Condition of Basic Substrate Coverage
1. Siompu Island The research of basic substrate coverage was done at 5 stations in
Siompu Island with a depth between 3-10 meters. Based on observations on coral reef basic substrate from station 1 to station 5, live coral cover was between
0.67 and 71.00. Largest live coral cover was at stations 4 with percentage of 71.00 and the smallest percentage of live coral cover was at station 5 as big as
0.67. In details, it can be seen in Table 14. Table 14. The percentage of live coral cover hard corals, soft corals and other
biota in Siompu Island Station
Hard Corals Soft Corals
Percentage of Coverage
Condition Category
1 41.99
2.00 43.99
Fair 2
29.17 3.83
33.00 Fair
3 18.68
7.50 26.18
Fair 4
67.66 3.34
71.00 Good
5 0.67
0.00 0.67
Poor Source : Primary data analysis 2010
Station 1 was located at coordinates of 05º3801S and 122º3013E and there was found the percentage of live coral cover as big as 43.99, consisting of
Acropora 0.66, non-Acropora 41.33, and soft coral 2.00. Other category with high coverage at transect location were dead coral and sand respectively
18.17 and 18.50. Dead coral was 18.17 in line with rubble coverage 16.67 Figure 10. Visually, average of coral cover percentage condition at station 1
based on lifeform considered to be in fair condition according to Gomez and Alcala 1978, Gomez and Yap 1988 with a range of average coverage between
25 - 49.9. At station 1 percent live coral cover is in fair condition but it has a fairly large variety of lifeform which is encrusting coral, branching coral,
heliopora coral, massive coral, submassive coral Appendix 2. Reefs category by lifeform.
Analysis on coral mortality index at station 1 had a value of 0.45, therefore coral reef had a low mortality ratio or high levels of health. Moreover,
Fachrul 2007 stated that if coral mortality index reaches 0 then coral mortality ratio is small or have a high level of reef health and if it reaches 1 then it have a
low level of reef health or high coral mortality ratio.
Figure 10. Percent coverage for each category of biota and substrate in Siompu
Island
Station 2 was located at coordinates of 05º3902S and 122º2940E. From the result analysis on substrate cover percentage was found that live coral
cover was 33.00, consisting of Acropora 1.67, non-Acropora 27.5, and soft corals 3.83 . Therefore, the conditions of live coral cover at station 2 was
categorized as fair condition. Decrease in live coral cover at station 2 was caused by high coral rubble 35.67 and dead coral 25.17. Physical damage of basic
habitat resulted in decreased of coral reef quality, it seen in mortality index 0.65 that approaches the value of 1 then it can be said that condition of coral mortality
ratio at station 2 have a high level of mortality ratio or low level of coral health. Based on observation of basic substrate coverage at station 3 that located
in coordinates of 05º3719S and 122º3050E were found dead coral 55.32, Acropora 1.34, Non-Acropora 17.34, soft coral 7.50, other biota 5.50,
sand 10.83 and rubble 2.17. While the live coral cover was 26.18 that considered to be in fair condition. Physical damage of basic substrate can resulted
in the decreased of coral reef ecosystem quality. This can be seen in percentage of coral mortality index 0.69 that approached the value of 1. Therefore, the ratio of
coral mortality was high or level of coral health was low.
Observation of coral cover at station 4 was located in coordinates of 05º3739S and 122º3140E. Based on results analysis, the percentage of live
coral cover was in good condition with the percentage of 71.00 that consisted of Acropora 60, Non-Acropora 7.66 and soft coral 3.34. The percentage of
other substrate was 29 consisted of dead coral and dead coral with algae 4.67, rubble 10.00 and sand 14.33 with mortality index 0.17. Station 5 at the
coordinates of 05º3740S and 122º3242E was found coral cover of non Acropora massive as big as 0.67 and sand 99.33. This area is a sandy area that
there is no hard substrate for planula settlement. 2. Liwutongkidi Island
Observation of basic substrate coverage around Liwutongkidi Island that carried on 10 stations with a depth of 3-10 meters, had a percentage of live coral
cover from station 1 to station 10 ranged from 11.67 to 72.50. The high percentage was found at station 3 with 72.50 and the lowest percentage was
found at station 1 about 11.67. The percentage of live coral cover at station 2, station 4, station 5, station 6, station 7, station 8, satasiun 9 and station 10
respectively were 54.62, 48.83, 72.00, 56.00, 43.00, 63.83, 44.17 and 57.66, consisted of Acropora, non-Acropora and soft corals Table 15.
The growth of coral reef in the waters of Liwutongkidi Island with the percentage of basic substrate coverage can be explained as follows: rubble was
found the highest at Station 1 for 75.83 and the lowest was at Station 5 for 0.00.
Table 15. The percentage of live coral cover on the island Liwutongkidi Station
Hard Coral Soft Coral Cover Percentage
Condition Category
1 10.34
1.33 11.67
Poor 2
54.12 0.50
54.62 Good
3 72.50
0.00 72.50
Good 4
48.83 0.00
48.83 Fair
5 56.17
14.50 70.67
Good 6
50.67 0.00
50.67 Good
7 43.00
0.00 43.00
Fair 8
63.83 0.00
63.83 Good
9 44.17
0.00 44.17
Fair 10
56.66 0.00
56.66 Good
The highest substrate coverage condition of Acropora was at station 8 as big as 55.33 and the lowest was at station 1 as big as 0.67, consisting of Acropora
branching at all stations from station 1 to station 10 with its percentage in a row was 0.67, 10:30, 36.83, 2.50 , 12.00, 3.83., 7.00, 48.00, 21.83,
22.33 Coral submassive only found at station 7 with percentage of 4.17, coral digitate at station 2 0.83, station 4 1.00 and station 5 5.00 while the
tabulate coral was found at station 4 1.67, station 5 8.33, station 7 7.83 and station 8 7.33 Figure 11.
