF-Indonesia's first action supported by the Aquaculture Improvement Program (AIP) of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council-Marine Stewardship Council (ASC-MSC) Seaweed (seaweed) Celebes Seaweed Group (CSG) in Bone Regency. CSG's AIP in Bone has started since 2015, which until 2018 was still in the form of Better Management Practice (BMP) assistance for Gracilaria Seaweed Cultivation, and since 2019 CSG has started implementing the ASC-MSC Seaweed AIP. Previously, Biodiversity Environmental Impact Assessment (BEIA) and Participatory Social Impact Assessment (pSIA) surveys were conducted, preparation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Gracilaria Cultivation of CSG Bone's pond partners, data collection on cultivation production, and assistance in the form of light discussions with Gracilaria farmers.
Some of the gracilaria ponds traced by the BEIA team showed that the history of the ponds was mangrove land that was previously converted into ponds before May 1999. Based on these findings, the company must work with the community, as well as the government to restore or convert non-mangrove land to mangrove. This planting activity is the first step of the AIP ASC-MSC Seaweed CSG to rehabilitate mangroves, by converting 1 hectare of land to mangroves.