Chapter 4 General Conditions of Study Sites
This chapter explains a short description of the small island communities, in the selected islands. It shows the very nature and situation where these
communities live: their livelihoods, coastal fishery, origin and ethnic groups, as well as social infrastructure. Each aspect is to some extent, assessed and
compared among five different study sites. Talking about five different islands as the selected research sites, one
should not over look that these islands are eventually grouped into two different archipelagos. Rajuni Besar, Rajuni Kecil and Tarupa are part of Taka Bonerate
atoll, while Kapoposang and Barrang Caddi are part of Spermonde archipelago. Each archipelago yet each island has their own geopolitical, geographical
contexts as well as natural forces and socio-economic background, which influence the livelihoods and resource use on the coastal fishery.
4.1 Resource Conditions Spermonde Archipelago: Barrang Caddi and Kapoposang Islands
The area of Spermonde Archipelago is 400,000 hectares with maximum depth is 60 meter, and is divided by Hutchinson 1945 in Moka 1995 based on
ecological zones: Zone 1 or Inner Zone is significantly influenced by the South Sulawesi
mainland with bottom of the coastal is sandy-mud. Zone 2 or Middle Inner Zone has the distance around 5 km from Makassar
coastline and has around 30 meter depth. This zone is characterized by are many small islands. It is where Barrang Caddi Island is located.
Zone 3 or Middle Outer Zone has the distance around 12.5 km from Makassar coastline. The depth is around 30-50 meters and it has shallow
area or coral reefs that locally called as taka. Zone 4 or Outer Zone is the zone of barrier reefs, whose distance is around
30 km from South Sulawesi mainland. Kapoposang is located in this zone.
Coral reef condition around Kapoposang is good and has high biodiversity. It had been identified 224 species, 68 genus and 16 classes of coral reef Moka
1995; Suharsono 1996.
Location and Accessibility
Except of Barrang Caddi, accessibility to these islands is not easy Table 15. Taka Bonerate area provides no regular public transportation for
passengers, except transportation for trading goods, in which people can join in these cargo ships. The area can be reached from the capital city of the Province,
Makassar city, by joining the cargo ships, and it takes around 30 hours from Makassar to reach Rajuni Kecil. Another alternative is to reach the area from
Selayar Island, where the District capital city – Benteng city – is located, by using fishermen or cargo ships, and takes around 5-6 hours to reach Rajuni Island.
Nevertheless, Tarupa is located in the far east of Taka Bonerate from Benteng city and is more difficult to reach than that of Rajuni. However, Tarupa is
the nearest island of Taka Bonerate reached from Southeast Sulawesi province, particularly Sinjai and Bone, the origins of the external traders and capital owners
of destructive fishing. Kapoposang Island is situated at the outermost Western part of Spermonde
archipelago. It is usually reached from the mainland cities of Makassar and Pangkajene. From Makassar, it takes around 4-6 hours by an inboard-engine
boat of 1-5 tons 42 HPs, or around 1-2 hours by a speed boat of 200 HPs. The islanders or visitors have to take a ride in small fishing or trading boats which
frequently transport fishes between Kapoposang and mainland cities. Another alternative is taking a ride in a speed boat utilized by the tourists between
Makassar city and Kapoposang Coremap-Socioeconomic Team 2001.
Table 15 Accessibility to the islands
Rajuni Kecil
Island
Rajuni Besar
Island Tarupa
Island Kapoposang
Island Barrang
Caddi Island
Accessibility to the island
4-6 hours from Benteng city; 30 hours from Makassar city.
4-6 hours from
Makassar city.
1 hour from Makassar
city.
Transportation mode
normally used by islanders
Fishermen boats, cargo ships. Tourism
resort’s speed boat, fish
trader’s boat. Daily
passenger boat.
4.2 Institutional Arrangements