Threats in coral reef trade

IT was with alarm that concerned Malaysians learned of the Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Ministry’s plan to increase the export of coral reefs, according to a Bernama News report on April 24.

The very suggestion that the Ministry wished to exploit and trade in our local coral reefs for profit is tantamount to a breach of duty by those tasked with the responsibility of protecting our marine resources.

It has often been said that coral reefs are the rainforests of the oceans. Coral reefs cover less than 0.1% of the earth’s surface, yet over 25% of all marine life exists in coral ecosystems. Coral reefs provide a variety of ecosystem services, including as a nursery and source of food and shelter for fish and invertebrates. Coral reefs also act as natural wave breakers that protect coasts from wave erosion.

From an anthropocentric and economic point of view, coral reefs have more value intact than degraded and destroyed for trade. Scientific estimates put the value of coral reefs at US$115,740 (RM416,664) per hectare annually. This means that Malaysia’s coral reefs, with a cover of approximately 4,000 sq km, would be valued at RM145bil (RM522bil) per year.

Coral reefs form the foundation of a significant percentage of Malaysia’s tourism industry and are a more sustainable source of income for locals if protected and kept intact than if traded and exported.

Properly-managed coral reefs can yield an average of 15 tonnes of fish and other seafood per sq km each year. It is estimated that coral reef-related businesses in Malaysia, namely, food, fisheries, tourism and pharmaceuticals, is worth approximately US$365mil (RM1,314mil) annually.

Like many concerned Malaysians, I would like to know if a feasibility study has been conducted on this coral farming and export venture. Coral farming is often a difficult, long and unsuccessful process, and it could take decades before there is any return on investment.

The rate of coral growth depends on the species. Even acropora coral, which is recognised as a fast-growing species, grows at most only an inch a year.

Coral breeding has proven unsuccessful in many countries and most corals would not grow on artificial reefs. In order to start a coral farming programme, one still has to break off live coral to use as starters, and this causes damage to existing reefs and marine ecosystems.

The claims that coral farming is profitable and sustainable are usually made only by those involved in the coral trade, rarely ever by conservation groups and scientific bodies.

It is almost impossible to succeed in the coral trade by coral farming alone, and most traders end up harvesting and poaching corals from the wild to satisfy consumer demand. A significant percentage of the corals used in the aquarium trade are inaccurately passed off as farmed or sustainably harvested.

It seems strange that the Malaysian Government, which has expressed its fears that foreign researchers would conduct bio-prospecting on and patent Malaysia’s natural resources, would want to leave our corals vulnerable to the same by exporting them and opening the doors wide to bio-prospectors.

There is a very real risk that once our corals are freely traded and available all over the world, bio-prospectors would develop and commercialise products based on our corals and we would lose the intellectual property rights to the same.

Enforcement-wise, there are too many loopholes in our laws, and based on observation of the current state of Malaysian coral reefs and the wildlife trade, our Customs and enforcement agencies are not prepared to protect coral reefs from over-harvesting and exploitation.

The coral reef and aquarium trade appears superficially lucrative, but it remains unclear what economic benefit flows to the exporting country. In Fiji, the economic benefits of the coral and aquarium fish trades were limited to a few villages, while the rest of the local fishing community suffered losses due to the decline in fisheries.

Mozambique had to finally impose a complete ban on the export of coral and coral fishes in 1999 due to the destruction wreaked on coral reefs, despite the existence of a licensing and enforcement system.

It is not too late for the Government to reconsider this project, which has unclear beneficiaries and which would lead to irreparable damage to marine ecosystems.

The Government should instead invest in gazetting more sensitive and biologically-diverse marine areas and improving the current management of reefs and marine parks.

WONG EE LYNN

Coordinator, Green Living Special Interest Group

Malaysian Nature Society