The health and protection of our marine and coastal environments are vital to humans survival with communities around the world relying on the marine environment for food and income but 60% of these marine ecosystems have been threatened or destroyed due to unsustainable practices. With over 81,000 kilometres of coastline and 51,000 square kilometres of coral reefs, Indonesia also faces huge threats to its unique and beautiful marine environments.
Here are some quick stats and facts about the ocean and Indonesia’s marine environments.
The Ocean
- 70% of the earth’s surface is covered by oceans and seas.
- According to FAO 2014, 10-12% of the world’s population depends on the ocean for food and income.
- The world’s ocean help to regulate the temperature of our planet by retaining heat, especially in tropical waters around the equator.
- Globally, fish provided more than 3.3 billion people with 20 percent of their average per capita intake of animal proteins, reaching over 50 percent in Indonesia which represents approximately (7 percent) of total catches.
Marine Issues
- Land-based pollution, including agricultural run-off, untreated sewage, and plastics, contributes to around 80% of marine pollution.
- Indonesia is the world’s second-largest marine polluter after China.
- Each year, marine debris cause the death of more than 100,000 marine mammals.
- Over 55% of reefs worldwide are overfished and/or suffer from destructive fishing techniques.
- In Indonesia, the three major threats to marine environments include damaging fishing techniques, irresponsible tourism and pollution.
Shifting Data Trends
- The share of fish production destined for human consumption is expected to continue to grow, reaching 89 percent by 2030.
- Indonesia marine catches increased from less than 4 million tonnes in the early 2000s to over 6.7 million tonnes in 2018.
- Indonesia launched the One Data Initiative in May 2016 to standardize the procedures for the collection, processing and open data access of fisheries and, as a consequence, improve the quality of data. This partially accounts for the increase in Indonesia’s total marine catches over the past two decades.