An overview and comparison of destructive fishing practices in Indonesia.

urgent intervention is an active ban of hookah compressors for the entire park, for which no new legislation is needed. Compressor fishermen from neighbouring fishing villages should be targeted in alternative livelihood programmes such as the development of a fishery for large coastal pelagics or mariculture initiatives. II. A second important intervention would be to stop OmetingO by park inhabitants. The latter intervention may be facilitated by freeing local fishermen from the exploitation of middlemen, so they can earn sufficient income from their bagan activities. Park inhabitants should also be directly targeted in alternative livelihood programmes such as eco-tourism and/or extensive mariculture in multiple-use zones. III. The marine resources of Komodo National Park cannot be protected without an effective enforcement programme, including frequent patrols of all the ParkOs waters. If the park management cannot afford or is not willing to organise these patrols, other institutes, including NGOs, can make sure that law enforcement is indeed implemented. IV. Corruption and lack of political will at the local level is a major barrier to be overcome before marine reserves can be successfully implemented in Indonesia. Community awareness and education therefore has to be taken to higher levels and should include government awareness and cultivation of political will. V. The present status of the resource can be described with the following characteristics: a. highly damaged and continuously degrading coral reefs, b. continuing destructive fishing practices inside the park, c. high fishing effort and pressure on demersal stocks like lobsters, shellfish, groupers and Napoleon wrasse, d. few economic alternatives available to local communities, and e. questions without answers on how to speed up coral reef rehabilitation. VI. Detailed management objectives should: a. stop degradation of the coral reefs and keeping the damage at a level which is not higher than what was recorded in 1996, b. stop all destructive fishing practices, including compressor fishing, OmetingO and fishing with ObubuO traps, c. implement full protection of demersal stocks, at least by banning the use of hookah compressors and by closing all known fish-spawning aggregation sites to all types of fisheries, d. promote a shift of fishing effort from demersal fishing inside the park area to pelagic fishing inside and outside the park area, e. support members of local communities to enter into compatible enterprises like ecotourism, mariculture or pelagic fisheries, f. develop a feasible methodology for the enhancement of coral reef rehabilitation. VII. We need supporting materials from outside sources to convince the park management of the need for a hookah ban!