Figure 11. Percent of coverage for each basic substrate category in Liwutongkidi
Island
The percentage of basic substrate category of Non-Acropora from station 1 to station 10 in a row were 9.67, 42.99, 35.67, 43.66, 30.84, 46.84,
24.00, 8.50, 22.34, and 34.33. The highest percentage of live coral in the waters of Liwutongkidi was at
station 3 as big as 72.50 and the lowest live coral cover was found at Station 1 as big as 11.67. Hard corals at Station 1 had the lowest percentage of coverage
because there were a lot of rubble as big as 75.83 and dead coral that has not been overgrown with algae. Coral rubble that found in station 1 of Liwutongkidi
Island water was damaged by fish bombing and trap net. Rate of reef health at
station 1 was considered low or in other words mortality ratio was high, with mortality index approaches 1 which is 0.88.
Gomez and Yap 1988 explained that the high coverage of hard coral indicates a healthy coral followed by coral species diversity. Hard corals that
found at station 1-10 were consisted of Acropora branching, Acropora tabulate, Acropora submassive, Acropora digitate, Coral branching, Coral encrusting, Coral
foliose, Coral massive, Coral mushrom and Coral millepora. Generally, it can be seen that the reefs and biota at station 2, station 3, station 5, station 6, station 8,
station 11 were categorized in good condition and station that categorized in fair condition were station 4, station 7 and station 9 Appendix 2.
3. Kadatua Island Research of basic substrate coverage was done at 5 observation station in
Kadatua Island with a depth between 3-10 meters. Based on observation, the highest live coral cover percentage was at station 3 as big as 47.86 and the
smallest live coral cover was at station 2 as big as 13.01. The composition of the basic substrate coverage in Kadatua Island water is an area with low living coral
cover to moderate Table 16. Table 16. The percentage of live coral cover in Kadatua Island
Station Hard Coral
Soft Coral Percent Cover
Condition Category
1 36.66
1.33 37.99
Fair 2
13.01 0.00
13.01 Poor
3 43.53
4.33 47.86
Fair 4
36.82 0.00
36.82 Fair
5 29.34
1.67 31.01
Fair
The percentage of live coral cover at station 1 was 37.99, consisted of branching Acropora ACB 21:33, Acropora digitake ACD 1.83, coral
branching CD 1.17, coral encrusting CE 8.00, coral foliose CF 2.00, coral massive CM 2.33 and soft coral SC 1.33 other lifeform categories
dead coral DC and dead coral with algae DCA 37.67. other biota 6.67, sand S 14:00 and rubble R 3.67.
Station 2 had a small coral cover with the percentage of 13.01, consisting of coral branching CB 10.17, coral encrusting CE 0.670, coral
massive CM 1.50, coral submassive CS 0.67 and other lifeform with broad coverage which is sand 83.00 while dead coral was 4.00. At station 3 live
coral cover was 47.86. The highest live coral cover found in station 3 comprised of Acropora branching ACB 15.33, Acropora submassive ACS 1.33,
Acropora digitate ACD 1.67, Acropora tabulate ACT 8.67, coral encrusting CE 1.00, coral massive CM 15.53 and soft coral SC 4.33.
other lifeform categories at station 3 was sand S 20:47, rubble R 3.67 and the dead coral DC and dead coral with algae DCA 28.00.
Figure 12. Percent of coverage for each basic substrate category in Kadatua Island Station 4 with the percentage of live coral cover as big as 36.82,
consisted of Acropora branching ACB 10.33, Coral branching CB 10.33, coral encrusting CE 2.00, coral foliose CF 2.33 and coral massive CM
11.83. Other category was dead coral DC and dead coral with algae DCA 35.33, sand S 25.17 and rubble R 2.67. Station 5 with the live coral
cover as big as 35.33 consisted of Acropora 7.00, Non-Acropora 22.34 and soft coral 1.67. Results analysis of other lifeform at station 5 was found dead
coral which haven’t overgrown by algae dead coral 33.67, sand 22.33, and coral rubble 13.00.
Based on the result obtained on research location, coral reef type in the water around Liwutongkidi Island, Kadatua Island and Siompu Island were the
type of fringing reef. All coral lifeform were found include of coral massive, branching, encrusting, and fallacious. The type and amount of lifeform
particularly lifeform of branching and massive colonies were high enough to support the life of marine organisms. Percentage of live coral cover on the reef
flats were generally in fair to a good condition. In fact in several observing station, the coral reef was in good condition. The existence of coral reefs can also
affect the existence of reef fish, the more diverse coral lifeform the more higher species richness and abundance of reef fish species. From these data, it showed
that coral reef ecosystems that exist around the three islands were still very supportive to associated organisms living in it.
From all study site, there were seven stations that categorized in good condition, 10 stations were categorized in fair condition, and three stations were
categorized in poor condition. Extreme percentage was occur at station 1 in Liwutongkidi coastal water with coral rubble as big as 75.83. Coral damage was
occured because of fishing activities that are not environmentally friendly by using bombs or trapnets over the reef flat to gain short time economic benefit
without considering sustainability Souter 2000. Damage to coral reefs also caused by anchors of fishing vessels, especially in Liwutongkidi Island and
Siompu Island. During the observation at the study site, Acanthaster planci as the largest coral predator wasn’t found, therefore coral mortality mostly caused by
fishing activities of reef fishes by fishermen. Therefore the two stations are sand without reefs.