GCP/RAS/175/SWE
GCP/RAS/179/WBG
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Sustainable Management of the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem
DRAFT
Preliminary Framework Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis
of the
Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem Programme
prepared by P.A.Verlaan
Regional Coordinator, BOBLME Programme
Chennai, India
September 2004
1
BOBLME Programme
Preliminary Framework Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA)
Table of Contents
List of Tables, Figures and Annexes
Abbreviations and Acronyms
I. Overview of the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BOBLME) and the
priority transboundary environmental issues
A. Scope of the BOBLME
B. Physical setting
C. Socio-economic context
D. The priority transboundary environmental issues
II. Introduction to the draft framework TDA
A. Purpose and scope
B. Examination of root causes, information gaps and intervention constraints
C. Crosscutting issues
1. Traditional systems of ownership and customary rights
2. Livelihoods and food security
III. Priority Transboundary Environmental Issues
A. Overexploitation of living marine resources: status, proximate causes, information
gaps
B. Degradation of critical habitats: status, proximate causes, information gaps
C. Land-based sources of pollution: status, proximate causes, information gaps
IV. Root causes
A. Socio-economics
B. Law
C. Institutions
V. Conclusions
References
Annexes
2
BOBLME Programme
Preliminary Framework Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis
List of Tables, Figures and Annexes
Tables
Table 1:
Summary of national characteristics of BOBLME countries
Table 2:
Estimates of gross domestic product for BOBLME countries, 2002
Table 3:
Human development (HDI), environmental sustainability (ESI) and
vulnerability
index
scores (EVI) for BOBLME countries
Table 4:
Sub-national government systems in BOBLME countries
Table 5:
Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index 2001-2003
Table 6:
Examples of transboundary species/species groups in the BOBLME
Table 7:
Examples of endangered or threatened species in the BOBLME
Table 8:
Estimated marine capture fishery production by BOBLME countries in
recent
years
Table 9:
Major species groups contributing to fishery production in BOBLME
countries,
2002
Table 10:
Estimated contribution of fisheries to GDP in BOBLME countries, various
years
Table 11:
Apparent consumption of fish and fishery products in BOBLME countries,
1997-1999
average
Table 12:
Major mangrove forests in the BOBLME
Table 13:
Summary of coral reef status in the BOBLME
Table 14:
Proximate and root causes of the transboundary environmental issues and
principal
information
gaps
Table 15:
Proposed illustrative activities
Figures
Figure 1:
Countries of the BOBLME region showing estimated EEZ areas
Figure 2:
Trends in population size and growth, urbanization and growth in GDP in
the
BOBLME
countries
Figure 3:
Consumption pressure per capita in relation to GDP per capita
Figure 4:
Footprint deficit in relation to GDP per capita
Figure 5:
Population distribution in the BOBLME region
Figure 6:
Trend of marine catch in the BOBLME
Figure 7:
Trends in capture fishery production from the BOBLME by main species
group
Figure 8:
Trend of catches of major species groups in the BOBLME
Figure 9:
Trend of catches of some pelagic and demersal species groups in the
BOBLME
Annexes
Annex 1:
Map of the BOBLME region
Annex 2:
Comparison of land-based pollution sources in the BOBLME countries
Annex 3:
Partial listing of fishery management laws and regulations in the
BOBLME
countries
3
BOBLME Programme
Preliminary Framework Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA)
Abbreviations and Acronyms
BP
Before
Present
BOBLME
Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem
CBM
Community-based Management
CPI
Corruption Perceptions Index
EEZ
Exclusive Economic Zone
ESI
Environmental Sustainability Index
EVI
Environmental Vulnerability Index
EU
European
Union
FAO
Food and Agriculture Organization
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
GEF
Global Environment Facility
GPA
Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine
Environment from Land-based Activities
HDI
Human Development Index
IW
International
Waters
LBSP
Land-based Sources of Pollution
LME
Large Marine Ecosystem
NGO
Non-governmental
Organization
NPK
Nitrogen, Phosphate, Potassium
PDF
Project
Development
and Preparation Facility
POP(s)
Persistent Organic Pollutant(s)
PPP
Purchasing
Power
Parity
SAP
Strategic Action Programme
TDA
Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis
UN
United
Nations
UNDP
United Nations Development Programme
WWF
Worldwide Fund for Nature
4
Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem Programme
Preliminary Framework Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis
I.
Overview of the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BOBLME) and the
Priority Transboundary Environmental Issues
A.
Scope of the BOBLME
The BOBLME as defined for the purposes of the BOBLME Programme
comprises the coastal areas, islands, reefs, continental shelves and coastal and marine
waters of Bangladesh, the east coast of India, the provinces of Aceh, Riau and North and
West Sumatra of Indonesia, the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, the Maldives,
Myanmar, Sri Lanka and the west coast of Thailand. Thus the BOBLME includes the
Bay of Bengal itself, the Andaman Sea, the Western Straits of Malacca and the Indian
Ocean to the south to just past the equator. All the littoral countries of the BOBLME
region as defined participate in the BOBLME Programme: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The BOBLME region also
includes the watersheds that feed into the Bay of Bengal, Andaman Sea, Straits of
Malacca and the northern Indian Ocean proper. Annex 1 depicts the BOBLME together
with its surrounding countries.
About 75% of the BOBLME lies within the EEZs of BOBLME countries; thus
most of the BOBLME is subject to national jurisdiction. The remainder of the BOBLME
is high seas and not under national jurisdiction. The BOBLME countries with the greatest
extent of estimated EEZ area in the BOBLME as defined are, from largest to smallest:
India, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh and Malaysia.
Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar and Sri Lanka have 100% of their coastlines within the
BOBLME as defined; only part of the coastline of India, Indonesia, Malaysia and
Thailand are in the BOBLME (Figure 1). The designations employed and the material
presented in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever by the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations or by the author of this
document on the legal status of any country, city, territory or area, or of its authorities, or
concerning the delimitation of any frontiers or boundaries.
5
Figure 1: Countries of the BOBLME showing estimated EEZ areas (Source: Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA, from Preston, 2004)
B.
Physical Setting of the BOBLME
The BOBLME lies in a high rainfall/monsoonal climate zone and it includes
substantial expanses of low-lying land. Huge quantities of water move through the
BOBLME countries via rivers, run-off, floods, groundwater, storm and tidal surges,
mobilising and carrying sediments, pollutants, and surges of fresh water (the latter can
also have deleterious effects on the marine environment) from great distances inland and
upstream. These powerful mechanisms link the activities of the BOBLME countries with
the sea and underline the importance of including watersheds in the scope of the
BOBLME.
The BOBLME forms the northeastern arm of the Indian Ocean in the tropical
monsoon belt. The monsoon is a wind that changes direction with the change of seasons.
It blows from the south-west from May to October and from the northeast from
November to April. The southwest, or summer, monsoon occurs when warm, moist air
from the Indian Ocean flows onto the land, and is usually accompanied by heavy rain.
The northeast monsoon occurs when cold, dry winter air flows out of the interior of Asia
from the northeast and brings the cool, dry winter season. The monsoon influences the
wind-driven surface circulation in the BOBLME. The surface currents change direction
accordingly, forming a stronger clockwise gyre in during the southwest monsoon and a
6
weaker anti-clockwise gyre during the northeast monsoon. Although the monsoon is a
recurring event, it is characterized by great interannual variability in the time of its onset
and its intensity, neither of which can as yet be adequately predicted. Monsoon dynamics
are probably linked with El Niño/Southern Oscillation events and their understanding
must be viewed as being of both regional and global importance (see, e.g., Wyrtki, in
Verlaan, 1991).
Upwelling is a wind-driven feature of the upper water column that is particularly
important because of its contribution to productivity. A natural physical process whereby
nutrient-rich, cooler water is "pumped" to the surface from a maximum depth of about
200 m under certain wind and current configurations, upwelling can occur along coasts
and in the open ocean. The increase in nutrients stimulates phytoplankton blooms, which
attract a variety of zooplankton and nekton, including human food fish. In the BOBLME
upwelling is seasonal because it is also monsoon-dependent: it occurs, e.g., on the
northeast coast of India and the western coast of Thailand during the northeast monsoon
as well as off the south coast of Sri Lanka. During the southwest monsoon, the eastward-
flowing Monsoon Current (replacing the westward-flowing North Equatorial Current of
the Northeast monsoon period) supplies nutrients to the BOBLME from the Somali
upwelling in the Arabian Sea.
The BOBLME is subject to destructive cyclones that form over the open sea and
head shoreward in a generally westward direction, as well as to storm surges. Their
effects are most severe along the western continental and island coasts. They occur most
often just before and after the monsoon rains. Bangladesh, for example, experiences
storm surges up to 160 km inland to the north.
Many large rivers flow into the BOBLME, e.g., the Ganges, Brahmaputra and
Meghna on the north from Bangladesh and India; the Ayeryawady and Thanlwin on the
east from Myanmar; and the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery on the west from
India. Numerous rivers also flow into the BOBLME from Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka
and Thailand. These rivers introduce huge fluxes of fresh water and large quantities of
silt into the coastal and marine environment of the BOBLME. As much as 80% of the
7
annual discharge enters this environment in the summer during the southwest monsoon.
Every year, the rivers of the Indian subcontinent alone add 1600 million metric tons of
silt to the BOBLME. The Bengal Sediment Cone or Fan on the sea floor of the BOBLME
is the world's widest and longest (3,000 km long) and contains over one million km3 of
sediments, mostly stripped from the Himalayas. The rivers have also carved submarine
canyons below the continental shelf break along the continental slope; the Ganges
Canyon is particularly large and deep.
The influx of fresh water from the major rivers affects the salinity and
productivity of the coastal and estuarine waters as well as coastal circulation patterns,
especially in the north of the BOBLME. The BOBLME is considered to be a moderately
productive (150-300 gC/m2/yr) ecosystem. Productivity is higher in the coastal areas,
which receive nutrient-rich waters, and especially off river mouths. During the season of
current reversal, saline water invades the estuaries and lower reaches of coastal rivers.
Monsoon rain and flood waters have a strong influence on the dynamics of the Bay,
producing a warm, low-salinity, nutrient- and oxygen-rich layer to a depth of 100 m.
Tides are mostly semi-diurnal and the range is quite large (e.g., from 0.7 m in Sri Lanka
to 7 m in Myanmar (springs); effects are felt up to 130 km inland in the northern and up
to 340 km in the northeastern estuaries of Bangladesh).
The continental shelf tends to be quite narrow except in the northern part of the
BOBLME. Along the western, oceanic side of the Andaman-Nicobar Islands begins the
Java Trench, which continues south past the western, oceanic side of Sumatra (and Java)
Islands. The Java Trench is seismically active and the only area in the BOBLME where
ocean floor is subducted. In the Andaman Sea, east of the Andaman-Nicobar Islands, is
an active spreading center, where new ocean floor is produced, and two large seamounts
have been noted.
C. Socio-economic
context
The eight countries surrounding the BOBLME include some of the most populous
on earth, with India, Indonesia and Bangladesh being among the world's top ten.
Collectively the BOBLME countries are home to some 1.55 billion people, or a little less
8
than a quarter of the world's population. Approximately 400 million people live in the
BOBLME's catchment area, with 65% of the region's urban population living in large
coastal cities. Migration towards the coast is increasing. The BOBLME countries are still
primarily rural, but are undergoing rapid urban growth. In 2000, the percentage of the
population living in urban areas was 25% in Bangladesh, 28% in India, 24% in Sri Lanka
and 26% in Maldives, with an annual urban growth rate of 2.6-5.8% (SOE South Asia
2001, from Kaly, 2004).
The region is experiencing rapid economic growth. The BOBLME countries are
all ranked by the UN Human Development Index (HDI) as being of Medium Human
Development (see also Table 3, infra). Nevertheless the eight countries of the region are
home to the world's largest concentration of the income-poor. Many of the 400 million
people living in the BOBLME's catchment area are among the world's poorest,
subsisting at or below the poverty level. Many of these poor are part of the burgeoning
coastal population and they depend primarily or entirely on coastal and marine resources,
in particular the fisheries and the associated critical habitats of, especially, mangrove
forests, coral reefs and seagrass beds; they have few if any alternatives to these resources
for their food, shelter and livelihood. The coastal capture fisheries from the BOBLME
alone provide direct employment to 2 million fishermen (of which approximately 61%
are on the western side of the BOBLME: Bangladesh, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka and
approximately 39% on the eastern side: Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand).
The current situation and the trends in the demographic picture and Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) for the BOBLME countries are presented in Tables 1-3 and
Figures 2-5. Note that the data are country-wide for all the BOBLME countries, including
data for those whose coasts are outside the BOBLME. Despite their generally large
populations, the BOBLME countries have relatively small economies. In terms of GDP,
none of them ranks among the world's top ten (India is number 11, Indonesia number
26). Major contributors to GDP include agriculture, mining, manufacturing, utilities,
construction, trade, transport and communications, finance, public administration. Other
activities, such as tourism, are important to certain countries. In some, especially
Maldives, tourism is closely linked with the quality of the coastal environment.
9
Table 1: Summary of national characteristics of BOBLME countries (from Kaly,
2004) * EVI Database, ** including rivers, ~WRI 2003
General country indicators
BD
IN
ID
MY
MV
MM
LK
TH
*National population (millions)*
129
1014
212
22
0.31
46
19
61
*National population density (#/sq km)
992
341
117
68
1036
69
291
119
*Population within 100km coast**
(millions) 71
267
203
22
ND
22
19
23
*Population density within 100km
coast (#/sq km)
544
155
112
66
ND
34
291
46
~National population growth 1980-
2000
1.9% 1.9% 1.7% 2.4% 3.0% 1.5% 1.5% 2.9%
~Rural
areas
1.3% 1.6% 0.3% 0.9% 2.7% 1.2% 1.4% 2.1%
~Urban
areas
4.6% 3.0% 4.8% 4.0% 3.8% 2.2% 1.5% 4.7%
~GDP per capita 2000 (in 1995 USD)
356
463
986
5,024
1,833
ND
880
2,712
~ by Agriculture
25%
25%
17%
11%
ND
ND
20%
10%
~ by Industry
24%
27%
47%
45%
ND
ND
27%
40%
~ by Services
51%
48%
36%
44%
ND
ND
53%
49%
The annual growth in GDP in the region was generally high between 1975 and
2001 for all countries except Myanmar and Bangladesh, reaching almost 5.4% in
Thailand. After 2001, the rate of growth in GDP slowed for Indonesia and Malaysia
(Figure 2d) and rose to 5.7% in Myanmar, while the remaining BOBLME countries
stayed at around the same levels.
Table 2: Estimates of gross domestic product for BOBLME countries, 2002
(Source: World Bank/ ADB/ UNDP; from Preston, 2004)
GDP (USD millions)
GDP/ capita (USD)
GDP/ capita (USD)
(2002)
(2002) (crude)
(2002) (PPP method)
Bangladesh 47,328
349
1,610
India 515,012 491 2,840
Indonesia 172,911
817
2,940
Malaysia 95,157
3,915
8,750
Maldives 618
2,153 4,798
Myanmar 51,436
1,006
1,027
Sri Lanka
16,373
863
3,180
Thailand 126,407 2,051
6,400
GDP at purchaser prices is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any
product taxes (less subsidies) not included in the valuation of output. It is calculated without making
deductions for depreciation of fabricated capital assets or for depletion and degradation of natural
resources. (World Bank, 2003).
