Coral reef performance in Pieh Island, West Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

Pieh Island coral reefs deliver substantial benefit to the communities and the global ecosystem health. The present study aimed at assessing the coral reef performance of Pieh Island by doing under water observation at different site locations.The biophysical aspects of coral reefs including reef fish were performed by Under water Photo Transect (UPT) and Under water Visual Census (UVC) at 5 and 10m deep with a 50-m transect line. The coral reefs were typically categorized as ‘fringing reefs’. The coral life-forms included Acroporadigitate, A. submassive, A. branching, A. encrusting, Coral encrusting, C. massive, and C. foliose. The ratio of live coral to dead coral was 1.64:1. The coral reef health index was classified as ‘high’ (39.35 +- 17.94%). The best performance for coral reefs was found in station 1B interm of diversity, uniformity and dominance indexes with stable communities. The reef fishes were dominated by family Chaetodontidae. Forcipiger flavissimus (24.32 ind/m2) and Cephalopolisargus (14.06 ind/m2) were abundant at 5-m and 10-m deep, respectively. Water quality parameters are within tolerable levels for coral reef growth and survival. After all, community based-conservation should be taken into account.