Introduction: Saint Martin island is last land of Bangladesh situated at the 9 km south from

Teknaf Peninsula in the Bay of Bengal. St. Martin is only coral island of Bangladesh, made a
huge attraction for tourists. That’s why the Island declared as Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
There are immense natural resources here, under the crystal clear water. “The presence of 153
species of sea weeds, 66 species of coral, 187 species of oysters, 240 species of fish, 120 species
of birds, 29 species of reptiles and 29 species of mammals were recorded at the St Martin’s
Island in 2010.” The main Attraction of the island is crystal clear blue water and under water
coral reef. Its made a tourist spot for the leisure, entertainment and adventure seekers. To remain
this island sustainable for long time we need to conserve and preserve the natural resources and
the ecosystem of the island, especially the Coral reef. To conserve coral reef a holistic
management are needed. Local people should know how to conserve the coral reef and the
resources that made Saint Martin Unique from any other tourist destination in Bangladesh. In
this part indigenous knowledge playing a crucial role. At first we will know about the coral reef
what is it.
Coral reef: Ocean is a big mechanism continuously producing oxygen, food, nutrition, medicine
for underwater habitats and global consumers. If you look at the piston of the machine, you will
find that coral reef is the key actor. The ecosystem often called as the rainforest of the ocean. The
coral is a creature from hard outer shell of calcium carbonate separated from their bodies with
the help of the algae found in their body. Reefs are the colonies of coral polyps held together by
calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.
Coral reefs, from the most diverse ecosystem in the world, functioning relatively unchanged for
some 240 million years, are now going through profound changes in their makeup due to ocean
acidification and growing temperature. Reefs provide a home for at least 25% of all marine
species, including fish, mollusc, worm and other wet residents. All reefs flourish in ocean waters
to provide wet life nutrition and shelter. They are most commonly found in the shallow depths of
tropical water, but deep and cold water coral reefs exist on smaller scales in Arctic and Antarctic.
Coral reefs are fragile because they are sensitive to salinity and warm temperature. from excess
nutrition like nitrogen phosphorus, rising temperature, oceanic acidification, overfishing, usage
of chemicals and harmful land use practices. Critical habitats of coral is threatened worldwide
and experiencing dynamic, dramatic decline due to impacts of climate change, pollution and
overfishing. Securing critical habitat means improved water quality throughout the coastal zones,
limits on overfishing, protection of spraying grounds, reduce impacts of development works, and
minimize human pressure on thousands of species that inhabit the reefs. According to scientific
journals, nearly 50% of the corals have already been lost for increasing ocean temperature and
acidification due to climate change. Scientists predict that the rest would be gone by the end of
the century without help. Coral reefs deliver ecosystem services for tourism, fisheries and
shoreline protection. The annual global economic value of coral reefs is estimated between 375
billion to 9.9 trillion US dollars.
Coral reef in Bangladesh: In Bangladesh, corals grow exclusively in St. Martin's Island, located
in the northeast region of the Bengal. St. Martin has about 66 species of coral around it. Corals
form a hard shell of calcium carbonate and eventually creates a coral rock. If you ever visited St.
Martin's Island, you might have noticed a lot of rocks on the shores of this island. In fact, those
rocks are coral fossils, the ultimate form of dead coral. The island exists only because of its coral
bays. So, removal of that coral risks erosion of the beach. Because of this, St. Martins of
Bangladesh, coral reefs ensure a major protection against devastating natural disasters emerging
from the ocean.
Importance of coral reefs: Ecologically coral reefs are very important for our environment and
existence of island. The reefs protect the shore from natural disaster through minimizing the
massive power of waves. Protection of coastal region is undoubtedly a silent fact, which requires
a lot of expense to fabricate water-controlled structures like embankments. But coral reefs act as
a natural barrier to protect shores without any investment.
Coral reefs are usually regarded as the medicine factory of the ocean, as a number of corals are
known to be the source of producing life-saving medicines.
Coral reefs are the habitat, as well as the feeding and spawning grounds for different remarkable
Mayan species. Even many species spend their entire life in coral reefs as they are totally
dependent on corals.
A sound coral reef acts as a receiver of carbon dioxide from atmosphere, which is responsible for
global warming. The regular metabolic activities of the corals fix carbon dioxide as calcium
carbonate for its shell formation and accrual. Thus, corals consume carbon dioxide to form a
skeleton and resist carbons from returning to the atmosphere. This process of capturing carbon
dioxide goes on until the death of a coral. So, coral reefs play a great role in fighting against the
climate change effects, which have become a lethal threat for survival of lives on earth.
This is why we cannot deny the great importance of coral reefs as they are indispensable in
maintaining a healthy ecosystem in ocean.