Crude GDP per capita is calculated by converting a country's GDP into USD using prevailing exchange
rates. This takes no account of the differences in prices of traded good in each economy (for instance an
item in one country may be much cheaper in another country). Purchasing power parity (PPP) adjustments
allow for different product prices and give a more meaningful comparison of the relative purchasing power
of income in each country's currency than a simple conversion.
10
Figure 2: Trends in population size and growth, urbanization and growth in GDP
in the BOBLME countries (from Kaly, 2004)
Values are from HDR 2003. Note the time periods used for annual growth in GDP per capita are non-
independent, with the first period covering 1975-2001 and the second covering 1990-2001.
(a) (b)
1400
3.5
Population
Annual population growth rate
1200
3
1000
2.5
s
800
n
2
i
ll
io
%
M
600
1.5
400
1
200
0.5
0
0
1975
2001
2015
1975-2001
2001-2015
BD
IN
ID
MY
BD
IN
ID
MY
MV
MM
LK
TH
MV
MM
LK
TH
(c) (d)
70
6.5
Urbanisation
Annual growth in GDP per capita
60
5.5
s
ea
50
r
b
an ar
4.5
40
n U
%
on i
30
ati
3.5
o
pul
P
20
%
2.5
10
0
1.5
1975
2001
2015
1975-2001
1990-2001
BD
IN
ID
MY
BD
IN
ID
MY
MV
MM
LK
TH
MV
MM
LK
TH
11
Figure 3: Consumption pressure per capita in relation to GDP per capita (from
Kaly, 2004)
Data are from HDR 2003 and ESI 2001. The Consumption Pressure Index value was calculated using the
same methodology used by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) for the 1998 Living Planet report, but
using only grain-equivalent, fish, wood-equivalent and cement consumption per person. For each
commodity, a country's per capita average was divided by the global per person average, giving a relative
score. The relative scores for all the 4 components were then averaged to give the consumption pressure
per person for that country (ESI 2001).
Consumption Pressure per Capita 1996
6
Singapore
5
4
s
ure
i
o
n pres
3
pt
MY
u
m
o
ns
2
C
TH
ID
1
LK
BD, IN
0
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
GDP per capita 2001 (in 1995 USD)
World
BOBLME
Linear (World)
Linear (BOBLME)
12
Figure 4: Footprint deficit in relation to GDP per capita (from Kaly, 2004)
Data are from HDR 2003 and ESI 2001. The ecological footprint is a measure of a country's impact on
global environmental resources. A negative number (deficit) indicates that a country requires more land
area than it actually has in order to support its economy, and a positive number means that it has a surplus
of biologically productive land (ESI 2001).
Footprint deficit 1996
35
Gabon
30
25
20
it
15
e
f
ic
t
d
10
o
t
p
r
in
Fo
5
0
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
-5
-10
Singapore
-15
GDP per capita 2001 (in 1995 USD)
World
BOBLME
Linear (World)
Linear (BOBLME)
13
The total population in the BOBLME countries has increased dramatically over
the past 30 years. In 1975 the population of the region was 23% of the world total at 928
million. By 2001 it had expanded to 1.5 billion (India doubled) and accounted for ¼ of
the world's population. By the year 2015, it is expected that the population in the region
will exceed 1.8 billion and account for almost 26% of the world's population (HDR 2003,
Figure 2a). That is, by 2015 the population in the region will have expanded from
today's levels by a further 20%, despite a slowing growth rate (Figure 2b). Further, the
distribution of people is likely to become more uneven across the countries, as there is an
increasing trend towards urbanization (Figure 2c) and a migration towards coastal areas
(from Kaly, 2004).
Table 3: Human development (HDI), environmental sustainability (ESI) and
vulnerability index scores (EVI) for BOBLME countries (from Kaly, 2004).
Index Bangladesh India
Indonesia Malaysia Maldives Myanmar Sri
Lanka Thailand
ESI
39.50
40.90
42.60
49.70
-
-
49.80
45.20
EVI
3.58 (43)
3.87 (20)
3.3 (76)
3.15 (96)
4.21 (4)
2.75 (143)
3.35 (65)
3.05 (109)
EDI
4.06 4.41 3.31 3.06 3.29
3.56 4.00
3.00
HDI
0.502 (139)
0.590 (127) 0.682 (112) 0.790 (58) 0.751 (86) 0.549 (131) 0.730 (99) 0.768 (74)
ESI = Environmental Sustainability Index (YCELP 2001) [Best=80.5 Finland, Lowest=24.7 Haiti]; EVI =
Demonstration Environmental Vulnerability Index (Kaly et al. 2003) followed by (Rank position of 235
countries) [Least Vulnerable=1; Highly vulnerable=7]; EDI = Environmental Degradation Sub-index of the
EVI with same scale. HDI=Human Development Index (HDR 2003) followed by (Rank position of 175
countries) [Best=0.944 (1), Lowest=0.275(175)] (from Kaly, 2004).
The Human Development Index (HDI) is calculated by the UNDP Human Development Report Office for
as many of the world's countries as possible (i.e., where data are available). The HDI is based on a
composite of four development indicators: life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate, educational
enrolment rates, and GDP per capita. The range is 2002 was from 0.944 (Norway) to 0.275 (Sierra Leone).
Countries with an index value greater than 0.8 are classified as High Human Development, those between
0.5 and 0.8 as Medium Human Development, and below 0.5 as Low Human Development. HDI rank is a
simple ranking of the 175 countries for which HDI estimates are available, with 1 being the highest and 175
being the lowest (from Preston, 2004).
If the experience of more developed countries can be legitimately used as a rough
predictor, we can expect that patterns of consumption will increase as growth in GDP
occurs (Figure 3). Most of the BOBLME countries currently have relatively low
consumption rates (and low GDP), except for Malaysia. Malaysia's Consumption
Pressure Index (ESI 2001) is the second highest of 120 countries and is second only to
Singapore (Figure 3). In terms of the ecological footprint, or amount of land required to
support people and lifestyle in the region, the BOBLME countries are right at or just
14
above carrying capacity (Figure 4). The global trend is that an increase in GDP leads to a
country's carrying capacity being exceeded, with Singapore being in the worst position.
Of perhaps even more concern for this discussion is that the BOBLME countries could be
on a path to even greater levels of consumption and exceed their environmental carrying
capacity at far greater levels than the rest of the world (see trend in Figure 3 & Figure 4).
Population density will increase from a current average of 224 persons/km2 to 268
persons/km2 in 2015. Population pressure is much higher in the four western BOBLME
countries than in the four to the east (Figure 5). Despite having similar total land areas
(3,497,300 km2 in the west, 3,425,000 km2. in the east) the total population of the western
countries is 1,203 million, as opposed to 347 million in the east, or a ratio of about 3.5 to
1. The figures are expected to increase to 1,448 million and 405 million respectively by
2015, or a ratio of 3.6:1. Population densities are also higher in the west, at 344 persons
per km2 (rising to 530 by 2015), compared to 101 persons/km2 (rising to 118 in 2015) in
the east (from Preston, 2004).
Figure 5: Population distribution in the BOBLME countries (from Kaly, 2004)
15
D.
The priority transboundary environmental issues
At the First Regional Workshop of the BOBLME Programme (Pattaya, Thailand,
February 2003), the BOBLME countries set the scope of the Transboundary Diagnostic
Analysis (TDA) to address the following three major transboundary environmental issues
prevailing in the BOBLME region and ranked in the following order of regional severity
of the environmental threat (BOBLME/REP/1):
1. Overexploitation of living marine resources
2. Degradation of critical habitats
3. Land-based sources of pollution to the coastal and marine environment.
At the Preparatory Meeting for the Second Regional Workshop of the BOBLME
Programme (Penang, Malaysia, March 2004), the BOBLME countries requested the
inclusion of ship-based sources of pollution, including dumping within the meaning of
the London Convention (1972) and its Protocol (1996) as the fourth transboundary
environmental issue to be addressed in the TDA (BOBLME/REP/2).
At the First Regional Workshop of the BOBLME Programme, the BOBLME
member countries agreed that mangroves and coral reefs, in that order of severity of risk,
were the two critical habitats particularly at risk to be addressed in the TDA
(BOBLME/REP/1). At the Preparatory Meeting for the Second Regional Workshop of
the BOBLME Programme, the BOBLME member countries requested the addition of
seagrass beds as the third critical habitat to be addressed in the TDA (BOBLME/REP/2).
16
II. Introduction to the Draft Framework Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA)
A.
Purpose and Scope
For Global Environmental Facility (GEF) projects in the International Waters
(IW) portfolio, the TDA is used to identify, quantify where possible and rank, according
to severity, water-related, environmental issues and their proximate and root causes. The
TDA assists in determining which of these issues have causes or effects of a
transboundary nature, such that effective action to address these issues will require multi-
country collaboration. A "transboundary issue" in the present context is defined as an
issue that is common to or shared between two or more of the BOBLME countries. A
"common" issue is one that two or more countries are confronted with; a "shared" issue is
one that straddles or whose effects are felt across the boundaries, however defined,
between two or more countries. The TDA provides the scientific basis for the
collaborative development of the Strategic Action Programme (SAP) and for the design
and implementation of nationally and regionally coordinated activities addressing these
issues and their causes in the context of the SAP. The present document is intended to
serve as the preliminary framework for the TDA. It was prepared under the PDF-B phase
as part of the preparation activities for the main phase of the BOBLME Programme under
the GEF IW Portfolio. During the first part of the main phase, the TDA will be completed
and the SAP elaborated.
This document outlines the major water-related coastal and marine environmental
issues as perceived by the BOBLME countries, identifies the transboundary elements of
the issues, their main proximate and root causes, major information gaps, potential areas
for action and major potential constraints on intervention. It consolidates the results and
recommendations of the extensive regional and national consultations held with
stakeholders and of the reports and comments received, between January 2003 and May
2004 of the PDF-B phase of the BOBLME Programme, from the National Task Force
(NTF) Meetings, National Workshops, the First Regional Workshop, the Regional
Preparatory Meeting for the Second Regional Workshop and the Regional Technical
Meeting for the Preparation of the Logical Framework Analysis, as well as from the
Country Reports, the National Reports and the Regional Thematic Reviews, together with
17
comments from the National Review Group (NRG) Members on the National Reports
and from the International Scientific Review Group (ISRG) Members on the Regional
Thematic Reviews.
B.
Examination of root causes, information gaps and intervention constraints
The analysis of root causes, information gaps and intervention constraints for the
major transboundary environmental issues is set in the following context.
1. Root
causes
The root causes of the major environmental issues common to the BOBLME
countries are divided into socio-economic, legal and institutional categories.
a. Socio-economics
Socio-economic root causes can be usefully considered in terms of internal and
external stimuli. The internal stimuli are the proximate daily survival needs of the -
usually poor - communities who require the resources of the critical habitats and the
associated coastal and marine waters for their food, livelihood and shelter. The external
stimuli are overall population growth, national demand for foreign exchange and for
infrastructural, commercial, industrial and residential development (e.g., houses, tourist
resorts, ports, airports, roads, harbours, industries and government buildings). Population
growth has several drivers: indigenous growth (birth rate), coastal migration, urbanisation
and tourism; these increase and focus population density such that the surrounding and
downstream environments, as well as the living marine resources and critical habitats
located therein, are disproportionately stressed.
b. Law
Legal root causes can be usefully analyzed in two contexts: the adequacy of the
legislation specifically addressing and/or generally applicable to the environmental issue
(i.e., overexploitation of marine living resources, critical habitat degradation, and land-
and sea-based sources of pollution) and the adequacy of the implementation (including
enforcement) authority for the legislation. Such legislation comprises the body of laws
18
and regulations applicable either specifically and directly to the environmental issue or
subject itself or by logical implication (e.g., coastal zone legislation where the coastal
zone definition or geographic scope of the legislation must logically include the
environmental issue or subject even if it is not specifically mentioned). Implementation
authority refers to the full panoply of governmental institutions at all levels, from those
that are constitutionally or otherwise legally enshrined at the national level (e.g.,
ministries) to those operating at the local (village) level, that are legally entitled to
implement - and enforce - the relevant legislation.
c. Institutions
Institutional root causes are those that hamper the ability of the governmental
institutions to execute their legally mandated implementation authority under the
applicable legislation. Enforcement problems are identified as an institutional rather than
a legal root cause when a legal basis for enforcement exists. Table 4 illustrates the
complexities involved in both the legal and the institutional aspects.
2. Information
gaps
Two categories of information gaps are relevant in the LME management context:
· An actual lack of essential information. This is information that really does not
exist and without which a sensible approach to the problem at hand cannot even
begin to be developed.
· A perceived lack of essential information. This is information that is important for
problem-solving as defined above, but that does actually exist; however, in the
region it is either not widely known in the circles that need it or it is not in a
useable form or it is not available at all, although it is available elsewhere.
These two types of gaps should be distinguished. The associated interventions -
and their cost and complexity - needed to address the gaps themselves will be very
different. For example, addressing an actual lack of essential information may require a
long and costly research programme. Information that already exists is far easier and
19
Table 4: Sub-national government systems in BOBLME countries
(Various sources, from Preston, 2004)
Country
Local government levels
Bangladesh
· Six administrative divisions, three of which are adjacent to the BOB (although all
are linked to it via the river and the coastal watershed)
· Zillas (districts) (groups of thanas)
· Thanas (groups of unions)
· Unions (groups of villages with popularly elected councils)
India
· 28 states, each with a state government and parliament modeled on the national
government. Four states (West Bengal, Orissa, Andrha Pradesh, Tamil Nadu) are
on the BOB.
· 6 Union Territories, two of which (Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Pondicherry)
are in or adjacent to the BOB. These administered collectively by a governor
appointed by the head of state.
· Various urban and rural administrative bodies
Indonesia
· 26 provinces, each with a provincial assembly which elects a governor. Three
provinces (Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau) are on the BOB.
· 246 districts headed by district heads, and 55 municipalities headed by mayors
· 3,592 subdistricts, and 66,594 villages
· The modern administration is supported by the traditional gotong royong, or
mutual responsibility and cooperation, system, based on village councils led by a
headman
Malaysia
· Eleven peninsular and two island states. Eight of the peninsular states (Perlis,
Kedah, Pulau Pinang, Perak, Selangor, Sembilan, Melaka and Johor) are on the
BOB.
· Nine states have hereditary rulers and four are led by governors appointed by the
hereditary rulers. Each state also has a state parliament.
· All states except Perlis (which is too small) are divided into varying numbers of
districts, each headed by a district officer
· Beneath this are local, municipal and city councils
Maldives
· Local councils and island administrations
Myanmar
· 14 regions, 7 of which are states of ethnic minority groups; and 7 administrative
divisions occupied by the Burman majority.
