Under pressure: Investigating marine resource-based livelihoods in Jakarta Bay and the Thousand Islands Gunilla Baum a,b , Ima Kusumanti a,c , Annette Breckwoldt a, ⁎, Sebastian C.A. Ferse a , Marion Glaser a , Dwiyitno d,e , Luky Adrianto c , Simon van der Wulp f , Andreas Kunzmann a a Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT) GmbH, Fahrenheitstrasse 6, 28359 Bremen, Germany b Faculty of Biology & Chemistry (FB2), University of Bremen, PO Box 33 04 40, 28334 Bremen, Germany c Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Indonesia d Laboratory for Organic Geochemical Analysis, Institute of Geology and Geochemistry of Petroleum and Coal, RWTH Aachen University, Germany e Indonesia Research Center for Marine and Fisheries Product Processing and Biotechnology, Jl. KS Tubun Petamburan VI, Jakarta 10260, Indonesia f Research and Technology Centre, Westcoast (FTZ), Kiel University, Germany abstract article info Article history: Received 30 September 2015 Received in revised form 15 April 2016 Accepted 14 May 2016 Available online 27 May 2016 Jakarta Bay, next to the Jakarta Metropolitan Area with around 30 million inhabitants, is facing extreme pollution. Although local coral reefs are degraded and marine resources heavily exploited, they provide livelihoods for mil- lions of people. This study investigates anthropogenic pressures on local fisheries resources and associated live- lihoods. Questionnaire surveys were conducted in 15 coastal communities (10 coastal neighborhoods in Jakarta Bay on the mainland and 5 of the offshore Thousand Islands). The most economically valuable species were Caesio cuning (Redbelly yellowtail fusilier) on the islands and Rastrelliger kanagurta (Indian mackerel) on the mainland. Over 80% of all interviewed fishermen regarded the current state of marine resources as declining, mainly due to pollution and overexploitation. While perceptions of declining resources were equally high on the islands and the mainland, pollution was listed as the principal cause of degradation significantly more on the mainland. Findings are discussed in the context of coastal livelihood vulnerability. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Indonesia Anthropogenic stressors Fish Pollution Overexploitation Fisheries resources Vulnerability 1. Introduction The worldwide population growth, especially in many developing countries, is directly linked to the increasing intensity of anthropogenic stress and pressure on the marine environment – above all pollution and overexploitation. As a result, ecosystems such as coral reefs are degrading at an enormous speed, and previously abundant reef re- sources such as fish are declining (Wilkinson, 2008; Burke et al., 2012). This in itself is not a new story, whereas there still exists an in- creasing need to understand the links between the threats to the targeted resources due to habitat destruction, overexploitation and pol- lution, and the livelihood vulnerability and food security of the fishery- dependent population. The Greater Jakarta Metropolitan Area in Indonesia, with around 30 million inhabitants (World Population Review, 2016) the 2nd largest agglomeration in the world (after Tokyo) (United Nations, 2014), and the Thousand Islands (Bahasa Indonesia: Kepulauan Seribu) in front of Jakarta Bay together represent an ideal case study area to assess the ef- fects of multiple anthropogenic stressors on coral reef ecosystems and on coastal livelihoods. Here, local anthropogenic impacts have caused dramatic changes in coral reef ecosystems (e.g. Van der Meij et al., 2010), especially over the past decades, with a current average coral cover of 2% for nearshore reefs within Jakarta Bay (b 20 km), 37% for midshore reefs (20–45 km) and 22% cover in offshore reefs (N 45 km north of the coast of Jakarta) (e.g., Cleary et al., 2014; Baum et al., 2015). In addition, the bay is facing extreme eutrophication (PO 4 4 μM/L (Baum et al., 2015); dissolved inorganic nutrients (DIN) up to 21 μM/L (Ladwig et al., 2016–this issue)), coupled with increased pri- mary production (Chlorophyll a levels up to 18 μg/L; Ladwig et al., 2016–this issue) and sedimentation rates (up to 30 g m -2 d -1 ) (Damar, 2003; Baum et al., 2015). Baum et al. (2015) showed a clear separation of benthic and fish communities between reefs in Jakarta Bay and reefs along the Thousand Islands further north, and Van der Wulp et al. (2016–this issue) report a steep gradient of pollutants to background levels towards the outer edge of Jakarta Bay. This indicates that the direct impact of Jakarta is mainly restricted to inshore reefs within Jakarta Bay. Further north along the Thousand Islands, a spatial patchwork of differentially degraded reefs is present as a result of Marine Pollution Bulletin 110 (2016) 778–789 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: annette.breckwoldt@leibniz-zmt.de (A. Breckwoldt). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.05.032 0025-326X/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Marine Pollution Bulletin journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbul