CORAL REEF CONSERVATION

  • by: KSDC
  • recipient: All Researchers and Environmental Organizations
arthquake was an undersea (subduction) megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia with a magnitude of 9.3 Mw and a depth of 30 kilometers. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake. The resulting tsunami itself is given various names, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Asian Tsunami, Indonesian Tsunami. The most common of these names being The Boxing Day Tsunami.

The tsunami 2004 devastated the coastlines of the Indian Ocean, but in Pakistan the effects of the tsunami were somewhat different. The aftermath of the Tsunami brought with it a new spawn of different species of corals from neighboring coral reefs. The mass migrated offspring started to clone and formed new reefs at an incredible speed. During the last five years over 30 new species have been flourishing here and serious efforts are required to observe and document this new eon.

Karachi’s coastline has been blessed with a golden opportunity for our marine scientist, environmentalists, and the local divers, and as well as divers of the world to peep into the history of millions of years and witness this breathtaking process of evolution.

December 26th, 2004 was an ordinary day and a group of divers from the Karachi Scuba Diving Center (KSDC) were diving at Churna Island under the supervision of Yousuf Ali (PADI Master Instructor) and exploring the eastern wall of the island. This area is the most attractive dive site, because of its depth and fauna and flora and the fast flowing water currents through the channel. Both sides of the walls were enriched with the diverse marine life not forgetting to mention the large furans, burgundies and daisy corals, colorful tropical fishes and beautiful worms feeding themselves from the passing by planktons.

But something was strange about that particular day. There was a strange feeling in the air. The visibility which was exceptionally good but on the surface we did not notice anything peculiar. After finishing a good day of diving when we reached at Mubarak Village we noticed surprisingly low water levels. Almost all the fishing boats were grounded and fishermen were waiting for high tide so they could go out fishing. During unloading we heard strange conversation among the fishermen especially the elderly ones. Some of them were saying that something like that was seen in 1945 when a tsunami had struck Pakistani coast during their childhood.

Only after reaching home we learned about the disastrous tsunami that had taken place in the Indian Ocean. The earthquake was caused by subduction and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing nearly 230,000 people in eleven countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (100 feet) high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand were the hardest hit countries.

With a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3, it is the second largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. This earthquake had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 cm and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska.

Because of our immense interest in the life beneath the sea we kept a constant watch on the behavior of the sea along the Karachi coast line. We made various scuba dives at different dive sites to observe any changes that might have taken place near our shores but we noticed none except that the tidal cycle was affected and had become a cause for concerned for our fishing communities. Extremely low rapid tides were observed for a week. We went to discuss the issue with the various governmental and non-governmental departments of Pakistan but nobody paid any attention to this strange phenomenon. The entire event went unnoticed and the diving season ended in April 2005.

The week of the unusual of tidal movements was a mystery for the fishing community and some of the old villagers who have fear of the unknown even said this is the end of the world. They said that they had never experienced (6 tide a day) extremely low tide for many weeks and some were so afraid that they decided not to go for fishing and starve at home.

September 2005 At the beginning of the next Scuba Diving season, after the monsoon which started in the September we noticed in the first few dives a carpet of green alga covering the Northern-West side of the island. This stuff was soft and rubbery and quite peculiar in nature. It looked like green turf and this astonishing new growth was just gorgeous. In the next few dives as the visibility got better these lush green carpets seemed to cover up most of the rocky bed, and at some places on the tip of the pinnacle a hard layer of coral like formation was observed.

Without delay we reported this strange phenomenon to the CEMB Department of Karachi University and other related institutions, but no notice was taken by either of them (KU university), NIO (National Institute of Oceanography), WWF (Pakistan), IUCN, NED university, and LUA&MS (Lasbella University of Agriculture & Marine Sciences) Uthal Balochistan. Since we were utterly disappointed by the existing organization’s attitude we decided to take the matter in our own hands. With limited resources, we decided to adopt the newly born coral reef and it was made a part of the “Project Argus”: - “Marine Life Conservation Project “ (MLCP)

MLCP is a long awaited project needed badly for the conservation of our marine life. This three year project “Project Argus” along with the few we have completed in the last five years covering the coast of Pakistan has given us a base line to understand the existing marine life of this area and its sadly deteriorating environmental condition. All this is leading towards a major change in the structure of the rapidly expanding coral reefs and the associated fauna and flora. In order to minimize the damage to this beautiful natural heritage we propose an “Underwater National Park” in order to conserve this beauty for our coming generations.