· Division, Township, and Village Law and Order Restoration Councils control
local government;
· Regional commanders have considerable autonomy over their districts
Sri Lanka
· 9 provinces and 25 administrative districts, each headed by an appointed district
minister
· Other local government units include 12 municipal councils and 39 urban
councils
Thailand
· 76 provinces, called changwads, each under the control of a governor appointed
by the national government.
· 655 districts, called amphurs, controlled by appointed district officials
· More than 6,600 communes, called tambons, and 58,600 villages, known as
moobans.
20
usually far cheaper to obtain and make useful. Preston (2004) remarks that in the
BOBLME region much valuable information on fisheries resources is contained in
studies that have never been synthesized and put in a larger analytical context and that are
kept, often as only the single original and on open shelves, in government offices.
departments. Johannes (1997) comments on valuable information similarly languishing in
the Pacific Islands region.
The concept of the "useable form" of information merits further elaboration. In
the preparatory phase for the SAP for the international waters of Pacific Islands (adopted
by the Heads of Government at the 28th South Pacific Forum, Rarotonga, Cook Islands,
1997), the actual lack of essential information was not identified as the priority
information gap. Instead, the priority gap was a lack of appropriately presented strategic
information to assist decision-makers, resource users, managers and communities in
deriving optimum benefit from their international waters, whose numerous alternative
uses might otherwise be unproductively employed (Verlaan & Miles, 1998). In other
words, the essential information was available, but not in a useful form by which policies
could be developed and decisions taken.
The concept of "essential" in assessing information gaps also merits further
consideration. In the context of managing natural (eco)systems, a lack of scientific data is
often - and often inaccurately - equated with a lack of essential information, and the
consequence often is no management action at all, on the basis that essential information
for such action is lacking. Meanwhile the environmental problems to be addressed
worsen, because the absence of management action because of the perceived lack of
essential information does not usually entail the cessation of the actions in the
environment that are (likely to be) causing the problems to begin with.
The fundamental reality driven by the nature of scientific research itself,
especially on natural biological (eco)systems and their fauna and flora, is that even in the
best-funded programmes in the wealthiest countries there will probably never - within
useful time scales for planners and managers - be enough scientific - which usually
means quantitative - data for the development and implementation of rigorous
21
management plans, on the best scientific principles, of those systems. In most
circumstances, however, there is likely to be enough qualitative information and (though
not required) at least some supporting quantitative data available to permit the
establishment of a reasonable set of initial management actions to address a given
environmental problem. These can - and should, as should all management actions, no
matter how "scientifically" based - be modified as experience from the field with the
results of the initial management plan comes in. For example, where the local fishermen
state that a particular species is depleted and that they suspect the cause is persistent
targeting of its major spawning aggregation (qualitative information), it would be otiose
and a waste of scarce research resources to insist on a quantitative data-gathering
programme before deciding what to do, when protecting those spawning aggregations
from further fishing effort would be an at least initially practical and highly defensible
management measure to take (Johannes (1997). Johannes (1997) also illustrates how this
experimental management approach with good qualitative information but little or no
quantitative data would operate in practice.
A useful approach to this perennial problem of ostensibly insufficient data
justifying management inaction is to incorporate the precautionary principle in legal
systems. An analysis by the BOBLME countries of the identified information gaps in
light of these additional criteria would assist in prioritizing these gaps in order to allocate
scarce research resources more effectively. It would also help in assessing when
invocations of knowledge gaps are indeed constraints on potential interventions to
address the priority environmental issues and when application of the precautionary
principle would be the correct response. The information gaps identified infra are
presented in this context.
3. Intervention
constraints
Three categories of constraints are relevant in the BOBLME context: those
generally applicable to interventions dealing with any of the priority environmental
issues, those applicable to a particular issue, and those applicable especially to a
particular proposed intervention. With regard to the first category, two constraints on
22
intervention that are generally applicable to the priority environmental concerns are the
problem of inaccurate perception and that of petty corruption.
With regard to the first problem in this category, the population in the region
generally considers that environmental conservation is a governmental responsibility. It is
not understood to be a responsibility that is shared by everyone living, working or
visiting in the BOBLME countries (individuals, industries, tourists) and that this
responsibility entails daily duties to be carried out by, e.g., each individual, industry and
tourist. It is also not understood that every activity carries an environmental cost, even if
this cost is not immediately apparent.
As for the second problem, the absence of political commitment to
environmentally responsible uses of the resources of the BOBLME undermines the will
and ability to enforce applicable legislation and fosters disrespect for law and
government. Enforcement generally must occur, at least initially, at local level, and this
can be very difficult in communities where the environmental enforcers and the
environmental miscreants are known to each other. Pressure from vested interests,
including local politicians, can be intense, especially where the enforcers are poorly paid,
as is generally the case in the region, such that the threat of unemployment or the offer of
bribe will carry considerable weight. A strong negative correlation exists between civil
servant wages and levels of petty corruption (Transparency International 2003 in Kaly,
2004). Table 5 shows that the BOBLME region overall can also improve in terms of
Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
Table 5: Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index 2001-2003
(from Kaly, 2004) Sources: WRI 2003 and http://www.transparency.org; 10=least corrupt; 0=most
corrupt; values are CPI and (Rank).
Country
CPI 2001
CPI 2002
CPI 2003
Finland (best)
9.9
9.7 (1)
9.7 (1)
Bangladesh (worst)
0.4
1.2 (102)
1.3 (133)
India
2.7
2.7 (71)
2.8 (83)
Indonesia
1.9
1.9 (96)
1.9 (122)
Malaysia
5.0
4.9 (33)
5.2 (37)
Maldives -
-
-
Myanmar -
-
1.6
(129)
Sri Lanka
-
3.7 (52)
3.4 (66)
Thailand
3.2
3.2 (64)
3.3 (70)
23
With regard to the second and third categories, no generally applicable constraints
were identified that would be relevant to interventions addressing the individual priority
concerns as such. It is likely that such constraints will operate at the level of a specific
intervention and will differ depending on the intervention proposed; they will have to be
identified and further analyzed under the specifically applicable circumstances for a
given proposed intervention. An analysis by the BOBLME countries of the proposed
interventions in the context of these three categories would assist in planning and
implementation of interventions and in their prioritization, enabling the early
identification of cases where the impediment(s) to an otherwise excellent proposed
intervention are considered too difficult to overcome.
C. Crosscutting
issues
1.
Traditional systems of ownership and customary rights
Traditional systems of ownership, customary uses and rights over the space and
resources of the BOBLME appear to exist or to have recently existed to a greater or lesser
extent in many parts of the BOBLME region. Even where so-called "open access"
systems may have been traditionally the norm, such apparent absence of "ownership"
may have traditionally applied to the resident local population, and not to incoming
outsiders. A "traditional system" - as this document will henceforth refer to this complex
topic - can vary between countries and between different regions of the same country,
between different types of resources (e.g., offshore vs. coastal) and it can
(simultaneously) operate as one or more of the following:
· an aspect of one, two or all three of the principal root causes
· a constraint on proposed interventions
· an information gap in its own right.
Traditional systems must therefore be considered in all of the analytical categories
discussed above. The multiple levels of operational and functional complexity make this
topic particularly opaque to regional characterization. Furthermore, insufficient
information is available on traditional systems formerly or currently operative in the
BOBLME region to contribute to the specific analysis of each of the principal
transboundary environmental issues that follows below, or even to determine whether
24
further elaboration on these systems is likely to be necessary to address a specific threat.
Nevertheless, their probable prevalence in the region is such that it would be sensible, in
designing interventions to address environmental issues, to:
· investigate whether a traditional system exists at the site proposed for the
intervention and, if so, how it operates
· whether the traditional system is - or can easily be made to be - compatible with
the objectives of the intervention - and vice-versa
· whether and, if so, how the legal and institutional mechanisms necessary to
implement the intervention require adjustment to enable operation of the
traditional system.
Advantages of this essentially "precautionary" approach to the issue of traditional
systems include:
· investigations as to their existence are likely to lead to additional knowledge
about the local resources
· enhanced facilitation of community involvement in the proposed intervention,
including implementation and enforcement of the intervention
· improvement in the design of the intervention.
2.
Livelihoods and Food Security
The lack of alternative livelihoods and of food security are two of the most
important generally applicable and most difficult impediments to and constraints on
many of the interventions proposed to address the environmental issues facing the
BOBLME. They are also root causes of the environmental issues themselves. In
designing interventions to address these issues, it would be sensible to:
· assess the potential effect of the proposed interventions on the current livelihoods
and food security of the communities affected by the proposed intervention
· determine whether the intervention can be designed to address the related
livelihood and food security issues as well.
The advantages of this approach are the same as those outlined for traditional systems,
supra.
25
III.
Priority Transboundary Environmental Issues
A.
Status and proximate causes of overexploitation of living marine resources
1.
Status
The BOBLME countries are particularly concerned about the fisheries aspects of
marine living resource exploitation. "Fisheries aspects" in this context comprise the
harvesting or other extractive use(s) of naturally occurring living marine resources
irrespective of their phylogenetic classification and include, inter alia, adults, juveniles,
eggs and miscellaneous parts of fish, invertebrates, plants and other organisms that rely
on the marine environment for some part of their life cycle. Most fishery legislation in the
BOBLME countries uses this definition (Preston, 2004). Aquaculture or non-extractive
resource uses, such as tourism, are not included, but are discussed where appropriate.
Most of the living marine resource stocks on which the BOBLME's fisheries are
based traverse international boundaries of adjacent, and sometimes non-adjacent,
countries and many of them are targeted by several BOBLME countries. Table 6 lists
several important fishery groups which, based on the BOBLME national reports and
other sources, appear to fall into this category. Large pelagic species, such as tunas and
billfishes, range over large ocean spaces and pass through the EEZs of many countries
inside and outside the BOBLME. Smaller pelagic species, such as anchovies, herrings
and shads, are not as mobile, but usually migrate through the coastal waters of two or
more neighbouring countries. Some small pelagic species, e.g., the rainbow sardine
(Dussumeria acuta), are distributed along the coasts of all BOBLME countries; their
range may extend well beyond the BOBLME.
Resources which appear to be sessile or only locally mobile, such as reef fish,
lobsters, sea cucumbers and corals, often have patterns of larval dispersal that give their
distribution a transboundary dimension. Tropical lobsters (genus Panulirus), for instance,
have a pelagic larval lifespan that may last from 4-12 months, during which period the
larvae may travel thousands of miles from the place of birth to the place of adult
settlement. Some demersal species, such as the sea catfish (family Ariidae) are also
transboundary.
26
Unsustainable fisheries based on these shared or straddling stocks and
unsustainable activities based on the critical habitats that support these stocks in one
country may adversely affect recruitment that originates in another country but
replenishes the stocks in the first country or vice-versa.
Table 6: Examples of transboundary species/species groups in the BOBLME
(modified from Preston, 2004)
Common name
Scientific name
Countries primarily
concerned
Hilsa
Tenualosa ilisha/toli
All except Maldives
Small tunas
Auxis thazard,
All
Euthynnus affinis
Short mackerel
Rastrelliger brachysoma
Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand
Myanmar and Sri Lanka
Indian mackerel
Rastrelliger kanagurta
All
Spanish mackerel/seerfish
Scomberomorus spp
All
Oil sardine
Sardinella longiceps
India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka
Bali sardinella
Sardinella lemuru
Thailand and Indonesia
Rainbow sardine
Dussumeria acuta/elopsoides
All, especially southern
India/Sri Lanka
Indian pellona
Pellona ditchella
All except Maldives
Goldstripe sardinella
Sardinella gibbosa/fimbriata
All except Maldives
Indian scad
Decapterus russelli
All
Indian halibut
Psettodes erumei
India, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
and Thailand
Bombay duck
Harpodon nehereus
India, Bangladesh, Indonesia,
Malaysia and Myanmar
Black pomfret
Parastromateus niger
India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri
Lanka, Pakistan and Thailand
Sea catfish
Arius maculates, A. thalassinum,
All except Maldives
others
A region's full biodiversity spectrum combines components (genes, species and
ecosystems) and processes (spawning areas, nursery areas, migration stopovers and
bottlenecks) with high diversity and/or productivity and/or endemism (Norse, 1994). The
global and regional importance of the rich coastal and marine genetic, species, ecosystem
and process biodiversity of the BOBLME is well recognized (see, e.g., Kelleher et al.,
1995). The extent of the BOBLME's importance in these terms is illustrated from several
aspects (Table 7). Table 7 shows the wide phyletic range of the BOBLME region's
biodiversity that is currently at risk. Table 7 is not an exhaustive list. The list of species
recently (as of 2000) declared to be extinct in the Sundarbans alone (Hossain, 2003) also
already includes mammals, birds and reptiles. That list is probably not exhaustive either,
as our knowledge of the full diversity of the Sunderbans is poor.
27
Table 7: Examples of threatened or endangered species in the BOBLME (Source:
BOBLME national reports; compiled by author)
Common name
Scientific name
Sea cow or manatee
Dugong dugong
Gangetic dolphin
Platanista gangetica
Irrawaddy dolphin
Orcaella berivostris
Finless porpoise
Neophocaena phocaenoides
Royal Bengal tiger
Panthera tigris
Fishing cat
Felis viverrina
Jungle cat
Felis chaus
Horseshoe crab
Limulus spp
Loggerhead turtle
Caretta
caretta
Green turtle
Chelonia mydas
Leatherback turtle Dermochelys
coriacea
Hawk'sbill turtle
Eretmochelys
imbricata
Olive ridley turtle
Lepidochelys olivacea
River terrapin
Batagur baska
Estuarine crocodile
Crocodilus porosus
Marsh crocodile
Crocodilus palustris
Water monitor lizard
Varanus salvator
Oceanic teal
Anas gibberfrons albogularis
Whale shark
Rhinodon typus
Marine
catfish
genus
Tachysurus and genus Osteogrenousus
White fish
Lactarius lactarius
Flat head
Platycephalus maculipinna
Threadfin
Polynemus indicus and P. heptadactylus,
Sciaenid
Pseudoscianena diaqcanthus and Otolithoides brunneus,
Perch
Pomadasys hasta
Eel
Muraenosox
Seahorse Hippocampus spp
Mangroves Sonneratia caseolaris, S. apetala, Avicennia marina, A.
officialis,
Suaeda
maritima,
S.
monoica,Rhizophora
apiculata,
R.
annamalayana
K.,Bruguiera cylindrica,
Ceriops
decandra,
Aegiceros
corniculatum,
Acanthus
ilicifolius,
Lumnitzera
racemosa
Molluscs Xancus pyrum, Cypraea talpa, C. serpentis, Pinctada
fucata, Chicoreus ramosus, C. virgineus, Conus amadis, C.
textile,
Strombus
canarium,
Murex
adustus,
M.
haustellum,
Velluta
lapponica
Bêche-de-mer
H. scabra
Enteropneust
Ptychodera flava (Balanoglossus)
These threatened (and extinct) species are each also closely associated with at
least one of the three habitats particularly identified as being of critical importance in
their own right to the maintenance of the BOBLME region's biodiversity. These habitats
are mangrove swamps, coral reefs and sea grass beds; they are recognized as also being at
risk. In the BOBLME region at least six have been identified as having regional priority:
the Sundarbans, Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar, Marine Wandur National Park in the
28
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Maldives Atolls and Mu Ko Similan and Mu Ko Surin
National Parks. The overriding objective of the Large Marine Ecosystem (LME)
approach is to manage the overall performance of a complex system (Costanza, 1992, in
Sherman, 2003). Although he points out that the definition of ecosystem health remains
elusive, hence the importance of indicators, Sherman (2003) offers a definition of a
sustainable ecosystem: it must maintain its metabolic activity level, its internal structure
and organization, and it must resist external stress over temporal and spatial scales
relevant to the ecosystem.
