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Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic nation, and has over 17,805 islands that stretch from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean (Suharsono, 2005). With over 230 million inhabitants, it is also one of the most populated countries in the world. It supports the greatest collection of marine biodiversity anywhere on earth (Suharsono, 2005). The western island of Sumatra is the only part of Indonesia within the Bay of Bengal LME. There are four provinces in Sumatra that border the Bay of Bengal LME: Nanggro Aceh Darussalam (Aceh) Province; North Sumatra Province; West Sumatra Province; and Riau Province. Sumatra is made up of about 100 islands and has approximately 1,400 kms of coastline (Kunzmann, 2002). It has two fisheries management and conservation areas: ‘WPP 571’, which is within the Strait of Malacca, and ‘WPP 572’ in the Indian Ocean.

The Indonesian part of the Bay of Bengal is one of the richest coastal/marine areas in the country. Various marine habitats, such as mangroves, seagrass beds, coral reefs and estuaries exist along the Straits of Malacca as well as on the west coast of Sumatra. Sumatra also has a relatively high concentration of mangrove forests. The total mangrove area in Indonesia has been estimated at around 3.80 to 4.25 million ha, of which around 0.38 million ha are located along the East Coast of Sumatra. Sumatera has also most diverse coral reef species in Indonesia (Brown, 2007). Most of the coral reef species are fringing reefs species and their abundance is highest on the Southern coasts of Sumatra. There are only a few patches of coral reefs in the Straits of Malacca, but these are nevertheless highly productive marine ecosystems, supporting a tremendous diversity of living organisms. There are very productive fisheries in the surrounding seas. Several numbers of marine plants and invertebrates are harvested from the reefs for human consumption.

MPAs in Indonesia were first established in the 1970s with the declaration of several national marine parks. Since that time, numerous MPAs have been established, so that presently 108 MPAs exist together, covering more than 17 million ha of legally protected and managed marine habitat, waters and coastal areas. Indonesia is progressing toward the more recent commitment of establishing 20 million ha of MPAs by 2020.

In Indonesia, marine area protection is implemented in various legal forms, such as Marine Nature Tourism Park (Taman Wisata Perairan), Strict Marine Reserve (Suaka Perairan), Marine Sanctuary (Daerah Perlindungan Laut), Regional Marine Conservation Area (Kawasan Konservasi Laut Daerah), Coastal Reserve (Suaka Pesisir), Fisheries Reserve (Suaka Perikanan) and Marine National Parks (Taman Nasional Perairan).

In previous decades, the Government of Indonesia’s Departments of Forestry and of Agriculture both had duties concerning MPAs, but in 2009, the responsibility for marine protected areas was assigned exclusively to the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKJI, 2013).

There are 15 Marine protected areas located in Sumatra and which are also in the BOBLME area. The map above shows the distribution of marine protected areas in Indonesia (BOBLME area) and MPA database lists the marine protected areas, compiled by WorldFish from many different sources. These MPAs were established to conserve and protect marine and coastal biodiversity such as coral reefs; mangrove, sea grass and others threatened species.

According to the Government Regulation No. 60 of 2007 it is stated that Marine Protected Areas (MPA) are indeed marine protected areas, managed by zoning systems, to create sustainable fisheries resources and the environment. MPAs consist of Marine National Parks, Marine Nature Tourism Parks, Marine Wildlife Reserves, and Fisheries Reserves.

• BOBLME. 2011. Status of Marine Protected Areas and Fish Refugia in the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem. BOBLME – 2011 – Ecology – 10.
• Brown, BE. 2007. Coral Reefs of the Andaman Sea - and integrated perspective. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Ann. Rev. 45: 173-194.
• Coral Triangle Atlas. 2013. The Coral Triangle Atlas. http://ctatlas.reefbase.org (Accessed October 2013).
• Kunzmann, A. 2002. On the way to management of West Sumatra’s coastal ecosystems. Naga, The ICLARM Quarterly. 25 (1). January – March, 2002.
• KKJI (2013). Marine and aquatic resources conservation. http://kkji.kp3k.kkp.go.id/index.php/en/marine-protected-area-data (Accessed October 2013).
• Suharsono, 2005. “Indonesia”. In: Status of Coral Reefs in East Asian Seas Region: 2004. Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, Ministry of the Environment, Japan, and WorldFish Center and Japan Wildlife Research Center. Tokyo, Japan. 200 pages.
• UP-MSI, ABC, ARCBC, DENR, ASEAN.2002. Marine Protected Areas in Southeast Asia. ASEAN Regional Center for Biodiversity Conservation, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Los Banos, Philippines. 142 pp.