Coral Triangle

The Coral Triangle is the world’s center of marine life, a living laboratory where natural evolution plays out in the most unexpected and fascinating ways. No other part of the oceans matches this diversity and on land, only the Amazon comes close to the "triangle" in terms of species richness.

Tuna
The Coral Triangle is a tuna spawning ground—the nursery of the seas—also providing nursery grounds and migratory routes for southern bluefin, bigeye, yellowfin, skipjack and albacore tunas from the Indian, Southern and Pacific oceans, where most of the world's tuna catch occurs.

Giant trevally (Caranx ignobilis) and a school of Black snappers (Macolor niger), Castle Rock, Komodo National Park, Indonesia.
© Robert Delfs / WWF-Canon

Caught, traded, shipped and eaten around the world, tuna is an irreplaceable resource for developed and developing countries globally. Between 1950 and 2006, about 27.5 million tons of tuna were caught by fishing fleets operating in Coral Triangle countries. In addition, an abundance of small tuna species such as frigate, bullet and the bonito provide vital sustenance to millions of people in the Coral Triangle, while they also serve as prey for the larger tuna.

The fishing industry is scrambling to supply growing international demand for tuna. This puts more pressure on heavily-fished stocks, such as yellowfin tuna in the Western and Central and Indian oceans as fleets move in from depleted fishing areas. If the current level of fishing continues or increases, these stocks will collapse and there will be a great loss of revenue and reduced food security in some parts of the world.

International laws and standards support sustainable fisheries management, and are applicable to tuna regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) and their member states. But in reality, tuna RFMOs have been unable to prevent overexploitation of tuna, rebuild depleted stocks, or protect the wider ecosystem.

WWF is collaborating with industry to transform tuna fishing by: Developing a system that raises funds from global tuna trade and supports tuna management in Coral Triangle countries; establishing ecosystem-based fisheries management that delivers equitable benefits to island communities; reducing illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing by excluding it from supply chains; implementing incentives for sustainable fishing practices, such as MSC certification; and engaging consumers on the importance of tuna fisheries and enable them to make sustainable seafood choices.

• Learn more about WWF’s work with tuna species
• Promoting sustainable tuna fisheries
• Tuna in trouble: The challenges facing the world's tuna fisheries
• Learn more about the WWF Tuna Think Tank
• Factsheet: WWF Coral Triangle Program Tuna Strategy
• Indonesian fishing moratorium a small step to help save Coral Triangle

Turtles
Six of the world’s seven species of marine turtles live in the Coral Triangle, including the green, hawksbill, olive ridley, leatherback, loggerhead, and flatback turtle. They are a fundamental link in the Coral Triangle's fragile ecosystems. For example, turtles help  maintain the health of sea grass beds and coral reefs which are home to commercially-valuable species such as shrimp, lobster, and countless other species. Also, turtles have major cultural and social significance and draw visitors from around the world.  For local residents, the flow of visitors who come to admire turtles is a vital source of income.

Leatherback and loggerhead marine turtles are at risk of vanishing from the Pacific Ocean. In the Coral Triangle, several factors threaten all turtle species, including: Illegal trade and direct consumption (meat, eggs, shell, leather, curios); Bycatch (trawlers, longlines, gill nets); Habitat destruction and alteration (coastal tourism, industrial development); Pollution; Disease; and climate change.

In Indonesia alone, it is estimated that as many as 7,700 turtles are killed every year by accidental catch in shrimp trawls and tuna longlines.

The benefits of saving marine turtles go far beyond simply protecting these remarkable species. Conservation efforts will make fisheries more sustainable and provide benefits to small communities. But to be effective, turtle conservation calls for protection of the full range of destinations visited by turtles during their life cycle—places such as beaches, seagrass meadows, coral reefs, open ocean, and migratory pathways that cover several countries

• 

  Turtle eggs for sale
  © WWF-Canon / Edward Parker

  Protecting Marine Turtles in the Indo-Pacific
• Learn more about WWF's turtle projects in the Coral Triangle

Coral Reefs
Coral reefs are important to people for numerous economic and biological reasons, and the Coral Triangle happens to be home to 75 percent of all coral species known to science, holding at least 600 species of reef-building corals.

• The importance of coral to people
• Tropical corals
• Coral reef ecology
• Cold water corals
• Coral importance
• Coral threats
• Climate change in the Coral Triangle

Napoleon wrasse or Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), Batu Balong, Komodo National Park, Indonesia.
© Robert Delfs / WWF-Canon

Reef Fish
The Coral Triangle has more coral reef fish diversity than anywhere else in the world: 37 percent of the world’s coral reef fish species and 56 percent of the coral reef fishes in the Indo-Pacific region.  More than 3,000 species of reef fish and commercially valuable pelagic species inhabit this area, including the bumphead parrotfish and Napoleon wrasse, and eight percent of the coral reef fish found in the Coral Triangle are endemic or locally restricted species.  It is also a feeding ground for migrating whale sharks and manta rays that are attracted to the region by abundant plankton.

Cetaceans
This area is home to 22 species of dolphin, endangered dugongs, and several species of whale – Bryde’s whales, short-finned pilot whales, three species of sperm whale, humpback whales, Cuvier’s and Blainville’s beaked whales and the world’s least studied cetacean – Longman’s beaked whale.

Photo Slideshow

Image:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20

© Jürgen Freund / WWF-Canon

Dugong (Dugong dugon). Indo-Pacific Ocean