In the context of the sustainable management of a LME, Angell (2004) suggests
that a critical habitat may be defined as one whose services are necessary to the LME's
sustainability. Critical habitats support LME sustainability by, e.g., providing centres of
biodiversity and sources of food, serving as breeding, feeding, nursery and refuge areas,
moderating the influence of nutrients, sediments and pollutants from land, supporting
each other's and offshore productivity offshore, and protecting the coast and each other
from the effects of storms and floods. The assessment of "criticality" would include the
habitat's exceptional ecological value and/or its being particularly at risk in terms of
imminent threats, inherent vulnerability, and/or rarity. The three critical habitats
addressed here are highly productive and interdependent, such that degradation of one
will adversely affect the other two. The productivity of the transboundary stocks listed in
Table 6 is also closely linked to the health of these habitats in terms of both biodiversity
and process, as well as in their own right as species.
Table 8 shows fishery production by BOBLME countries in FAO statistical area
57, which encompasses the BOBLME as well as other areas of the Eastern Indian Ocean
south of the Bay, and by Maldives in FAO statistical area 51. Also included in the table
are estimates of total marine fishery landings presented in the BOBLME national reports,
along with the year to which the estimate applies. Some discrepancy is observed between
the FAO figures and those from the BOBLME national reports; the latter all report higher
catches than those estimated by FAO. Some countries are likely to take a significant
portion of their catch outside the BOBLME (i.e., in proposed sub-areas 2-6 of FAO
statistical area 57). For instance, Martosubroto and Willmann (2003) estimate that only
29
25% of the Indonesian catch from FAO statistical area 57 is taken in the BOBLME.
Some of the Thai catch is also likely to be taken outside the BOBLME, and some Sri
Lankan vessels are known to fish in the Western Indian Ocean even though their catch is
included in the statistics from area 57. A more realistic estimate of production from the
BOBLME itself may therefore be closer to 3.25 million tonnes. If the Maldives catch
from statistical area 51 is also to be included, the total rises to about 3.38 mmt.
Table 8: Estimated marine capture fishery production by BOBLME countries in
recent years (Source: Preston, 2004 from FAO FISHSTAT/ BOBLME national reports)
FAO data (tonnes)
BOBLME national reports
Country
1999
2000
2001
Tonnes
Year
Bangladesh 137,345
162,037
258,700
367,000
2000-01
India 716,753
781,223
741,656
820,000
1997
Indonesia 782,848
785,530
810,710
-
-
Malaysia 389,960
395,001
377,376
535,188
2000
Myanmar 731,664
849,018
900,492
1,168,000
2000-01
Sri Lanka
241,005
260,010
247,890
274,760
2002
Thailand 685,365
677,894
669,229
750,124
2000
Sub-total area 57
3,686,939
3,912,713
4,008,054
Maldives 134,423
135,342
125,575
141,000
2002
Grand total
3,819,363
4,046,055
4,131,628
The composition of the catch has not changed significantly over the period
examined, or at least not that part of the catch where a classification into main groupings
is possible. Some 28% of the total harvest is reported as "miscellaneous marine fishes"
indicating both weaknesses in species identification as well as the strong multi-species
nature of tropical waters (see Figure 6). The largest share of miscellaneous fish is
contributed by Myanmar (46 %) due to undifferentiated catch statistics. In the case of
Thailand which contributes 19% to the miscellaneous category, the high figure reflects
the significant amount of trash fish due to intensive trawling. This also applies to a lesser
extent to India (12%) and Malaysia (11 %).
Tuna and tuna-like species have nearly doubled their share to 7.6% in 2000.
Development of an offshore gillnet fishery in Sri Lanka in the last decade has brought up
the catch to 103,000 tonnes in 2000 and made Sri Lanka the number one tuna-producing
country in the Bay of Bengal proper (i.e., FAO Area 57). An even more impressive
30
Figure 6: Trend of marine catch in the BOBLME (from Martosubroto and Willmann,
2003)
1000000
Bangladesh
India
800000
Indonesia
S 600000
Malaysia
NNE
Maldives
O 400000
T
Myanmar
200000
Sri Lanka
0
Thailand
0
5
0
5
0
5
0
197
197
198
198
199
199
200
Figure 7: Trends in capture fishery production from the BOB LME by main species
group (Source: UBC Fishery Centre, based on FAO statistics, from Preston, 2004)
31
expansion of tuna catches, but taken in the Western Indian Ocean, was achieved by the
Maldivian pole-and-line fishery targeting skipjack and with minor bycatches of other
tuna species, including yellow fin. The catch of the pole-and-line fishery increased more
than threefold from some 35,000 tons in the 1970s to above 115,000 tons in recent years.
The tuna catch of Thailand, on the other hand, reached a peak of 58,000 tonnes in 1995
but declined ever since to a low level of 42,000 tonnes in 2000.
Fisheries in the BOBLME target a wide range of species that include sardines,
anchovies, scads, shads, mackerels, snappers, emperors, groupers, congers, pike-eels,
tunas, sharks, ornamental reef fish, shrimps, crabs, lobsters, octopus, gastropod and
bivalve shellfish, sea cucumbers and seaweeds. Total production shows a generally
increasing trend (Figure 7), such that catches in 2000 were estimated to be about ten
times higher than in the 1950s. This equates to an annual rate of increase of about 4.7%
per year. Table 9 shows estimates of marine fishery capture production by species group
in 2002.
Table 9: Major species groups contributing to fishery production in BOBLME
countries, 2002 (Source: FAO FISHSTAT, from Preston, 2004)
FAO International Standard Statistical Classification of Aquatic Animals and Plants group
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anch
billfishes
pelagic fishes
chimaer
identified
l*
:
Mi
:
Mi
:
Mi
:
Marine
ta
31: Foun
32:
33
34
35: Herrings
36: Tunas
37
3
8
: S
39
To
Bangladesh 0
0
0 0 0 60 0 0
158,640
158,700
India
2,344 32 218,708 56,777 96,044 25,112 80,103 38,352 224,004 741,656
Indonesia 12,020
0
131,300
18,110
149,400 203,310
208,960
32,850
54,760
810,710
Malaysia 2,036
0
51,045
3,764
13,538
12,302
89,470
6,281
198,940
377,376
Maldives 0
0
0 0 0
110,069
0
11,935
3,571
125,575
Myanmar 0
0
0 0 0 0 0 0
900,942
900,492
Sri
Lanka
0 0 0 12,290 53,230
104,060
28,710 22,860 26,740 247,890
Thailand
9,341 86,953 19,477 92,212 12,835 127,735 8,337 321,339 669,229
Total
area
57 25,741 32 488,006 110,418 404,424 467,748
534,978 120,615 1,888,936 4,031,628
Maldives
110,069
11,935
3,571
125,575
Grand
total
25,741 32 488,006 110,418 404,424 577,817
534,978 132,550 1,892,507 4,157,203
*Totals are as given by the FAO statistical database, and may not tally exactly.
32
The data indicate that almost half the 2002 catch from the BOBLME proper
(46%, or approximately 1.9 million tonnes) is classified as `Marine fish not identified',
while a further 28% (1.13 mmt) falls into the three `miscellaneous' categories used by
FAO. The imprecise nature of the data introduces considerable unreliability into any
conclusions that may be drawn from them. Of the properly defined species categories,
group 36 (tunas, bonitos and billfishes) is the most important, making up about 11.6% of
the catch from area 57 (13.9% if Maldives is included in the calculation). As noted
earlier, however, it is likely that a large part of Indonesia's tuna catch is taken outside the
BOBLME proper. Correcting for this gives Group 36 a 9.2% share of the catch, or 12% if
Maldives is included. Group 35 (herrings, sardines and anchovies) is of equal or greater
importance, making up about 12% of the total area 57 catch after correcting for the
Indonesian take outside the BOBLME region. Unlike tunas, fishes of Group 35 are
primarily coastal in nature, and are thus probably all caught inside the BOBLME region.
The most pronounced increase but from a low absolute level was depicted by the
cephalopod group, essentially squids and cuttle fish, increasing 10-fold from one-fifth of
one percent in 1970 to 2.6% in 2000. Nearly the entire increase of this group can be
attributed to just two countries, namely Malaysia and Thailand, where specialized
fisheries targeting these species have developed.
Five species of tropical shads (Clupeidae: Tenualosa species) (known locally as
Terubuk in Indonesia, Terubok in Malaysia, Hilsa in the Indian sub-continent and Pha
Mak Pang in Thailand) live in estuaries and coastal waters throughout the BOB region.
The most widespread and well-studied species is Tenualosa ilisha, which is found in all
BOBLME countries except Maldives, and is the basis of important fisheries throughout
its range. The closely related T. reevesi occurs intermittently along the South China coast
and far up the Yangtze, Pearl and Qiantang rivers. Once widespread, Tenualosa toli is
now common only in the estuaries and adjacent coastal areas of Sarawak. T. Thibaudeaui
only lives in the lower and middle Mekong system and is believed to be close to
extinction, and T. macrura lives in the coastal waters of Sumatra and Borneo. (Blaber,
Brewer et al. 2001). All five species are the subject of important and valuable fisheries,
but all have suffered heavy declines in catches as a result of excessive fishing pressure.
33
Tenualosa toli and T. Thibeaudi are thought to be close to commercial extinction,
primarily due to fishers targeting the spawning females for the roe, which command very
high prices. (Note that not all authorities have adopted the revised taxonomic
nomenclature used here. Older generic names of Hilsa and Ilisha are still used in various
recent publications, including FAO Species Identification Sheets for Fishery Purposes.)
The abundance of small pelagic resources can depict strong fluctuations caused
by environmental factors only. This makes it more difficult to assess the impact of fishing
on such resources. Nevertheless, some small pelagic stocks of the region also appear to
be heavily exploited though not to the same extent as demersal stocks.
Although total catch has shown an increasing trend in the BOBLME, a declining
or somewhat flat trend is depicted during the most recent 5 to 7 years by some species
groups (Figures 8 & 9). These include short mackerel (Rastrelliger spp.), roundscad
(Decapterus spp.) and Carangidae. This decline especially occurred in the coastal waters
of India, Malaysia and Thailand. For the demersal species group, the decline was
demonstrated by hairtail (Trichiurus lepturus) and conger (Muraenesox cinereus), while
for shrimp the catch of banana prawn (Penaeus merguiensis) and pelagic shrimp
(Sargestidae) showed a flat trend.
The marine capture fisheries in the BOBLME continue to be mostly small-scale in
nature but there has been a large increase in the numbers of various categories of trawlers
targeting primarily shrimp and demersal fish by-catch. Although no gear-wise catch
statistics are available, it is safe to assume that much of the miscellaneous and crustacean
catches are taken by trawl fisheries. The small-scale sector targets a large number of
species, including small and large pelagics, including tuna and various demersal species,
as well as shrimp and cephalopods, using a variety of mostly stationary gear.
Unsustainable marine living resource use may be signalled by a number of
indicators, including declining catch rates, declining average size and weight of
individuals of the catch, fewer individuals in the catch, failure of migrations or
aggregations, and fishermen having to range beyond their usual fishing grounds in order
to achieve a good catch. All of these indicators were described in the BOBLME national
reports in relation to a wide range of marine living resources that included finfish, sharks,
34
Figure 8: Trend of catches of major species groups in the BOBLME (from
Martosubroto & Willmann, 2003)
2000000
Herrings, sardines, anch.
Lobsters, spiny-rock
M arine fishes nei
1600000
M isc.coastal fishes
S
M isc.demersal fishes
1200000
M isc.marine molluscs
NNE
M isc.pelagic fishes
O
800000
T
M ussels
Oysters
Scallops, pectens
400000
Shads
Sharks, rays, chimaeras
0
Shrimps, prawns
Squids, cuttles, octop.
1970
1973
1976
1979
1982
1985
1988
1991
1994
1997
2000
Tunas, bonitos, billfishes
Figure 9: Trend of catches of some pelagic and demersal species groups in the
BOBLME (left - pelagic fish group; right - demersal fish group) (from Martosubroto
& Willmann, 2003)
00
25 00
50000
45000
00
20 00
40000
M .cinereus
Car angi dae
35000
M uraenesox spp
00
15 00
D. r ussel l i
30000
25000
Perciformes
Decapt er us spp
20000
100000
R. kanagur t a
Trichiuridae
15000
Rast r el l i ger spp
10000
T. lepturus
50000
5000
0
0
35
crustaceans, molluscs and echinoderms. The BOBLME countries have expressed concern
about the heavy exploitation of inshore marine resources, including shrimp species. In
general, reef resources, both of finfish and invertebrates, which are particularly
vulnerable to overfishing, are also under considerable fishing pressure in the BOBLME.
Small-scale fisheries in the region use gill nets, trammel nets, purse-seines, beach
seines, push-nets, various kinds of fixed nets and traps, troll lines, pole-and-line gear and
longlines (not to mention dynamite and cyanide) to target a wide range of species. The
importance of the region's small-scale fisheries has continued to increase in recent years
and artisanal craft are ranging over progressively larger areas. Increasing numbers of
fishermen and of fishing vessels of various categories as well as their greater fishing
power, including the widespread adoption of fish aggregating & attracting devices in
concert with purse seines, have all contributed to dramatically increase fishing pressure
on limited fishery resources.
Despite the continuing need to improve information on the rate of exploitation of
the various species groups and specific fish and shellfish stocks, there are numerous
indications of both biological and economic overfishing of key resources in the
BOBLME region. In conclusion, strong evidence exists of severe fishing pressure on
marine fishery resources in the BOBLME. The pressure is especially pronounced on all
high-value species and associated bycatch species.
Economic statistics generally classify fisheries as part of the broader agriculture
sector, making it difficult to obtain accurate statistics on their economic importance. As a
result, estimates of the contribution of fisheries to gross domestic product (GDP) vary
widely. Despite the discrepancies among estimates, however, it is clear that in general
fisheries make only a modest contribution to the GDP of most BOB countries, as shown
in Table 10, other than in Maldives, where fisheries contribute over 11% to GDP.