As we monitored the changes in biodiversity of this triangular area we became convinced that is being affected by the discharge of cooling water from two power stations located in the vicinity, and continuous target practice of the Pakistan Navy using alive ammunition has also been a serious threat to the coral reef in this triangular area: “from the western part of the Buleji Cove, Churna Island and back to the Delta of Hub River”

The upcoming Water Desalination Plant near the Dondapacha village, will certainly pose a new threat to this already grim scenario.

Objectives included in the “Project Argus” are as follows:

1.          Observing and recording the rate of the growth

2.          Taking pictures of the area on a regular basis

3.          Making videos on a regular basis to monitor the expansion of the reef

4.          Collecting data about the different species

5.          Cleaning the area from debris, plastic bags etc,

6.          Repairing the corals damaged by the anchors’ of the fishing boats

Adopting the Coral Reef

Further KSDC has taken on the challenge to educate fishing and scuba diving community to respect and protect marine life, looking after our infant Coral Reef which desperately requires our attention. If we don't take immediate action we may lose our heritage. We are making an attempt at cleaning the area on a regular basis to avoid hindrance in the rapidly expanding coral reef where the new productive changes were taking place. On all our dives  we make an effort to clean the productive area from Plastic bags, discarded fishing nets, boat anchors, explosives shells (thanks to the Naval Target practice) and other forms of pollution.

The plastic bags are the most important slayers of the marine life, specially the turtles who mistake the clear plastic bags for their favorite food “jelly fish” and swallow them. As consequence they develop serious digestive maladies and die.

New growth established during the Processes

Corals: Brain coral, disk corals, brown boulder corals, gorgonian, orange daisy coral, tentacle coral, flex coral and many other varieties of coral.

Fishes: Long fin banner fish, blue-ring fish, sergeant fish, chevron barracuda, parrotfish, and black spotted puffer, blue-spotted fantail stingray, yellow snapper, sweet lips, coronation grouper, coral grouper, and giant grouper, many verity of scorpion fish, moray eels, were documented.

Anemone & jellyfish: Tube Anemones, Bulb-tentacle sea anemones, anemone coral, upside down jellyfish, stinging hydrozoans, etc.

Worms: Striped ribbon worm, fan tube worm, bristle worm, spaghetti worm, Christmas tree worm, flat worm and peacock worm.

Destruction by ignorance: It has been a normal practice for the Navy to target practice at Churna Island, and their indiscriminate shelling has been destroying our coral reefs. Coral reefs are the most productive component of  marine habitat  and are pivotal in the food web changes that may lead to changes in the community structure of the commercially important organisms. This area is also famous for sports and commercial fishing. In fact these fishing grounds are the nearest to the shore and our fishermen’s livelihoods also depends on them.

The nearest fishing village is Mubarak Village where they still do not have any basic facilities. The local people have been demanding the government to set up a jetty which they could use to go out and fish and earn enough to sustain their families.

What’s more serious is that the fisher-folk of Mubarak Village have been protesting against Pakistan Navy’s shelling practice for over a half century but, unfortunately, no one listens to their problems. Not ever. Instead, the navy has occupied a large area of their land by force.

As a matter of fact, this is an ideal location for developing a modern fishing village and to develop ecotourism. What is more important is that the district administration, environment authorities, NGOs and CBOs can join hands to fight pollution and destruction of this reef from the various threats it faces.

The main source of pollution here are the Hub Co and KANUP power plants which continuously discharge their cooling water contaminated with sulfur and other pollutants. The discharged water is a few degree higher than the ambient temperature and  is causing a change in the structure of the existing marine population. The damage has already been started to show and the following nasty changes have been noticed:

Ø  Bleaching process has been noticed in the corals during the last few years. The brain corals, flex corals and dome corals are the most affected ones.

