Millions of Indonesia’s people have been relying their livelihood on coastal ecosystems such as mangrove forests, coral reefs and seagrass beds. Yet, these vital habitats are threatened with the increasing pressure on Indonesia’s coasts, from overexploitation and population growth, undermining the traditional livelihoods viability. Collaboration with local communities for innovation is essential to maximize sustainable utilization of critical marine resources and habitats.
A sea cucumber sea pen in Selayar
‘Blue carbon’ sea cucumber aquaculture is being developed as a sustainable method to conserve critical seagrass habitat while providing an important source of income for local communities of Selayar Islands, located in South Sulawesi. Sea cucumber harvesting was traditionally conducted directed from the coastal environment, driving population collapse through overexploitation. This program is designed to re-establish local communities as custodians of seagrass habitat, harvesting the bounty that they help preserve. A number of sea cucumber aquaculture sites have been set up across Selayar Islands, as pilot projects and training centres for local women to optimise their sea cucumber industry.
However, if the blue carbon sea cucumber industry is going to establish itself as a regionally significant supplier and example for communities elsewhere, an effective scale-up is necessary. Traditional aquaculture structures using wood and stone, or even modern materials such as concrete, are too easily damaged by strong waves, limiting the scale of these activities to villages located in sheltered bays, or on coastlines shielded by adjacent islands from Selayar’s seasonal storms. This leaves large areas of Selayar’s coastline under-utilized, and more likely to be overexploited than carefully managed. Opening up these vast areas of ‘exposed’ seagrass beds would not only provide additional productive capacity, but also integrate more coastal habitat within a coordinated management plan as part of the Selayar Islands-Taka Bonerate Biosphere reserve.
Destroyed sea pen poles
To find innovative solutions to this challenge, the CSERM-UNAS team has initiated collaborative design workshops with local community partners across Selayar Islands. These workshops focus on identifying potential risk factors, key design considerations, and developing concepts designed to facilitate expanded blue carbon sea cucumber cultivation, without exposing participating communities to additional operational or financial risk.
Local communities brainstorming for sea pen design modification
The preliminary workshops have identified a range of significant risk factors for coastal sea pens, from direct wave damage to the oceanic plastic debris buildup, and the impacts of large pieces of floating material such as fallen tree trunks. They have also produced several experimental sea pen prototypes designed to be more resilient, while improving aquaculture operations. These prototypes are built upon local knowledge of available construction materials, and experience working in the coastal environment developed over many generations, combined with technical assistance from the CSERM-UNAS team. Five of these prototypes have been deployed for preliminary field testing at locations across Selayar Islands.
Local communities with sea pen design modification
Each location in Selayar has its own characteristics. “The problem in our location is the impact of wind and waves when the seasons change. The design modification we made aims to break the waves so that damage can be minimized, while adapting the bamboo material to be more flexible,” said Mr. Demmananring, from Lowa Village. “The trash that comes along with the changing season is also a concern for us, so we made modifications to the design of the sea pen pole which is able to hold the trash not to enter the sea pen,” said Mr. Densi from Kahu Kahu Village. Female participants were also involved in the design modification workshop, providing ideas and compiling the designs of sea pen modification.
Sea pen modification design by local communities
Further modifications are planned as the project progresses, to ensure local community partners inherit the capacity and capability to make the most of their rich coastal ecosystem sustainably. These include collaborations with traditional architectural experts and investigations of alternative construction materials to develop temporary structures to be deployed outside of the severe weather season, or more permanent ‘wave-proof’ structures. Combining traditional knowledge of materials and construction methods with contemporary design principles and production techniques, is intended to inspire a new generation to pursue scalable innovations with real local impact.
Modified sea pen in Lowa Village
The success of this collaboration depends not only on the capacity of these new designs to remain resilient to storm and wave damage, but also on the new dynamics established between CSERM-UNAS field team members and Selayar’s local communities. Rather than being passive recipients of external assistance, they have become truly equal partners in the co-production of critical knowledge and skills which have helped them survive for generations.
Written by: Chris Kelly & Qurratu Ainin
This article was also published at Darwin Initiative’s website with brief modification.