Fisheries are nevertheless of major socio-economic importance to BOBLME
countries, and provide direct employment to an estimated 2 million fishermen who
operate primarily in coastal and inshore waters. The Indian Ocean in general, and the
36
BOBLME within it, differs from other oceans of the world in that production from
artisanal fisheries equals or exceeds that from industrial fisheries. In Bangladesh, for
example, less than 5% of marine landings are estimated to come from industrial fishing
activities, with the rest being produced by artisanal fishers (Hossain, 2003). Artisanal or
small-scale fisheries often involve disadvantaged groups (poorer fishing villagers,
women, and migrant families).
Table 10: Estimated contribution of fisheries to GDP in BOBLME countries,
various years (Source: mainly FAO country fishery profiles*, from Preston, 2004)
Contribution to GDP (%)
Year estimate published
Bangladesh 4.0
1999
India 1.3 2000
Indonesia 2.0
2000
Malaysia 1.57
2001
Maldives 6.7
2003
Myanmar 7.2
2001
Sri Lanka
3.0
1998
Thailand 1.9
2000
*The BOBLME national reports provide differing estimates of the contribution of fisheries to GDP. In the
present table, FAO data have been used because the estimates are all from the same source. The only
exception is in the case of Maldives, where data are sourced from the Ministry of Planning and National
Development.
A characteristic of artisanal fisheries in the BOBLME countries is the low volume
of discards, because almost all components of the catch are consumed. Fish constitute a
generally affordable source of protein in the BOBLME countries, and most of the inshore
catch is used for local or domestic consumption, contributing significantly to dietary
health and food security, particularly in coastal areas. Table 11 shows data used by FAO
to derive estimates of apparent per capita fish supply in the BOBLME countries.
Per
capita
supply of fish in most of the BOBLME countries is well above the
world average of about 15.8 kg/ year, and is extremely high in Maldives and, to a lesser
degree, Malaysia. The data used to compute these figures include non-coastal
populations, some of which have limited access to fishery products. The per capita
supply of fish is undoubtedly considerably higher among those coastal populations of
BOBLME countries that rely more heavily on marine fisheries. In those countries with
part of their coastline outside the BOBLME, fishery statistics do not distinguish between
37
the utilisation of the catch taken within the BOBLME and that taken outside. As a result
it is not known what proportion of the region's catch is used for purposes other than
human consumption (such as agriculture or aquaculture feeds), although this is thought to
be small, especially in the western BOBLME.
Table 11: Apparent consumption of fish and fishery products in BOBLME
countries, 1997-1999 average (Source: FAO, from Preston, 2004)
Production Non-food uses
Imports
Exports
Food supply
Population
Per capita
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - All in metric tones - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (thousands) supply (kg)
Bangladesh 1,386,571
7,250
1,495
41,125
1,339,691
131,813
10.2
India 5,325,424
413,811 7,847
376,678
4,542,780
976,346
4.7
Indonesia 4,615,030 52,274
23,783 669,814 3,916,836 206,412 19.0
Malaysia 1,325,052 278,252 347,826 163,400 1,231,576 21,350 57.7
Maldives 126,257 3,000
0 67,842 55,692
274 203.3
Myanmar 940,566 131,905 1,066 190,217 731,724
46,452 15.8
Sri Lanka
263,917
21
125,373
11,628
377,658
18,573
20.3
Thailand 3,422,989 959,366 718,018
1,434,068
1,748,474 61,190 28.6
Total 17,405,806
1,845,879
1,225,408
2,954,772
13,944,431
1,462,410 9.5
Although most fishery production is consumed domestically, there are substantial
exports of high-value commodities, as the table indicates. Primary export commodities
are shrimp and tuna, which may contribute significantly to national foreign exchange
earnings in BOBLME countries. Overexploitation of shrimp resources in coastal waters
has reduced the amount of exports from capture fisheries, and there is now a growing
tendency for exports to come from the aquaculture sector. During the last decade some
countries have developed offshore fishing for tuna, notably longlining by Indonesia,
purse seining by Thailand and gill-netting by Sri Lanka. While the majority of tuna
catches continue to come from coastal fisheries, offshore fisheries provide the majority of
export-grade tuna. Squid is commercially important, although its production is small,
with only Thailand producing relatively high catches. As with the other export fisheries,
the proportion of production in value terms far exceeds their share of the volume.
The BOBLME countries have multi-year development plans, all of which imply
or assume increased fisheries production to satisfy especially the burgeoning demand for
fishery products by wealthier consumers both within and outside the BOBLME countries,
and for food and livelihood by the poor coastal communities. For fisheries these
38
development plans are often expressed as a simple annual percentage increase in
landings, projected indefinitely into the future. Although some development plans
recognise that fish stocks have been assessed at a certain level or abundance, they do not
acknowledge that there will be a point at which the growth of (especially capture)
fisheries will eventually hit a ceiling.
In order to achieve increased marine and freshwater fishery landings, as well as
increased aquaculture production (which is generally categorised along with capture
fisheries), the BOBLME countries are expending considerable sums to make this happen.
Public funding assistance to the fisheries sector has taken the form of subsidies and
grants, construction of infrastructure (ports, ice machines, etc.), establishment of
government-owned fishing companies, and concessions to foreign fishing vessels. Cheap
gear and equipment, artificially high product prices, credit facilities and cash subsidies
are incorporated into subsidised boatbuilding and marketing operations. Commercial and
industrial fishing fleets in particular are over-large and overcapitalised. Subsidising
fishers or fishing operations allow them to keep on fishing even when catches have
declined to very low levels, thus increasing the chances of serious overfishing and
consequent stock collapse.
2. Proximate
causes
The primary proximate causes of overexploitation of marine living resources are:
· overfishing
· destructive fishing
· illegal fishing.
Examples of these causes include:
o highly populated coastal communities of artisanal or small-scale fishermen
targeting inshore demersal and small pelagic resources as well as reef-
associated fish and invertebrates
o continued growth in commercial fishing effort, especially by trawlers and
purse seiners; shrimp trawlers discard finfish as bycatch, depleting this
39
resource which is a very important component of the small-scale fisheries
catch
o dynamite fishing, often for small pelagic species, and the use of cyanide
and other toxins for capturing ornamental and live food fish, causing long-
term damage both to target and non-target resources, as well as to their
environment
o bottom trawling, causing long-term habitat change - if not damage - on the
sea floor as well as damage to non-target resources through the large
volumes of `trash fish' indiscriminately taken as bycatch by bottom trawl
fisheries
o the use of various kinds of estuarine set-nets and push nets to collect
prawn post-larvae for onward sale to the prawn farms. This type of fishing
results in the capture of vast numbers of larvae and juveniles of other fish
and invertebrates, some of which are commercially important. These non-
target organisms typically comprise more than 99% of the catch and they
are generally killed as a result of the fishing activity, or dumped on the
shore during the sorting of the prawn catch.
o coral mining (technically a fishing activity as it involves the extractive use
of a living marine resource) for lime production used in construction and
other industries
o selective overharvesting of certain marine living resources
o overexploitation of critical habitats (see also section III B, infra)
o artisanal and industrial (trawler) fishermen operating in the same inshore
waters
o unauthorised incursions into EEZs by foreign fishing vessels, which can
be either commercial or industrial vessels from distant-water fishing
nations or artisanal or commercial fishermen from one BOBLME country
fishing in the waters of another.
40
3. Information
gaps
The principal information gaps are:
· Fragmentary and unreliable fishery statistics
· Inadequate fishery-independent data
· Inconsistent and incomplete taxonomic identifications
· The existence and relevance of traditional ownership and customary use systems
· quantitative assessment of trophic interactions in the BOBLME
· effects of trawling bans on resource replenishment
· spatial and temporal effect of monsoon dynamics on primary productivity
· abundance, migration and transboundary movement of shad (Hilsa spp)
· nesting, breeding, spawning, size at first maturity, life span, feeding, growth,
mortality and migration of transboundary species
· environmental implications of light bait fishery, including biology, recruitment
and stock assessment
· costs and benefits of fishing vs .non-consumptive marine living resource use
· sustainable levels of harvesting marine ornamental fish, sea cucumbers, chanks,
spiny lobsters and sponges
· extent and value of employment of men, women and children in marine living
resources exploitation and related activities
Preston (2004) cautions that the data on fishery catch and effort in the BOBLME
countries are fragmentary and unreliable. The most comprehensive source of fishery data
for the region as a whole is FAO, which compiles summary information primarily from
national reports submitted by government agencies. According to FAO, financial support
for the collection and collation of fishery data has decreased in real terms over the past
decade, and data are not fully reliable in terms of timeliness, coverage and quality. Data
are often submitted after delays of one, two or more years. The proportion of the catch to
be identified at the individual species level has tended to decrease over time, while
`unidentified fish' account for an increasing share as fisheries diversify and large stocks
are depleted. The general availability of data has not improved significantly over the past
two decades, and statistics from artisanal and subsistence fisheries which are
41
particularly important in the BOBLME countries are a particular source of concern.
Further sources of unreliability are misidentification of species, lack of uniform
taxonomy between countries, and a tendency by governments to prefer to show
increasing catches. Preston (2004) concludes that although the available data probably do
reflect general trends such as growth in production, annual figures and assessments
involve considerable uncertainty, and changes from one year to the next may not be
statistically meaningful.
In light of the importance attached by the BOBLME countries to improving their
information base in general and their fisheries stock assessment capacity in particular, it
would be useful to examine whether the quality of fisheries management and the
sustainability of living marine resource use would improve if the capacity of BOBLME
countries to undertake stock assessment were enhanced to the point that stock assessment
results were 100% reliable. It is not clear that this would in fact occur. Stock assessment
information is often a minor factor in the fishery management decision-making process
and may be ignored completely. Other factors that usually overshadow stock assessment
considerations are many and varied, and may include short-term needs taking priority
over longer-term perspectives, political trade-offs, the power exercised by particularly
influential, self-interested stakeholders (whether these be individuals or groups), the
personal ambitions of fishery decision-makers, corruption, and lack of understanding.
B.
Status and proximate causes of critical habitat degradation
1. Mangroves
a. Status
Mangrove forests are found in all the BOBLME countries. The region's mangrove
forests satisfy all the criteria for "criticality" locally and regionally and some have already
achieved formal recognition of global significance. For example, Bangladesh and India
together are home to the largest natural mangrove forest in the world, the Sundarbans,
located in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta. The Sundarbans are designated as a
UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and as a wetland of international importance under the
Ramsar Convention. Table 12 shows that most of the mangrove forests in the BOBLME
42
Table 12: Major mangrove forests in the BOBLME (from Angell, 2004)
Country
Area , km2
Satus
Condition
India
Sundarbans
9630 of which 4263
Biosphere Reserve
Threatened
km2 are mangroves
Mangroves reduced to
Bhitarkanika
675
Sanctuary
only 25% of sanctuary.7
Coringa
101
Reserve Forest
Threatened
Pichavaram
11
Reserve Forest
Stable
Vedharanyam Mangrove Swamp
17.3
Wild life sanctuary2
Threatened. 40% of
mangroves seriously
degraded
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
966
Timber extraction banned
Threatened
Bangladesh
Sundarbans
4016
Reserved forest
Threatened
Chokaria
182
Converted to shrimp farms
100% Destroyed
Aforestation/reforestation
1043
Plantation
575 km2 in good
condition
Myanmar
Rakhine
229
Nominally protected
Threatened
Ayeyarwady
275
Nominally protected
10.6% reserved forest,
remainder threatened
Tanintharyi
224
Nominally protected
Threatened. Rate of
decrease 2.4% per annum.
Thailand
West coast (Ranong, Pangnga, Phuket)
707
15% protected, 82% under
Recovering,
East coast ( Krabi, Trang and Setun )
1058
sustainable use
increased from 1,320 km2
management
in 1996 to 1,764 km2 in
2000
Malaysia
Kedah
80
99% forest reserve
Degraded
Perak
435
78% forest reserve
Sustainable harvesting on
forest reserve
Selangor
151
76% forest reserve
Degraded
Johor
167
68% forest reserve
Degraded
Indonesia
Aceh
594
70% converted to shrimp
ponds
North Sumatera
868
Threatened
Riau
2,399
Threatened
West Sumatera
365
53% destroyed
Sri Lanka
Batticaloa
16 2
Undisturbed
Mullaitivu
1012
Jaffna
1112
52%
Reduction
Puttalam
512
85%
Reduction
Other
1912
Degraded
Maldives
Scattered
Not available Not
protected
Threatened
Table 1 (cont.)
1 Includes core area, manipulation zone and restoration zone. Core area is 1692 km2 (Sampath 2003) 2 Sampath 2003 3 Only a small
portion is protected, but the entire area has been proposed as a Ramsar site. 4 Kumar 2000 5 Hossain 2003 6 Choudhury 2003 7
www.indianjungles.com8U Myint Pe 2003 9Juntarashote 2003 10 Omar 2003 11 Purnomohadi 2003 12 Joseph 2003
are either already degraded or threatened, despite their also being largely under various
forms of governmental protection in all the BOBLME countries, except Maldives,
although as pointed out by Ali (2004), the importance of its mangroves is recognized
there as well. The biodiversity supported by the mangrove forests is also at risk. For
example, the Sundarbans harbour not only endangered species of amphibians, birds,
43
mammals and reptiles, but they have also already experienced species extinctions. The
productivity of the coastal fisheries supported by the mangrove forests is also thought to
be declining as the mangrove forests degrade and disappear.
b. Proximate
causes
The primary proximate causes of the degradation of the mangrove forests are:
· conversion for aquaculture (shrimp), agriculture (paddy rice), salt production
· reclamation for urban development, human settlement and tourist resorts
· overexploitation by
o felling the mangrove trees for woodchip, pulp and charcoal production,
and for local housing, fuelwood and cattle fodder
o unsustainable removal (including selective overharvesting) of the
mangrove fauna for food, trade, and especially for shrimp seed
o cattle grazing.
· pollution from land-based (sewage, domestic, industrial, agricultural and
aquacultural (especially shrimp farms) liquid and solid waste) and sea-based (oil)
sources (see also section III C, infra) where they can:
o cause fish kills and other mass mortality events, e.g., through oxygen
depletion from excessive eutrophication
o damage spawning, nursery and feeding areas
o reduce the ability of marine organisms to reproduce, recruit and grow
o lead to changes in trophic structure, including in plankton community
composition
o contaminate the resources, e.g., with heavy metals, pesticides, pathogenic
bacteria (e.g., E. coli from sewage)
· siltation and sedimentation from inland deforestation, agricultural and
aquacultural (especially shrimp farming) activities, coastal construction and sandy
beach development
· salinization from the diversion of the flow of fresh water by inland activities.
