Managing Ornamental Coral Trade In Indonesia

The world ornamental coral trade continues to grow as the result of increasing demand for aquarium industries.Indonesia as a major exporter has distributed corals worldwide with the USA as the biggest market,followed by 87 other importing countries.Ditjen KSDAE(Directorate General for Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystem)of MoEF(Ministry of Environment and Forestry)and P20-LIPI(Research Center of Oceanography-The Indonesian Science Institution)was mandated as a management and scientific authority,respectively,in this curio trade management in Indonesia which is highly referred to CITES provisions.The trade entangles numbers of fishermen,middlemen,wholesalers,and coral companies in advance of exportation.As reported by CITES,a total of 25,569,984 corals were traded from Indonesia in 1985 until 2014.More than 49%(12,719,104 pieces)of all corals were exported to the USA in the same period.As the trade directed to be more sustainable,cultured corals grew steadily during the last decade.BKSDA Bali(Conservation and Natural Resources Agency of Bali Province)also reported similar results in regional coral exportation from Bali.There were 9,583,821 pieces of ornamental corals,mostly were cultured corals,traded by coral companies based in Bali during 2010-2016,with annual growth rate of 19.06%.It constituted almost 60%of total Indonesia exportation and was carried out by 25 coral companies.Existing management measures e.g.quotas,licensing system,and spatial management through no-take zones have been put into effects despite still requires various improvements.More comprehensive studies and scientific data are therefore essential in decision making process to set out adaptive management strategies and thus ensuring sustainable coral trade.