Site Selection And Sustainability Analysis For Horseshoe Crabs Conservation In Indonesia

The existence of horseshoe crabs is currently under threat,therefore specific conservation and management strategies of horseshoe crab are urgently required.Unlike other places such as the United States,Mainland China,Hong Kong,Taiwan,Singapore,Malaysia,and India,there is not any conservation area for horseshoe crabs in Indonesia.In this study,1)the biological,ecological,social,technological,and economic dimensions related to horseshoe crabs in Mayangan and Legon Wetan Village,Legon Kulon Subdistrict,Subang,West Java-Indonesia was investigated and assessed,2)MARXAN software was applied for the site selection of the conservation area,and 3)the sustainability level of conservation planning was assessed using RAPFISH software.The results show that,horseshoe crabs in Subang have a lifespan ranging between 10 to 25 years and the status of horseshoe crabs was over-exploited;Subang water quality status was moderately polluted and the sediment dominated by sandy mud;The education background of fishermen was dominated by an elementary level and their average ages are between 41 to 50 years old;75.50%of the fishermen agreed with conservation planning without payment,however,only 17.50%agreed to pay.The average catch rate of gillnets was 12 crabs/(12-hour)every 1000m.The by-catch number varies from 5207 crabs/week to 1705 crabs/week.The horseshoe crabs price in the first chain ranged about IDR 3000-5000 and second chain about IDR 20000.Based on the above five dimensions,sites with an area covering 12.70 km2,13.40 km2,and 19.00 km2 respectively were selected as a conservation area by MARXAN.RAPFISH results showed that the sustainability index scores 27.88,meaning the conservation will remain in less sustainable if the conditions of five dimensions are still the same as the current conditions.In this thesis,ways to increase the sustainability index are proposed based on the 15 sensitive attributes.