Ø  Changes in biodiversity have been noticed in the flora of underwater forest in the sea around Cape Monze lighthouse close to the Mubarak Village.

Ø  The growth of the alga has been found differently in the last few years around Bit Coli Cove. A prominent change in the color and the thickness has been noticed by amateur scuba divers.


Throwing anchor down can damage coral reef. Instead, marking buoys could be provided for the fisherman to tie their boats. This would not only make it a lot easier for them but also safeguard the marine life in particular stop the corals head to be uprooted.

It’s high time that the government of Sindh took serious measures to protect our coral reef by declaring this area a “National Park”

Enhance awareness

Serious efforts should be made to increase awareness of conservation of natural environment and habitat in this area. These measures include:

Ø  Eco-tourism, involving the local community.

Ø  Need for onsite research.

Ø  Educational tour for schools.

Ø  New pharmaceutical products

Ø  Cleaner environment and a bigger fish catch

Ø  Conservation of nature for the future generation


DIVERS SHOULD RESPECT MARINE LIFE

The PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors), in its divers’ manual, gives a piece of advice to divers: “your interaction with aquatic animals and plants carries both a privilege and responsibility…because aquatic animals are very sensitive to the environment, approaching them can change their behavior and the natural rhythm of their life. Quite, smooth moment – which is less likely to disturb them- will reward you with more opportunity to observe aquatic animals behaving naturally, rather fleeing or hiding. It is your responsibility to be assured that your interaction with aquatic life has minimal impact on the organisms you encounter while diving.”

Responsible attitude towards marine life is an important factor and it has been noticed that careless divers and those who use Harpoon Guns for killing the coral fishes are destroying precious marine life. Divers can contribute towards the protection of the natural environment by learning how to control their buoyancy and not land roughly on the sea bed as they can damage the coral reef or rare aquatic plants that takes years to grow.

Aquatic animals are not aggressive unless provoked. For that matter even sharks are harmless if you remain calm on your part.

To avoid potential problems with aquatic animals, the divers manual offer some guide lines: “Treat all animals with respect”.

Ø  Never tease or intentionally disturb them.

Ø  Avoid wearing shiny, dangling jewellery that may attract the interest of some animals.

Ø  Wear an exposure suit to avoid sting and cuts.

Ø  Establish neutral buoyancy to keep off the bottom..

Ø  Marine life could be further protected by educating fishermen and making them aware of this aspect.

 

We firmly believe that there should be a law to stop divers from: -

Ø  Picking up (in other words poaching) any marine objects

Ø  Using of spear guns which causes death of reef fishes for pleasure and destruction of precious corals heads. 

(This is an offence in the Maldives where a diver could be slapped a fine of $500; in California, the authorities can confiscate the diving gear for committing such an offence.)

Something should be done to preserve marine life in Karachi before it’s too late.


Proposal for a Marine Park near Churna Island By

Yousuf Ali

Director Operation

Karachi Scuba Diving Center (KSDC)And

Master Instructor & Research Diver of PADI California USA.

Suggested during the “1st international Conference on Maritime Threats and opportunities in 21st Century” on 4th to 6th March 2007 at “Bahria University” National Center of Maritime Policy & Research Center Karachi.

As a speaker and a member of the discussion panel Yusuf Ali exhibited  a 25 minute underwater documentary produced by “Karachi Scuba Diving Center”. The documentary showed the magnificent marine life and thriving corals reef along the coast of Pakistan and proposed a triangular area near Karachi at the border of Sindh and Balochistan to be declared as a “National Marine Park”

During the last five years the newly born coral reef has expanded covering a large area, not only along the Churna Island but also along the coast line of main land. Still we have not been able to convince our government to declare this productive area as a “National Park” and a number of factors are causing serious damage to the life beneath the sea which is also resulting in multiplying the miseries of the local fishing community.


 

October 2008

During a casual meeting with Dr. Farooq Sattar, the Federal Minister, I discussed this alarming condition regarding the marine environmental degradation and the appalling living condition of the coastal communities in great length, and proposed a solution which will improve the miserable conditions on the ground and become a source of opportunities for the inhabitants to earn their livelihood respectfully. The proposal was to build a “Tourist City” in the area at the border of Sindh and Balochistan so that the underprivileged people of both provinces living on the coastal belt could benefit.


