The perpetrator of the damaged coral reef tour in Labuan Bajo is sanctioned.

LABUAN BAJO - The East Nusa Tenggara Provincial Government (Pemprov) stated that the tourist perpetrators who damaged the coral reefs in the waters of Sebayur Kecil Island, Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai Regency had carried out administrative sanctions in the form of planting or transplanting coral reefs in the affected area.

"The perpetrator or owner of the KM Apik tourist boat and its partner PT Maika Komodo Tour and Diving received administrative sanctions, namely government coercion in the form of restoring the function of the sea space by rehabilitating the damaged coral reefs," said Head of the East Manggarai Regency Marine and Fisheries Office, Manggarai and West Manggarai Marine and Fisheries (DKP) NTT Province Robertus Eddy Surya in Labuan Bajo, Wednesday, December 17 reported by ANTARA.

Administrative sanctions based on the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Regulation Number 31 of 2021 concerning the Imposition of Administrative Sanctions in the Marine and Fisheries Sector.

Previously, the anchor belonging to the tourist ship KM Apik was reported to have damaged the coral reef while crossing the waters of Little Sebayur Island, Labuan Bajo on Saturday (25/10).

Robertus Eddy Surya explained that based on the results of the investigation and justification by a team of experts from the Komodo National Park Office, the total area of the coral reef damaged by the KM Apik ship anchor was 4.14 square meters.

However, the perpetrators carried out coral reef transplantation exceeding the total damage, namely up to 21 square meters.

"Coral reef rehabilitation is carried out by the transplantation method using the spider web system (spider web) in the confirmed area of 9 m x 46 cm or an area of 4.14 meters with 21 units, assuming each unit covers an area of 1 meter, the total area of the rehabilitated area is 21 square meters," he said.

Coral reef rehabilitation was carried out by a team of nine divers consisting of personnel from the West Manggarai Police Satpolairus, the Komodo Professional Divers Association (P3KOM) and the Apik KM crew. Present at the event were the West Manggarai Transportation Office, KSOP Region III Labuan Bajo and the West Manggarai Working Area PSDP Station.

"The type of coral reef as a seed is the type of Acropora Sp and Porites Sp and is taken from the waters around the location of coral reef damage due to the potential for good growth and from locations that have habitat similarities.

He said the depth of coral rehabilitation in the buffer area of the Komodo National Park was around 6-8 mdpl.

Furthermore, tourist perpetrators who have undergone rehabilitation are required to monitor the growth of coral reefs regularly and replace the seedlings if they die and work with the technical team to monitor for three months after rehabilitation.

"Monitoring, evaluation and reporting will be carried out for the next three months and a mandatory report will be made by the ship owner after the transplantation activity to us along with photo or video documentation, and must facilitate cross-sector monitoring activities," he said.

He hopes that the enforcement of the law against the tourist perpetrators will be a lesson for tourist perpetrators and other communities in Labuan Bajo not to destroy coral reefs and will be a reminder to all stakeholders in the sea to continue to maintain the marine ecosystem to remain sustainable.

Meanwhile, the owner of the KM Apik ship, Anang Subiantoro, expressed his commitment to carry out the administrative sanctions given and continue to coordinate and communicate with relevant parties to preserve the marine ecosystem.

"We implement this decision, because this is a sanction and we accept it. We often come here so that we can regularly check the coral reefs that have been planted," he said.

He hopes that the government can provide mooring buoys or ship moorings as a form of ecosystem protection where they can replace anchors that have the potential to damage coral reefs and the sea floor.

"If possible, we must adamouring buoys so that this kind of incident does not happen again, if there is an emergency, it can be helped," he said.