44
2. Coral
reefs
a. Status
Coral reefs are found in all the BOBLME countries. The region's coral reefs
satisfy all the criteria for "criticality" locally and regionally and some have already
achieved global significance. For example, India and Sri Lanka together are the home of
the Mannar coral reef system, of which the part in India has already been designated as a
UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and Joseph (2004) suggests that the part in Sri Lanka
should also be so designated. Table 13 shows that most of the coral reefs in the
BOBLME are either already degraded or threatened, despite their also being largely
under various forms of governmental protection in all the BOBLME countries. The
biodiversity supported by the coral reefs is at risk. The productivity of the coastal
fisheries supported by the coral reefs is thought to be declining as the reefs deteriorate.
b. Proximate
causes
The primary proximate causes of the degradation of the coral reefs are:
· overexploitation by unsustainable (including selective overharvesting) removal of
live reef food fish (LRRF), ornamental (aquarium) fish, coral and shells for the
export market
· destructive fishing practices by blasting (e.g., dynamite), poisoning (e.g.,
cyanide), bottom trawling
· coral and sand mining for construction materials and beach replenishment (sand)
· siltation and sedimentation from inland deforestation, agricultural activities,
coastal construction, sandy beach development
· pollution from land-based (sewage, domestic, industrial, agricultural, resort and
aquacultural liquid and solid waste) and sea-based (oil) sources
· destructive tourist-related activities by boat anchoring, trampling and reef curio
collecting.
45
Table 13: Summary of coral reef status in the BOBLME (from: Angell, 2004)
Country Site
Reef
type/Area
% live coral cover
Major threats
km2
India
Gulf of Mannar
Fringing and
3 to 52%
Intensive trawling, coral mining,
Marine Biosphere
patch/66.5
blast fishing, overfishing of reef
Reserve
resources.
Mahatma Gandhi
Fringing and
Marine National
patch
10% to 85%, varies
Siltation
Park, Andaman and
among park islands
Nicobar Islands
Bangladesh
St. Martins Island
Patch
7.6% coverage on
Coral mining, sedimentation,
SE coast
overfishing
Myanmar
Mergui Archipelago Fringing
N/A
Blast fishing
Thailand BOBLME
area
of
Fringing/ 78.6
Good,
Destructive fishing, crown-of-
Andaman Sea
km2
12%;fair,34%;
thorns, bleaching,
poor,27%;very poor
sedimentation, storms, tourist
23%
development
Malaysia
P. Langkawai, P.
N/A
N/A
Destructive fishing, land
Sembilan, P.
reclamation, shipping accidents.
Pangkor, Port
Dikson
Protected area, but potential
P. Payar Marine
N/A
N/A
threat from tourist development
Park
(Buang 2003).
Indonesia Riau
521
km2
67% to 98% of reefs
Mining, sedimentation,
have been degraded
destructive fishing methods
North Sumatra
N/A
Karang Island
Coral mining
heavily
damaged,18.7%
coverage.
West
Sumatra
N/A
Most reefs degraded
Destructive fishing methods
to some extent.
Sri Lanka
Bar Reef Marine
N/A Almost
100%
Bleaching, destructive fishing,
Sanctuary
mortality from coral
anchoring
bleaching, some new
growth in 2002.
Kandakuliya
N/A
New growth after
Bleaching, destructive fishing,
bleaching, but
anchoring
destroyed by
Halimeda
Hikkadua
Marine
N/A Decreased
from
47%
Sedimentation, anchoring,
Sanctuary
live coral coverage
pollution, uncontrolled tourist
to 12% after
activity
bleaching.
Weligama
N/A
Decreased
from
92%
Sedimentation, pollution,
to 54% after
uncontrolled tourist activities,
bleaching
anchoring.
Rumassala
N/A
Decreased
from
45%
to 23% after
bleaching
Great Basses and
N/A Un-degraded
Overfishing
Little Basses Reef
Marine Sanctuaries
Maldives
Nation wide
26 atolls, 1200
High coverage up to
Coral mining, oil pollution,
coral islands,
70% but coral
domestic waste, overfishing,
202 inhabited.
bleaching caused
bleaching, sea level rise
losses up to 80% on
some reefs
46
3. Seagrass
beds
a. Status
No regional review of seagrass beds for the BOBLME Programme exists because
the decision to address this habitat in a TDA was not taken in time to commission it in the
PDF-B phase. A regional review should be undertaken. The preliminary view provided
by this section is based on the information in the Country Reports and National Reports,
from which it appears that seagrass beds remain the least well-studied of the three critical
habitats addressed here, as remarked earlier by Holmgren (1994).
Seagrass beds are found in all the BOBLME countries in association with
mangrove forests, coral reefs and shallow sandy flats. The BOBLME's seagrass beds
satisfy all the criteria for "criticality" locally and regionally. Information on their regional
areal extent and actual degradation state is unavailable. However, many of the BOBLME
region's seagrass beds are known to be either already degraded or threatened. The
biodiversity supported by the seagrass beds is known to be also at risk, especially with
regard to endangered species such as marine turtles, seacows and seahorses, although
little quantitative information is available. The productivity of the coastal fisheries
supported by seagrass beds is also thought to be declining as the seagrass beds degrade
and disappear.
b. Proximate
causes
The primary proximate causes of the degradation of the seagrass beds are:
· reclamation and dredging for urban and coastal development
· destructive fishing practices (bottom trawling, push nets, beach seines, sea
cucumber collection, digging for polychaete worms)
· sand and coral mining for beach replenishment (sand) and construction
· pollution from land-based (sewage, domestic and industrial waste, agro-industrial
effluents and chemicals and waste from shrimp farms) and sea-based (oil) sources
· siltation and sedimentation (including turbidity from suspended particles) from
inland deforestation, agricultural activities and coastal construction.
47
4. Information
gaps
The primary information gaps for critical habitat degradation are:
· areal extent and environmental status of the seagrass beds of the BOBLME as a
whole and the status of the associated biodiversity and productivity
· valuation of goods and services provided by the mangrove, coral reef and seagrass
ecosystems
· the existence and relevance of traditional ownership and customary use systems
associated with the critical habitats
· ecological relationships between the critical habitats
· characterization of the bio-geographic importance of the coral-algal/rocky reef
communities of St. Martin's Island (Bangladesh)
· coral larvae dispersal and recruitment
C.
Status and proximate causes of land-based sources of pollution
1. Status
Pollution is the accidental or deliberate release by humans of unwanted chemical,
biological and physical materials and/or energy into the surrounding environment;
approximately 80% of the pollution entering the coastal and marine environment is from
land-based sources (Kaly, 2004). Pollution and its sources can be classified in different
ways, e.g., by sector, active/hazardous component, production process, pollutant type,
contaminant class, etc. This analysis will address pollution in terms of particular priority
pollutant types and their principal generators or conveyors, using the focal categories
established by the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine
Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA). The table in Annex 2 compares the
land-based sources of pollution (LBSP) in the BOBLME.
The priority pollution types in the BOBLME are:
· sewage and other domestic and municipal wastes (including solid wastes,
nutrients, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), household chemicals, excreted
pharmaceuticals, medical wastes, and sediments)
48
· agricultural (including aquaculture) wastes (including fertilizers (nutrients),
herbicides, pesticides, POPs, and sediments)
· industrial waste (including heavy metals, plastics, chemicals, oils, POPs, and
sediments).
As context for the causal analysis and recommendations, these priority pollution
types are further elaborated as follows.
Sewage
Domestic sewage in its narrowest sense is derived from human bodily excretions and
serves as an environmental threat because of its nutrient content (causes of
eutrophication, algal blooms and hypoxia; all have been observed in the region) and as a
public health threat (pathogenic content).
Solid wastes are generated by households, tourism, commercial enterprises, public
facilities and urban and coastal development. They include plastics, paper, metals, glass,
masonry products and sediments. Plastics are likely to be environmentally the worst of
these wastes: they often float, do not degrade rapidly and are frequently ingested by
mistake, but with malign effect, by marine animals, including endangered species such as
turtles. When solid wastes reach the coastal and marine ecosystems, they reduce the
aesthetic value of beaches and submarine scenes essential to tourism, in addition to their
deleterious environmental and public health effects.
Medical waste is generated by hospitals, laboratories and research facilities. It
includes infectious and non-infectious, hazardous, pharmaceutical (including hormone
mimics and cytotoxic drugs) and low-level radioactive material, as well as potentially
harmful viruses, bacteria, protozoans, and helminth worms. Medical waste threatens
public health and the environment.
Agriculture, including aquaculture
Traditional
agriculture
and
aquaculture in the BOBLME countries were extensive,
resulting in habitat modification (deforestation, land reclamation) and sedimentation
(erosion, loss of topsoil), but little chemical pollution. In attempting to increase yields,
49
these activities are becoming increasingly intensive and hence dependent on artificial
(NPK) fertilizers and on toxic pesticides (including fungi-, insecti- and microbicides) and
herbicides. The nutrient enrichment from the fertilizers leads to eutrophication, algal
blooms and hypoxia in the coastal and marine environment.
Pesticides are used to eliminate competitors, predators, diseases and parasites that
may interfere with the yield of the target animal or vegetable commercial product. They
have a variety of well-established ill effects on non-target organisms that can reduce
biodiversity and productivity, and impair ecosystem functions, as well as on humans,
where their carcinogenic properties are a particular concern. When used as antibiotics,
pesticides lead to resistance in the target groups; the use of these antibiotics to treat
diseases in humans is also less effective.
Industry
In the BOBLME countries industrialization is increasing rapidly, and centres on
transforming raw materials into steel, paper, chemicals, paints, plastics and textiles; also
important are leather tanning, oil refining, and electricity generation. These resource-
intensive activities produce large quantities of toxic and hazardous wastes. Raw material
extraction (e.g., mining, logging) is environmentally damaging both in situ and
downstream (through, e.g., ecosystem disturbance and destruction, erosion,
sedimentation). Ports and harbours should be included in this category where they
include industrial facilities.
Pollutants crossing categories
Sediments and POPs are included in all three categories because their
mobilization occurs with the activities generating the wastes. Hazardous wastes include
products having one or more of the following features: explosive, inflammable, reactive,
disease-causing, corrosive and/or toxic (based on toxicological tests).
One regional environmental pollution threat highlighted by the Regional Review
(Kaly, 2004), but not identified by the National or Country Reports, is that of severe
episodic events, i.e., floods, cyclones, storm and tidal surges. These periodically mobilise
50
accumulations of pollutants (e.g., in landfills, lakes, sediments) that would otherwise
remain relatively localised but under these circumstances result in the transfer of
catastrophic quantities of pollutants to the coastal and marine environment. The results
are characterised as catastrophic because these events are sufficiently infrequent that they
do not constitute part of the "normal" daily pollution load borne by the receiving
environments. The environmental consequences (e.g., hypoxia, smothering) are often not
noticed or not fully appreciated because of the social distress accompanying these events.
This applies to all the pollutants in all categories throughout the region.
2. Proximate
causes
The primary proximate causes for these priority pollution types are:
· domestic, municipal, agricultural, aquacultural and industrial practices leading to
generation and transport to the coastal and marine environment of the three types of
wastes (defined above) in harmful forms and quantities.
The most important examples of these practices are given below.
Sewage
Collection of domestic sewage and its treatment, if any, are poor. Even where
access to so-called "improved sanitation" exists (this concept includes connection to a
public sewer, septic tank, pour-flush latrine, simple or ventilated pit latrines), these may
not necessarily be sanitary. The public health and environmental risks consequences may
also simply be transferred. Poor collection and disposal of solid wastes by municipal
authorities, as well as uncontrolled dumping, including by municipalities, occurs in all
BOBLME member countries. Little or no recycling occurs. Improperly sited and
maintained landfills are sources of groundwater pollution and of aggregations of
hazardous materials that are both environmental and public health risks.
Agriculture and aquaculture
The application rates of fertilizers and pesticides in the region as a whole are now
comparable to those for the high-income regions with significant agricultural production
(e.g., the European Union (EU), North America), although substantial differences in
51
those rates exist between BOBLME countries. Myanmar has the lowest in the region for
fertilizers (15 kg/ha/yr) and pesticides (0.016 kg/ha/yr), and Malaysia and Sri Lanka the
highest, respectively, for fertilizers (200 kg/ha/yr) and pesticides (6.3 kg/ha/yr). Kaly
(2004) estimates that the nutrient input from fertilizer, together with that from sewage,
must result in the total organic and inorganic nutrient load borne by the BOBLME being
close to the highest in the world.
Industry
To the "heavy and dirty" industries (steel, paper, chemicals) are increasingly
added industries producing "lighter" consumables (e.g., plastic, paints, dyes) that include
various POPs which can affect entire ecosystems in minute quantities. Technology-based
and service industries also contribute to pollution. Small and medium-size industries are
proliferating: they may contribute up to 40% of total industrial output and 50% of the
pollution. These tend to be "unorganised," difficult to regulate, and relatively more
polluting than larger industries. No at-source reduction, including recycling, or treatment
before discharge of industrial waste occurs; clean production techniques are not used.
Pollutants crossing categories
In terms of quantity it is probably sediment mobilization caused by deforestation
that is the most important (by logging and for agri- and aquaculture) as well as by agri-
and aquacultural activities themselves, followed by urban, port and industrial
development per se and by land reclamation. As compared with the reference period of
8,000 years before present (BP) and assuming current climate conditions, the quantity of
original forest cover lost in the BOBLME varies between 36% in Malaysia to 92% in
Bangladesh, i.e., 63% of the land in the region has had its forest cover removed. The
current uses to which this land is put (crops, pastures, urban areas and even secondary
forests) result in much more sediment loss (e.g., through floods and run-off).
52
3. Information
gaps
The principal information gaps are:
· Insufficient quantitative information to identify and prioritize pollution "hot
spots" in the BOBLME. Pollution hot spots are where the pollutant load is
heaviest and has the most detrimental effect on the ecosystems and public health;
they are priority areas for monitoring and intervention. River mouths and coastal
conurbations are initial candidates for pollution hot spots, but no objective criteria
have been established to assess and prioritize them.
· Insufficient quantitative information to objectively prioritize and determine the
relative importance of the three principal pollution threats
· Quantities, fate (including attenuation rate) and effect of pollutants in and on the
BOBLME as a whole
· Extent of each BOBLME country's use of the BOBLME as a sink for organic and
inorganic waste and sediment runoff
· Importance and relative contribution to pollution in the BOBLME of floods and
other episodic events
· Valuation of the pollution attenuation services provided by, in particular, the
mangrove and seagrass bed critical habitats
· Lack of information on appropriate and affordable clean production technology
and best practices. Kaly (2004) identifies this specifically as a perceived lack of
essential information as defined above.
· Insufficient information to establish the level of limits for discharges of
pollutants.
D. Sea-based Sources of Pollution
No regional review of sea-bed sources of pollution for the BOBLME Programme
exists because the decision to address this topic in a TDA was not taken in time to
commission this review in the PDF-B phase. A regional review should be undertaken.
The information in the Country Reports and National Reports on this topic is insufficient
to provide an adequate preliminary overview.