The corals of St. Martin are under threat: Present situation of corals in the St. Martins Island
in Bangladesh is in alarming state aligning the corals of red barrier reef. Coral reefs are acting as
a natural embankment for St. Martins and need immediate conservation for survival. Reefs not
only act as a natural protection for shores, but also as the feeding, spawning, breeding and
nursery grounds of many marine species of wet life. Truthfully, the corals of St. Martin are under
threat.
Ocean acidification is killing coral reefs gravely, and corals of St. Martin are not out of this
threat. Besides, other man-made threats like oil spill from water vessels, unplanned construction
works and plastic dowels left on shores by locals and tourists are being imperil to the coral reefs.
Direct extraction of coral from these islands is destroying coral reefs. Such extraction declined
about 24% of coral population in the past years of this island. Locals depend on fishing heavily
for livelihood at St. Martin's Island. Due to over-exploitation of fish over the coral beds has
created an interaction gap between fish and coral, which jeopardize the ecosystem of this area.
Coral reefs are under stress around the globe, particularly coral mining, agriculture and urban
run-offs, pollution, overfishing, destroying the ecosystem. Global threats of sea temperature rise,
sea level rise and phosphorus changes from ocean acidification are threatening the reefs globally.
All such threats are associated with climate change and emission. According to journals and
publications, reefs are dying due to temperature changes, ocean acidification, and over-
exploitation of fish. Destructed reefs are fueling species extinction and helping water levels rise
globally. Approximately 50% of the world's coral reefs are dead, and rest of the world's reefs are
at risk due to human-related activities. The threat to coral reef and its health is particularly strong
in Southeast Asia, where 80% of the reefs are endangered. The survived coral reef may be
destroyed by the year 2030 if we cannot preserve our reefs by implementing environmental laws
and green treaties among the nations.
Water temperature changes of more than 1 to 2 degrees Celsius or salinity changes are killing
some species of corals. Under such environmental stresses, coral expose their symbiobium
responsible for coral tissue growth. Without symbiobium, corals reveal their white of skeletons
and this event known as coral bleaching. The corals of Saint Martin island are now expressing
such bleaching and endangering the wet life globally. So it is high time for us to act for survival
and protection of the reefs from extinction.
Conservation of St. martin natural resources: We have to ensure marine protected areas,
biosphere reserves, marine parks, fishery management and habitat protection to protect the reefs
from anthropogenic extinction. Bangladesh government has now prohibited removal of corals
from reefs and informed coastal residents about reef protection and ecology, while such local
actions like habitat restoration and behaviour changes could reduce local damage of corals. But
longer-term threats of acidification, temperature change and sea level rise remains as a challenge.
To eliminate the destruction of corals in their indigenous medians, projects have been started to
grow corals in the non-tropical countries. Bangladesh should follow such standards for
preservation of marine life. A recent survey shows that about 67% of corals at St. Martins have
been damaged, and rest will be damaged if the threats are not eliminated. As St. Martins is one of
the most attractive tourist destination in Bangladesh, a huge number of tourists visit this island
every year.
Role of Indigenous Knowledge: To conserve the only coral resources and the natural resources
local people’s knowledge is a pivotal and very important for their own existence. Cultural and
traditional knowledge plays a crucial role in sustainable resource management on St. Martin
island. Here are some ways in which indigenous communities utilize their cultural heritage to
steward the natural resources of these delicate ecosystems:
Traditional Fishing Practices: The existence of corals hinders in the non-clear water. If
fishermen use traditional homemade fishing traps, hand net are more sustainable than dynamite.
In the St. Martin local people go to deep sea to hunt fish. Its help to reduce pressure on coral
reefs.
Navigational Skills: Coral island communities developed their navigation skills. Traditional
Knowledge of Currents, winds. Island people now use traditional way to navigate and to know
the place where coral reefs situated.
Use of natural day life things: Local people use natural things on their casual life. Natural
traditionally processed snail shells, coconut shell and leafs can be used for reducing environment
pollution occurred by plastic wastages.
Conclusion: Saint Martin island is blessing of god for Bangladesh. It is now one of the most
popular destination in Bangladesh for its crystal clear blue water and diverse underwater coral
reefs. Every year millions of tourist visit this island to spend some time between the deep blue
ocean. Playing a crucial role in the economy of Bangladesh. So we need to conserve and
preserve that island. Local people who are living there for many years, has mastered in different
skill to survive there. But now traditional island got the touch of modern technologies. So there
standard of life have developed but hinder for their existence. Use of plastic and wastages
harming the island’s main resource coral. So we need to conserve this vast diverse resource of St.
Martin island with the view to traditional knowledge and skills.