Sustainable Management of Coral Reef Area in Alor Island, Indonesia: A Spatial and Economic Analysis

Niendyawati, Ati Rahadiati, Dewayani, Suprajaka

Abstract
Alor is an island that located at the border between Indonesia and Timor Leste. The area has high prospect in coastal and marine resources, especially for coral reef. However, the potentiality of this island is still under usage. It seems such assessment has to be employed for the future of local economic growth. Dealing with this, a research was employed in order to achieve the optimal used of coral reef area, especially for eco-tourism. Sea weed culture nearby the coral reef area was also be considered as the other coastal economic prospect. Remote Sensing (RS) and GIS approach were being used for this study. RS was used for mapping the coral reef distribution area. Meanwhile, spatial analysis will be used for classify the suitable location for sea weed culture and marine eco-tourism. Beside that, economic analysis was also being employed for both marine eco-tourism and sea weed culture. The economic analyses were employed based on productivity approach and travel cost method (TCM). Scenarios were carried out in order to get optimal ecologically and economically used of coral reef area. The result of this research will become an input for local and national decision maker for coastal resource management of Alor Island.

I. INTRODUCTION
1.2. Background
The existence of coral reef ecosystem is very important in relation to its economic and ecological role. The ecologically benefits ecosystem of coral reef is as beach protection, fish habitat, wave energy dissipation/storm surge protection, etc. Meanwhile, the economical benefit is related to recreational sites, fishing ground area, high valuable material, etc. The existence and variety of fish and coral reef species is an indicator of environmental condition of the coastal water due to its sensitivity to environmental changes, regionally and globally. This may result in decreasing water quality. For example agricultural activity and mining in mainland area, erosion and sedimentation, waste, and illegal catching fish practice such as fish bombing. Therefore, in order to have a sustainable management of the coral reef area, a spatial assessment of a coral reef island should be employed. The island of Alor was selected as the study area due to its potentiality and strategic position.

Located at the border between Indonesia and Timor Leste, The island of Alor has lot of coastal and marine resources potentiality, such as coral reef, fish, and seaweed. Under water view of this territorial water is as the heaven for national as well as international divers. At least there are 36 dive sites interested by the divers (The East magazine, 2007). Unfortunately the marine resources in this area is not been managed properly. For example a lot of coral reef areas were destroyed caused by human exploitation or physical disturbance (such as current). The physical condition of Alor territorial water is suitable for the growth of coral reef, pearl oyster and seaweed culture (Bakosurtanal, 2006). Therefore, this research was employed spatial analysis to achieve the optimal used of Alor territorial water, not only for marine eco-tourism location but also for seaweed culture. Seaweed ecosystem was selected as the theme of study since it has as ecological and economical benefit. Economic analysis was also need to be assessed for this study. Travel cost method (TCM) was eco-tourism while productivity approach was used for the seaweed culture. Management scenario was also developed in order to getting optimal region management either through ecology and economic. The expected result of this research is as input for local government or decision maker in Alor for managing its coastal and marine region.

1.2. Objective
The objective of this research is to achieve the optimal used of coral reef area not only for tourism but also for sea weed culture by using spatial and economic analysis.

II. METHODS
The basic method of this research was using remote sensing technique, GIS (spatial analysis), and economic analysis (TCM and productivity approach). The research approach can be shown in figure 1 as follow:

2.1. Remote sensing technique
Remote sensing technique was used to get the coral reef distribution, by using Landsat ETM+ acquired 2005. The steps of image processing that used in this research were radiometric and geometric correction, band selection, water column correction (Lizenga method), classification, field check, and reclassification. The classification of coral reef was used two steps, first: unsupervised method in order to get the cluster / group based on the digital number group, second: supervised method based on the first result and interpreter knowledge and other information (secondary data).

2.2. Geographic Information System
GIS approach was used to analyze the suitability area for seaweed and marine eco-tourism. The analyses based on the scoring method. For marine eco-tourism used parameter for diving and snorkeling (see table 1 and 2). While the seaweed suitability analysis was used the parameters like seen at table 3.

Table 1 shows the parameters for diving

Table 2 shows the parameters for snorkeling

Table 3 shows the parameters for sea weed culture

No.	Parameters	S1	S2	S3	N
1.	Water depth (m)	1 – 5			5
2.	Dissolve Oxygen (mg/l)	> 6	>5 – 6	4 – 5	20 – 28	12 – 20	36
4.	Temperature (oC)	26 – 31	24 – 31 – 33	20 – 33 – 35	35
5.	Water Brightness (%)	>75	50 – 75	25 – RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR The making of Jack Dangermond: Godfather of GIS Why You Need Location Intelligence for 5G Deployment Success UMass Global launches Institute for Geospatial Education © Geospatial Media and Communications. All Rights Reserved.​