53
IV. Root
causes
A. Socio-economics
The principal socio-economic root causes of the transboundary environmental
issues are:
· population growth
· the lack of alternative food, livelihood and shelter (space and materials) for the
rural, growing - and usually poor - coastal fishing communities
· national demand for foreign exchange: export-driven demand for, especially,
shrimp, live food and ornamental fish, shells and coral, tourism
· urban growth and coastal infrastructural, commercial, industrial and residential
development for the expanding urban - and usually more affluent - coastal
communities and, e.g., tourist resorts, ports, airports, roads, harbours
· inappropriate financial and other incentives provided by government
· undervaluing of goods and services provided by the living marine resources and
especially by the critical habitats
· need to increase agricultural and aquacultural productivity
· changes and increases in industrial activity
· undervaluing of damage to the environment
· undervaluing of damage to human health
Although the rate of human population growth has been decreasing, it is still
growing in the region from an already large base (about 1.5 billion). By 2015 it is
expected that the region's population will exceed 1.8 billion - or 26% of the world's
population, despite a slowing growth rate. With densities as high as 1036 people per km2
(Maldives), and averaging about 379 people per km2 regionally, of which at least 60%
overall is not only already concentrated along the coasts, but coastal migration and
urbanization are also increasing, the pressure on the coastal and marine environment of
the BOBLME is likely to be one of the highest in the world (Kaly, 2004). Domestic
sewage and solid waste production, collection and disposal problems in particular are
exacerbated by the increasing number of tourists to the region, in addition to indigenous
54
population growth. For example, in Maldives, the number of tourists arriving per year is
greater than the resident population. Juntarashote (2003) estimates that 20 million tourists
per year visit Thailand's Andaman Sea area. Kaly (2004) concludes that the sheer number
of people is probably the most important root cause of the land-based pollution issues
arising in the region.
National demand for foreign exchange is driving government policy and
incentives to attract tourists, especially from countries outside the region. Growing
populations and foreign exchange demands also drive unsustainably obtained (via, e.g.,
high chemical applications and cleared land) productivity increases in agriculture and
aquaculture. Manufacturing and service industries are showing a trend to relocate to
countries in the region to benefit from lower production costs that may in part be related
to lower environmental standards.
The damage to the environment and to other activities (e.g., fisheries, tourism)
and to public health from industrial, agricultural and aquacultural pollution is not added
to the cost of doing business and is not reflected in their prices or in their taxes. It is not
reflected in the national financial and development plans, where costs and benefits must
be calculated for the nation as a whole over the long term.
B. Law
The principal legal root causes of the transboundary environmental issues are:
· lack of a sustainable management approach
· lack of an ecosystem approach
· lack of the precautionary principle
· lack of the polluter-pays principle
· sectoral nature of the applicable legislation
· sectoral nature of implementation authority
· multiple levels of implementation authority
· overlapping and/or conflicting legislation.
55
The legal root causes are analyzed as described in section II, supra, and are
further elaborated as follows.
Adequacy of the legislation
Among the BOBLME member countries the specific legislative context varies
widely, but in each country adequate specific legislation exists to enable a certain level of
protection of the marine living resources and of the critical habitats from
overexploitation. The table in Annex 3 provides a summary of key legislative instruments
or approaches in the BOBLME countries to marine living resources. However, with
regard to critical habitats, in contrast to mangroves and coral reefs, seagrass beds do not
appear to benefit from specific governmental protection as a named critical habitat per se,
although the scope of application of coastal zone, fisheries, environmental protection and
pollution legislation usually appears to operate to include them.
Applicable as well is a complex of largely sectoral laws and regulations on, e.g.,
aquaculture, coastal zone management, environment, capture fisheries, forests, pollution,
critical habitats and certain defined commercially attractive and/or endangered species.
These also enable a certain protection of the marine living resources and the critical
habitats. However, neither type of legislation enables the sustainable management of the
resources or of the critical habitats. This is a particularly important inadequacy where, as
in the BOBLME countries, these resources and habitats also provide essential goods and
services to poor local communities who have no alternative sources of those goods and
services and who depend on them for their survival. Given the absence of food and
livelihood alternatives, the legislation is flouted, overexploitation of the resources and
habitat degradation continues, and disrespect for the legal system itself is engendered.
Sustainable management of the living resources and of the critical habitats can help
address this issue more constructively.
Two other fundamental inadequacies in both types of legislation that hamper the
achievement of even their protective objectives are the absence of the precautionary
principle and an ecosystem approach. Furthermore, where community-based management
(CBM) or co-management is being developed, specific devolution of power and authority
56
from higher levels of government down to locally constituted bodies is necessary. These
bodies may range from local authorities or communities, to committees made up of a
representative selection of stakeholders in the resources or the habitats. This in turn
requires enabling legislation at the national or state level, coupled with appropriate local
by-laws that give effect to the co-management arrangements in question.
With regard to LBSP, adequate legislation exists to protect the BOBLME to a
certain extent from the principal forms of land-based pollution identified above, although
it is largely in the form of controls on effluent discharges. Even if these controls are
rigorously enforced (which they tend not to be; see also below under institutional root
causes), controlled discharges can still destroy an ecosystem if there are enough of them.
The effluent control approach also does not take into account the effect of combinations
of pollutants on ecosystems, or whether ecosystems are already polluted, physically
damaged or otherwise stressed (e.g., by floods). The analysis supra on the inadequacy of
marine living resource and critical habitat legislation in terms of sustainable management,
ecosystem approach and precautionary principle also applies to LBSP. A further
inadequacy of pollution-specific legislation in the region is the absence of the "polluter-
pays" principle and other penalties severe enough to ensure that breaking the law is a
serious economic cost of doing business (i.e., it is more expensive to break the law than
to comply with it). Penalties for violations of legislation relating to living marine resource
exploitation and critical habitats may also be similarly inadequate.
Adequacy of implementation authority
Among the BOBLME member countries the form and type of implementation
authority varies widely, but in each country adequate authority exists to protect (although
not to sustainably manage) marine living resources and the critical habitats, and to
implement its existing LBSP legislation. However, the exercise of this authority is
complicated in the BOBLME member countries because national, state and local
governmental bodies are involved and sectoral responsibility and accountability are
divided among different governmental bodies at both national and state levels.
Furthermore, responsibility and accountability are not always clearly assigned and the
57
applicable legislation, being derived from multiple sources and as a function of its
essentially sectoral nature, overlaps or conflicts in some cases, leading to further lack of
clarity with regard to responsibility and accountability. Where CBM is involved,
responsibility and accountability must also be specified.
3. Institutions
The principal institutional root causes are:
· poor unified planning and inadequate communication, including information
exchange, between and among all the relevant and legally responsible sectors and
levels of central, state and local government
· lack of local community stakeholder consultation and involvement in planning,
decision-making, implementation and enforcement
· inadequate enforcement of existing legislation and regulations
· lack of management capacity generally at local governmental level
· lack of capacity at all levels for managing a multiple-use, multiple-stakeholder
resource in an ecosystem context with a precautionary approach
· inappropriate scaling of the institutional scope to that of the resource(s) or
habitat(s)
· inadequate budgetary commitments to the costs of implementation and
enforcement of applicable legislation.
The institutional root causes are analyzed as described in section II, supra, and are
further elaborated as follows.
The enforcement issue is particularly complex and illustrative examples follow. In
the case of industrial or larger-scale fishing activities, enforcement capacity in the form
of seagoing vessels and trained personnel may be lacking. In addition, many industrial
fishing operations are owned or operated by persons of influence who, even if
apprehended for an offence, may be able to circumvent the law. There does not appear to
be any mechanism within the region through which countries can coordinate joint
surveillance patrols by military, police or coastguard vessels, or overflights by military or
commercial aircraft. As regards artisanal fisheries, small-scale fishing operations involve
58
thousands of fishermen and vessels dispersed over large areas of coastline, which makes
the physical logistics of surveillance and enforcement difficult. In addition, enforcement
activities create conflict with local fishermen which government officials are averse to for
a variety of reasons which may include fear of violence and physical harm, creation of
adversarial relationships which impinge on the official's other functions (such as
extension services), loss of political support, or sympathy with the situation of the
artisanal fishing community, many of whom are poor or have no alternative sources of
livelihood. Conflict between different prospective users of the same resource, in
particular where trawlers operate in inshore waters in competition with artisanal fishers,
complicate the enforcement task further.
The issue of institutional scale in resource management is often overlooked. For
example, the scale of social organisation most appropriate for CBM of the resources
function may not correspond to the scale of the resources. If twenty villages or
communities all fish for sardines from the same stock, then conservation actions taken by
one community will not have much impact on the stock if the other 19 start fishing more
heavily or use destructive fishing methods. The introduction of CBM may thus create a
new level of `straddling stocks' which traverse community boundaries and require
collaboration between community management units, in much the same way that
international collaboration is required to effectively manage ecosystem-scale straddling
stocks. At governmental level umbrella frameworks should be established to address this.
Table 14 summarizes the proximate and root causes of the transboundary
environmental issues and principal information gaps described in detail above.
59
TABLE 14: SUMMARY OF PROXIMATE AND ROOT CAUSES OF THE TRANSBOUNDARY
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND PRINCIPAL INFORMATION GAPS
I.
PROXIMATE CAUSES
Overexploitation of marine living resources
· overfishing
· destructive fishing
· illegal fishing
Critical habitat degradation
· overfishing
· destructive fishing
· illegal fishing
· conversion
· reclamation
· overexploitation
· pollution
· siltation and sedimentation
· salinization
· coral and sand mining
· destructive tourist-related activities
· dredging
Land-based sources of pollution
· poor sewage collection and treatment
· poor collection and disposal of solid wastes
· no recycling
· improperly sited and maintained landfills
· high application rates of fertilizers and pesticides
· no at-source reduction, including recycling, or treatment of industrial waste
· no use of clean industrial production techniques
· deforestation
II.
ROOT CAUSES
Socio-economics
· population growth
· the lack of alternative food, livelihood and shelter (space and materials) for the rural, growing -
and usually poor - coastal fishing communities
· national demand for foreign exchange: export-driven demand for, especially, shrimp, live food
and ornamental fish, shells and coral, tourism
· urban growth and coastal infrastructural, commercial, industrial and residential development for
the expanding urban - and usually more affluent - coastal communities and, e.g., tourist resorts,
ports, airports, roads, harbours
· inappropriate financial and other incentives provided by government
· undervaluing of goods and services provided by the living marine resources and especially by the
critical habitats
· need to increase agricultural and aquacultural productivity
· changes and increases in industrial activity
· undervaluing of damage to the environment
· undervaluing of damage to human health
60
Law
· lack of a sustainable management approach
· lack of an ecosystem approach
· lack of the precautionary principle
· lack of the polluter-pays principle
· sectoral nature of the applicable legislation
· sectoral nature of implementation authority
· multiple levels of implementation authority
· overlapping and/or conflicting legislation.
Institutions
· poor unified planning and inadequate communication, including information exchange, between
and among all the relevant and legally responsible sectors and levels of central, state and local
government
· lack of local community stakeholder consultation and involvement in planning, decision-making,
implementation and enforcement
· inadequate enforcement of existing legislation and regulations
· lack of management capacity generally at local governmental level
· lack of capacity at all levels for managing a multiple-use, multiple-stakeholder resource in an
ecosystem context with a precautionary approach
· inappropriate scaling of the institutional scope to that of the resource(s) or habitat(s)
· inadequate budgetary commitments to the costs of implementation and enforcement of applicable
legislation.
III.
INFORMATION GAPS
Overexploitation of living marine resources
· fragmentary and unreliable fishery statistics
· inadequate fishery-independent data
· inconsistent and incomplete taxonomic identifications
· the existence and relevance of traditional ownership and customary use systems
· quantitative assessment of trophic interactions in the BOBLME
· effects of trawling bans on resource replenishment
· spatial and temporal effect of monsoon dynamics on primary productivity
· abundance, migration and transboundary movement of shad (Hilsa spp)
· nesting, breeding, spawning, size at first maturity, life span, feeding, growth, mortality and
migration of transboundary species
· environmental implications of light bait fishery, including biology, recruitment and stock
assessment
· costs and benefits of fishing vs .non-consumptive marine living resource use
· sustainable levels of harvesting marine ornamental fish, sea cucumbers, chanks, spiny lobsters and
sponges
· extent and value of employment of men, women and children in marine living resources
exploitation and related activities
Critical habitat degradation
· areal extent and environmental status of the seagrass beds of the BOBLME region as a whole and
the status of the associated biodiversity and productivity
· valuation of goods and services provided by the mangrove, coral reef and seagrass ecosystems
· the existence and relevance of traditional ownership and customary use systems associated with
the critical habitats
61
· ecological relationships between critical habitats
· characterization of the bio-geographic importance of the coral-algal/rocky reef communities of St.
Martin's Island (Bangladesh)
· coral larvae dispersal and recruitment
Land-based sources of pollution
· insufficient quantitative information to identify and prioritize pollution "hot spots" in the
BOBLME region. Pollution hot spots are where the pollutant load is heaviest and has the most
detrimental effect on the ecosystems and public health; they are priority areas for monitoring and
intervention. River mouths and coastal conurbations are initial candidates for pollution hot spots,
but no objective criteria have been established to assess and prioritize them.
· insufficient quantitative information to objectively prioritize and determine the relative importance
of the three principal pollution threats
· quantities, fate (including attenuation rate) and effect of pollutants in and on the BOBLME as a
whole
· extent of each BOBLME member country's use of the BOBLME as a sink for organic and
inorganic waste and sediment runoff
· importance and relative contribution to pollution in the Bay of Bengal of floods and other episodic
events
· valuation of the pollution attenuation services provided by, in particular, the mangrove and
seagrass bed critical habitats
· lack of information on appropriate and affordable clean production technology and best practices.
Kaly (2004) identifies this specifically as a perceived lack of essential information as defined
above.
· insufficient information to establish the level of limits for discharges of pollutants.
V. Conclusions
The broad-based national and regional consultation process of the PDF-B phase
enabled the identification of priority regional, sub-regional and national activities to
address the priority transboundary environmental concerns described above. These can be
found in the national and regional technical reports prepared for the BOBLME
Programme and in the reports of the regional meetings held under the auspices of the
Programme (see list of references, infra; these reports are also available on the BOBLME
website.
In April 2004 in Bangkok a regional technical meeting was held to develop the
logical framework (logframe) analysis (BOBLME/REP/3). The logframe will form the
basis for and guide the design of the full-scale project for the first implementation phase
of the BOBLME Programme. The extensive consultations and technical documentation
undertaken during the PDF-B phase made it possible for the countries to agree at this
meeting that they would focus on achieving three overarching objectives for the
Programme:
62
· obtaining a better understanding of the priority environmental issues
· improving their capacity to manage the resources through collaborative activities
· developing an improved policy and institutional framework for understanding the
issues and managing the resources.
At this meeting, a number of regional and sub-regional illustrative activities were
selected by the BOBLME countries for further development into components and sub-
components of the draft project brief. Table 15 presents these activities.
