Changes in the Ambon Bay Seagrass for the Past Five Years (2011 – 2016)

Abstract.

 Ambon Bay is located on Ambon Island, which most of the area is within the Ambon City, the capital of Maluku Province. The coastal ecosystem such as coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass beds still exist on this bay. However, as a coastal ecosystem in a crowded city, the potential of degradation for these ecosystems is immense. Over the past five years, many changes have taken place in this bay. In the land section, the construction of housing and large buildings such as shopping centers has occurred. Besides, on the coast, there has been a construction of new docks, and several locations have been reclaimed. Therefore, in 2016 there was a reobservation of the seagrass condition at all transect locations of 2011, to see the changes that have occurred in the seagrass bed in Ambon Bay over the past five years. The results will be compared to the satellite imagery of each location. Overall, the condition of seagrass beds in Ambon Bay in 2016 has decreased from the initial observation in 2011. Of the seven research locations, only one location (Halong) has an increase in its conditions, with seagrass canopy cover rise by almost twofold from previous data (24.29% rise to 50.00%). Four locations experienced a decline in condition, from a slight decrease in Waiheru and Lateri (25.00% down to 20.91% and 47.14% down to 39.33% respectively) to a sharp decrease in Tanjung Tiram and Passo (65.67% down to 39.33% and 48.33% down to 16.25% respectively). The remaining two locations (Tantui and Hative) were in worse condition because they were damaged by the reclamation project. From 2011 to 2016 satellite image comparison, almost all locations show changes in their land use, with more buildings built near and on the coastal area, except in Halong. This finding indicates that seagrass condition negatively affected by coastal development. 

Keywords: seagrass meadows, degradation, landscape changes, monitoring, coastal development.

1. Introduction

Ambon Bay is located in Ambon Island in which as if split into two parts which called the Outer Ambon Bay and the Inner Ambon Bay due to the existence of a peninsula inside the bay. The outer part has an open water character, whereas the inner part is more protected from waves. Most of this bay area is within the administrative area of Ambon City, the capital of Maluku (Mollucas) Province.