Extended cost benefit analysis of present and future use of Indonesian coral reefs

Coral reefs has played a significant role in coastal ecosystems and economics in Indonesia. The Government of Indonesia has released regulations and applied projects to manage coral reefs since 1978. Programs and actions to help coral reefs management have been carried out by national and international NGOs since early 1990s. Unfortunately, destructive fishing practices were still continued and have increased since economic crisis in 1997. The aims of this paper are to describe the reasons of destructive fishing practices and to analysis the implementation of better fishing methods. The study shows that the lack of integrated programs among government agencies has led to the open access property right of coral reefs. The improvement of coral reefs uses can be implemented if de facto open access of property right of coral reefs is changed to the more responsible and acceptable common property right. The fishermen and fish traders, coral collectors and coral traders, and tourism operators in certain coral reefs area can be integrated in one institution to share the use rights and responsibilities of coral reefs. This strategy must be followed by redefinition of working mechanisms among institutions involved in coral reefs management.