63
Table 15: Proposed Illustrative Activities
Component #1: Coastal/Marine Natural Resources Management and Sustainable Use
(assessments, plans, co-ordination and policy harmonization)
Sub-component 1A: Community-based Integrated Coastal Management (ICM)
·
stock-taking of experiences and "lessons learned" in the BOBLME region (co-management, alternative
livelihoods, community-based management of critical habitats)
·
development of a "tool kit" to support co-management and community-based initiatives
Sub-component 1B: Improved Policy Harmonization and Institutional Strengthening
·
"regionalization" and promotion of incorporation of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries in
national policy frameworks
·
"mainstreaming" of ICM "lessons learned" in national/regional development plans and policies
·
establishment of an information/data "warehouse" for national legislation/policies (fisheries, habitat
management/degradation, LBSP)
·
supporting relevant policy studies
·
strengthening in designated institutional centers of excellence
Sub-component 1C: Collaborative Regional Fishery Assessments and Management Plans
·
development and implementation of a regional shark management plan (beginning with national shark
assessment reports which in turn will lead to National Plans of Action as per CITES and FAO International
Plan of Action for Sharks)
·
development and implementation of sub-regional assessments/management plans for Hilsa (Bangladesh,
India, Myanmar) (Indian mackerel and Hilsa)
·
development and implementation of sub-regional assessments/management plans for Indian mackerel
(Thailand and Malaysia)
·
promote collection and standardization of basic fisheries data
Sub-component 1D: Collaborative Critical Habitat and Management
·
development of (or support for) regional management approaches of selected critical habitats supported (the
Mergui Archipelago in the eastern part of the Bay of Bengal (Myanmar and Thailand) and the Gulf of
Mannar in the western part of the Bay of Bengal (India and Sri Lanka) the West BOB).
·
development of criteria for selecting and costing other candidate sites for possible programme support during
implementation through a demand-driven process. Flexibility to support other sub-regional priorities,
resources permitting, would be built into the design of the sub-component.
Component 2: Improved Understanding of Environmental Variability, Ecosystem Impacts, and Predictability
(inter-acting with regional/global monitoring programs, development of a regional monitoring/reporting system,
establishment of a regional environmental network)
Sub-component 2A: Role of Fish Refugia in Conserving Regional Fish Stocks
·
regional inventory/mapping of critical habitats
·
addressing selected information gaps on critical habitats
·
achieve greater understanding of inter-connectedness between critical habitats
Sub-component 2B: Improved Predictability
·
collaborating with regional/global monitoring programs (GOOS, GTOS, GODAE, IGBP/LOICZ)
Component #3: Maintenance of Ecosystem Health and Management of Pollution (pollution, "hotspots", pollution
mitigation)
Sub-component 3A: Regional Pollution Assessment
·
regional analysis and estimates of pollution loading in the BOBLME
·
identification of public wastewater pollution "hotspots"
Sub-component 3B: Harmonization of Regional Water Quality Criteria
·
development of regional criteria for ambient and effluent water quality
64
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69
Annex 2: Comparison of land-based pollution sources in BOBLME countries
Sources: *EVI Database 2003 (mostly WRI 2000-2001, CIA 2001; see Kaly et al 2003).
Sector
Category
Indicators of pollution
Bangladesh
India
Indonesia
Malaysia
Maldives
Myanmar
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Domestic
Sewage
Sewage
poor, limited to
Sewage
treatment
poor poor poor poor poor poor
Colombo poor
~Urban - Access to improved
sanitation 2000 (%pop)
71%
61%
69%
ND
100%
84%
97%
96%
~Rural - Access to improved
sanitation
2000
(%pop)
41% 15% 46% 98% 41% 57% 93% 96%
Solid wastes
Solid wastes
Urbanisation
Urban development
Agriculture /
Aquaculture
Pesticides
*Pesticides used (t/y) 1996
1,450
74,054
2,726
45,493
ND
162
11,820
22,816
*Pesticide use as g/ha cropland
1996 176
436
88
5,982
ND
16
6,261
1,116
Fertilizers
~Fertilizers used (t,000/y) 1999
1,300
18,372
2,659
1,521
ND
157
259
1,802
~Fertilizer intensity kg/ha/yr
cropland
1999
154 108 86 200 ND 15 136 100
~Total cropland (million ha)
8.4
169.7
31.0
7.6
0.003
10.1
1.9
18.0
Fish, tiger
Tiger prawns,
prawns,
Tilapia,
Prawns /
shellfish,
freshwater fish,
Aquaculture
Main
aquaculture shrimps ND
Shrimps,
fish
seaweed ND cage fish
ND
Shrimps
~Aquaculture production t/y 2000
(incl freshwater)
657,121
2,095,072
993,727
167,898
ND
98,912
12,360
706,999
Extent of aquaculture (ha)
200,000
ND
23,000 ****
~16,000
ND
49,300
ND
ND
Oil/gas,
fertilizers,
Food,
Chemicals,
paper, palm oil, chemicals,
Industrial &
Paper, textiles, steel, textiles,
rubber,
rubber, textiles
Textiles, food,
Food
Infrastructural
Industry
Top polluters
tanneries
fertilizers
agroindustries & leather
ND
ND
metals, rubber
processin
Number of polluting industries
1,200 (1997)
185 (?)
ND
2,759
ND
ND
494
ND
70
Sector
Category
Indicators of pollution
Bangladesh
India
Indonesia
Malaysia
Maldives
Myanmar
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Ship breaking (# companies)
>150
ND
Roads
Roads
Ports
Port developments
Mining Mining
(minor)
(minor)
(minor)
(mino
*Total production (1996-2000) t/y
0
200
0
0
0
0
0
29,920
Production (from National reports)
ND
ND
7.2 Mt
ND
ND
ND
5.5 Mt
ND
Sn, bauxite,
urea, kaolin,
Tungsten (f
*Main products
-
Uranium
granite, sand
Sn, sand
Corals, sand
-
Sand, coral
other area
Tourism Tourism
(minor)
8.34 (20 m
*Tourists / yr (average 1996-2000)
Andaman A
(millions)
ND
ND
4.90
7.41
0.43
0.20
0.38
Nat Repo
Tourists as % resident population
ND
ND 2.31% 33.32% 138.71% 0.44% 2.02% 13.76%
*Tourists / yr / sq km (average
1996-2000)
ND
ND
2.70
22.60
1434.44
0.31
5.83
16.33
Siltation /
Other
sedimentation
Sediments to sea from main rivers
(t/yr)
2.2 billion
ND
ND
ND
None
ND
ND
ND
*Percent original*** forest
7.9%
20.5%
64.6%
63.8% ND 40.6%
18.1%
22.2%
POPs
POPs (includes pesticides)
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
Number registered pesticides
(agriculture + public health)
338 ND ND ND ND ND ND ND
POP pesticide use (ton/y)
7200 (1994)
ND
3,802 ****
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
POPs detected in marine
organisms/sediments
Yes, very high
ND
Yes, very high
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
Radioactive
Radioactive substances
Haze
Haze
(indirect)
Dumping
Untreated wastes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Monitoring &
enforcement
Enforced National standards for
effluent emissions
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Monitoring of the sea
No
Some
Some
Some
No
No
Some
Some
Monitoring of rivers / estuaries /
tidal waters
Some
Some
Some
Yes
-
No
Some
No
71
Sector
Category
Indicators of pollution
Bangladesh
India
Indonesia
Malaysia
Maldives
Myanmar
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Monitoring
floodwaters
No No No No No No No No
Monitoring of groundwaters
Some
No
No
No
No
No
Some
No
* EVI Database, ~WRI 2003, ^CIA 2003, all other data sourced from country reports
** Including the coast of rivers
*** Percent is in relation to original cover 8,000 years ago, assuming current climatic conditions
**** East Sumatra / Malacca area only
Seen as a widespread problem in National Report; Not seen as a problem in National Report; ND = No data; t = metric tonnes; ton=US tons?;
Mt=megatonnes (million tonnes); `Improved' sanitation = Connection to a public sewer, septic tank, pour-flush latrine, simple pit latrine or ventilated improved
pit latrine. This is not necessarily the same as 'sanitary'
72
Annex 3: Partial listing of fishery management laws and regulations in the
BOBLME countries (Source: various documents, from Preston 2004)
Fishery laws & regulations of BOB countries
(excludes legislation that applies only to inland waters, or areas outside the BOB)
Bangladesh
· The Protection and Conservation of Fish Act, 1950 (amended 1982);
· The Fish and Fish Products Ordinance, 1983;
· The Marine Fisheries Ordinance, 1983
India
· Maritime Zones of India (Regulation of fishing foreign vessels Act, 1981, No. 42 of 1981 dated
28th September 1981.) (India's EEZ is closed to foreign vessels)
· All maritime States in India have laws for fishing and other related fisheries activities, for
enforcement of closed seasons, mesh regulation, welfare of fishermen, aquaculture, etc.
· A typical example is The Andhra Pradesh Gazette notification Part IV-A, extraordinary No. 27
dt. December 27, 1993, Hyderabad. Sub.: Regulation of fishing by fishing vessels in the
territorial waters in the coastline of Andhra Pradesh.
Indonesia
· Act No. 9/1985: Fisheries Act;
· Government Decree No. 15/1984 or Regulation No. 15 on Fisheries Resources Management in
the Indonesian Exclusive Economic Zone;
· Ministerial Decree No. 144/1993: on appointing a Port as a Fishing Base for Chartered Foreign
Flag Fishing Vessels for Fishing in the Indonesian EEZ;
· Ministerial Decree No. 473/1985 on the Amount of Allowable Catch in the Indonesian EEZ;
· Ministerial Decree No. 475/1985 on Permit for Private and Foreign Companies to Fish in the
Indonesian EEZ;
· Ministerial Decree No. 476/1985 on Reporting Requirements for Fishing Vessels Permitted to
Fish in the Indonesian EEZ;
· Ministerial Decree No. 477/1985 on the Fishing Fees Imposed on Foreign Persons or Legal
Entities
· Ministerial Decree No. 277/1986 on Fishing Permits in Indonesian Waters and EEZ;
· Ministerial Decree No. 417/1988 on Control of the Utilization of Fishery Resources in the
Indonesian EEZ;
· Ministerial Decree No. 900/1988 on the Requirements for Foreign Fishing Vessels to Export
Their Harvests from Indonesian Ports or to Sell Them in Domestic Markets;
· Letter of Instruction from Minister of Research and Technology 557/1985 on the Development
of Fishing Fleet;
· Ministerial Decree No. 815/1990: on Fishing Business Licensing;
· Ministerial Decree No. 816/1990: on the Use of Chartered Foreign Flag Fishing Vessels for
Fishing in the Indonesian EEZ;
· Ministerial Decree No144/1993: on Appointment of Ports as a Fishing Base for Foreign Vessels
Chartered by Indonesian Companies for Fishing in Indonesian EEZ
· Ministerial Decree No. 375/1995 on the Prohibition of Catching Napoleon Wrasse (Cheilinus
undulatus Ruppel);
· Ministerial Decree No. 805/1995 on the Use of Fish Carrier Vessels.
Malaysia
· Fisheries Act 1985
· Fisheries (Marine Culture System) Regulations 1990
· Fisheries (Maritime) Regulations 1967
· Establishment of Marine Parks & Marine Reserves Order 1994
· Fisheries (Conservation & Culture of Cockles) Regulations 1964
· Fisheries (Prohibition of Methods of Fishing) Regulations 1980
73
Fishery laws & regulations of BOB countries
(excludes legislation that applies only to inland waters, or areas outside the BOB)
· Fisheries (Licensing of Local Fishing Vessels) Regulations 1985
· Fisheries (Close Season for the Catching of Grouper Fries) Regulations 1996
· Fisheries (Prohibited Fishing Methods for the Catching of Grouper Fries) Regulations 1996
· Fisheries (Prohibited Areas) Rantau Abang Regulations 1991
· Fisheries (Prohibited Areas) Regulations 1994
· Fisheries (Prohibition of Import etc. of Fish) Regulations 1990
· Fisheries (Control of Endangered Species of Fish) Regulations 1999
Maldives
· No person may be engaged in fishing in lagoons of inhabited island or tourist Resort Island
without permission from respective administration office.
· It is generally permitted to do fishing from any lagoons without any island or sand bar.
· Prohibition on net fishing in Male's lagoon.
· Fixed fish traps or weirs must be registered at the atoll office. No person may remove fish from
traps or weirs or their immediate vicinity during their periods of operation.
· Prior permission from the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture (MOFA) required before
installing fish holding cages or pens.
· Prohibition on interfering with pole and line fishing in the vicinity of tuna trolling, long line or
drop line fishing.
· Prohibition on removal of any drifting objects on fishing grounds.
· Prohibition on use of any dynamite or explosives in fishing is prohibited.
· Prohibition on use of any poison to catch fish is prohibited.
· Prohibition on use of any spear guns for fishing is prohibited.
· Prohibition on fishing for lobster and beche-de-mer by diving with deep diving equipment.
· Prohibition on fishing so as not to be able to attend Friday prayer.
· Protected Marine Life: Dolphin, Turtle, Whale, Whales Shark, Napoleon Wrasse, Giant Clam,
Triton Shell, Black Coral, Lobster less than 25 cm in length or berried female lobster.
· Any new type of fisheries or use of non-traditional gears requires permission from MOFA.
· Any fisheries research carried out in EEZ of Maldives require permission.
· The Ministry of Trade and Industries gives EEZ fishing licence.
· Statistics and other information must be submitted in the form required by MOFA.
· MOFA is empowered to make regulations for management and development of fisheries
resources within the EEZ.
· MOFA may ban fishing for different species, or declare season or area closures.
Myanmar
· Law relating to the Fishing Rights of Foreign Fishing Vessels of 1989
· Myanmar Marine Fisheries Law of 1990
· Fisheries (Prohibition of Import of Fish) Notifications
· Notifications 8/94 and 9/94 (crab size limits)
· Notification 2/95 and 3/95 (prawn closed season)
· Fisheries (Control of Endangered Species of Fish) Notifications
Sri Lanka
· Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act, 1996
· Fishing operations regulations
o Push net fishing, harpooning for marine mammals, moxi net fishing, and gill net or
trammels net fishing on coral reefs or rocks are prohibited.
o Catching, landing, transporting, selling, buying, receiving or possessing of any marine
mammal or turtle is prohibited.
o Only specified fishing operations are allowed on licences.
· Foreign fishing regulations
o No permits are issued for foreign fishing vessels to operate within the Exclusive Economic
Zone of Sri Lanka;
74
Fishery laws & regulations of BOB countries
(excludes legislation that applies only to inland waters, or areas outside the BOB)
o Landing permits are issued to foreign fishing vessels to use local fishing ports and other
shore facilities for the fish caught outside Sri Lanka's EEZ.
Thailand
· Fisheries Act, B.E. 2490
· Fisheries Act (No. 2), B.E. 2496
· Fisheries Act (No. 3), B.E. 2528
· Act Governing the Right to Fish in Thai Waters, B.E. 2482
· Act Organizing the Activities of the Fish Market, B.E. 2496
· Thai vessels Act, B.E. 2481
· Wildlife Reservation and Protection Act, B.E. 2535
· Animal Feed Control Act, B.E. 2535
· Act Governing the Right to Fish in Thai Waters (No. 2), B.E. 2539
75
Document Outline