#Status of Coral Reefs 2002 - International Coral Reef Action Network

7. STATUS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA CORAL REEFS
LOKE MING CHOU, VO SI TUAN, PHILREEFS, THAMASAK YEEMIN,
ANNADEL CABANBAN, SUHARSONO AND ITH KESSNA
ABSTRACT
Most of Southeast Asia’s coral reefs continue to remain under threat, mainly from
anthropogenic impacts. Weak management capacity contributes to the further
degradation of reefs, particularly from destructive and over-fishing. The lack of
monitoring capacity in some areas adds to the difficulty of reaching more accurate
assessments. Amid the general widespread trend of declining health are isolated instances
of effective management and successes in reef protection. The reefs of Indonesia that were
monitored under COREMAP showed improvements in live coral cover. Active
management resulted in improved reef health from monitoring reports in Thailand and
Vietnam. Also evident is the recent and renewed expansion of reef monitoring and
management activities supported by international agencies. The transfer of lessons learned
from successfully managed reefs and the overall enhancement of management capacity are
strong requirements to overcome the general decline of reef health in the region.
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