Ecological Status of Kofiau MPA - 2016 Technical Report

The Raja Ampat Islands encompass 4 million hectares of land and sea located in West Papua, Indonesia, right in the heart of the Coral Triangle. The Raja Ampat Islands are a part of the Bird’s Head Seascape, which has the greatest coral reef biodiversity on the planet and is a global priority for conservation. Kofiau MPA is the 5th largest MPA in the Raja Ampat MPA Network. It covers 170,000 hectares, including 17, 243 hectares (10%) in no-take zones. Under Indonesian law, MPAs allow for multiple uses which are regulated through management and zoning plans. The Kofiau MPA management and zoning plans were formalized in Oct 2011. Reef health monitoring data is used to support the development of management and zoning plans and, when repeated over time, can be used to assess the effectiveness of zoning and management plans and inform adaptive management. Therefore reef health monitoring was conducted annually from 2009 to 2012 and biannually in 2014 and 2016 in Kofiau MPA. In 2016, 24 sites were surveyed by an integrated team from Kofiau local community, Raja Ampat Conservation Implementation Unit (UPTD DKP Raja Ampat), students of Diponegoro University, University of Papua, Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy from 22-28 March.