The health of coral reefs and underwater ecosystems in shallow waters: Study on Tidung Island

Abstract

Coral health data is one of the primary inputs in determining the right strategy and management steps. This study aims to determine the health of corals through two indicators, namely percent of coral reef cover and abundance of reef fish. Data collection was carried out in 4 observation stations with Point Intercept Transect (PIT) and Underwater Visual Census (UVC) methods. The results of the study stated that the percentage of coral cover at four stations included in the category of poor, medium, or good, with a percentage of 10.3% (station 1), 26.5% (station 2), 28.9% (station 3), and 65.73% (station 4). The results of data analysis of reef fish communities have a Diversity Index in the medium category (1.0 <0.5), which showed a low dominance value. The live coral cover percentage tends to decrease to previous years by comparing the portion of seafloor covered by living coral that is 68.2% in the year 2007, to only 32.8% in 2018.