Proposed Outline of the “Tourist City” along with the “Proposed Marine Park”

Ø  A proposed idea to build water sports city to attract tourism from up-country and as well as foreign countries. This project would generate colossal amounts of local and foreign income.

Ø  This proposed Tourist City and the Marine Park would go hand in hand in order to achieve our goals and be able to protect our environment as well as to market our product, “Tourist City” ,in the competitive world.

Ø  This product would also generate hundreds of thousands of jobs in all walks of life and help to improve the image of the country on a the global forum.


Further, I also stated in the proposal that this would not just be a business venture but also an educational and training outlet that would provide training and other technical assistance to the local community. No project can be successful without the ownership of the local people and training them would be a mutually beneficial step. I also added that if the government decides to go ahead with the proposal then arranging finances shall not be a problem

Ø  Tourist Industry Booster

Ø  Glass Bottom Boat Service for Pleasure & Research

Ø  Industry related Boat building, & Fishing

Ø  Technical Educational Project (to produce Skilled technicians to cope with the requirements of the present world)

Ø  New habitat for rich and as well as for poor living together.

Ø  Environmental Awareness Project

Now is the time to act and if no action is taken soon, this prime location could Grabbing Mafia’ has already started their roguish work, and as the time passes it will become more or less impossible to change the direction of the tide, as we would become helpless as in the case of Korangi. As a consequence of my conversation with the minister a meeting was arranged on an emergency basis with the governor and a few more concerned personalities were also invited. The salient points of the meeting are given below:

20th October 2008

The meeting was held with his Excellency the Governor of Sindh at 4pm on 21st Tuesday 2008 in Governor House of Sindh

The following high ranking officials were invited to attend the meeting:

1.    Secretary to Government of Sindh, Culture & Tourism Department who was requested to record and issue the minutes.

2.    Military Secretary to Governor Sindh, Governor’s House Karachi

3.    P. S. to Principal Secretary to Governor Sindh Karachi

4.    P. S. to Special Secretary to Governor Sindh, Karachi

5.    PA to Additional Secretary -I & II Governor House, Karachi

Subject

“MEETING TO DISCUSS A PLAN TO BUILD A TOURIST CITY WITHIN THE CITY”

We prepared extensively for the meeting with the Governor of Sindh to discuss the importance of the project in great detail.

Ø  10 minutes Power Point Presentation was made to explain the subject

Ø  Blueprints of a project were presented that was designed to develop the Hub-River Delta for Eco-Tourism

Ø  Plan for a Sea-Water aquarium for public to enjoy and for Marine Biologist to do their research work was laid out

Ø  Prospects of tourism, both at a local and international level were highlighted

Ø  Proposal to develop an artificial lake to conserve fresh water to sustain the city was also given

Ø  A proper Marina club with the capacity to house over 100 boats was suggested. At the moment a proper marina doesn’t exist in the country

Ø  Rock Climbing School along with Club house to entertain students of Rock Climbing was also put forward.

Ø  Developing the existing fishing village with all modern facilities ( School, College, Play ground, Hospital, along with the proper housing) was high on the list

Ø  Building fishing harbor to facilitate the local fishing communities

Ø  developing a modern and entertaining water park which would be the  largest one in the country

Ø  Public pier where glass bottom boats would be  available for general public to enjoy the newly developing coral reef %uF020

Ø  Project was designed to generate huge amount of local and foreign income.

 

Yousuf Ali

MI-PADI Ca.

Director Operation

Karachi Scuba Diving Center

C-32, 9th Street, Suit # 7, Baddar

Commercial Area Phase V Ext. D H A

Karachi, 75500. Pakistan.

Mobile: 0300 219 0304, 03032151634.

PTCL (021) 3534 0595, 3534 0528

Email: - dive_in_karachi@yahoo.com

Website: - www.scuba-karachi.com

Facebook Page: -       http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/Karachi-Scuba-Diving-Centre/171630609582?ref=ts


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