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Evaluating Ecotourism Development in Bontang: Water Quality, Compatibility, and Carrying Capacity

Marine and coastal tourism are both among the largest segments of the tourism industry and fastest growing local economic activities. However, tourism is also one of the main contributors to environmental depletion. This study aimed to evaluate the condition of the water quality, and the compatibility and the regional carrying capacity of the coastal area of Bontang City intended for marine tourism. Data were collected by purposive randomised sampling and used multicriteria analyses, based on the reference point methodology by adjusting parameters for each tourism category. The data were quantified using a matrix method then analysed descriptively. The results showed that the water quality qualified based on water quality standards with pollution index values of 0.72 and 0.80 for Kedindingan Island and Beras Basah Island, respectively. The tourist compatibility index for the mangrove tourism category was very suitable (80.7%), the snorkelling tourism category was appropriate (64.42%) and the beach tourism category also appropriate (78.6%). Furthermore, the regional carrying capacity was 392 people/day for the Beras Basah Island and 10,766 people/day for Kedindingan Island.


Introduction
For decades, tourism and its sustainability has been a concern of development agencies, policy makers, NGOs, environmental activists, and other stakeholders. The evolution of tourism development has described four platforms: advocacy, precautionary, adaptive, and knowledge-based [1]. Then, the sustainability and ethics have become additional platforms [2]. Ecotourism from its genesis and founding theories has set out to conserve and preserve the environment through sustainable operations that include surrounding communities in efforts to reduce their poverty levels [3]. The concept of ecotourism as a tourist activity is a form of tourism developed in a natural environment that includes tourism elements and rural culture. Ecotourism is seen as important because it can provide sustainable development as opposed to the negative impacts of uncontrolled development of mass tourism areas on the environment and local communities [4].
The development of tourism activities needs to pay particular attention, firstly, to the quality of the environment through measures aimed at its conservation and development [5]. Sustainability and the economic consequences of creating marine protected areas need to be addressed in a multispecies and multi-activity context [6]; furthermore, tourism and recreation could contribute significantly to the wellbeing of society. When the concept of sustainable development arose in relation to tourism in 1990s, sustainable development was seen as more closely related to the carrying capacity (CC) than anything else, because the idea of sustainability implies a limit and because both concepts share the 2 same difficulties as far as the formulation of the ideas, practices, utility and diversity of types [7]. The carrying capacity of tourist areas is defined as the maximum number of people who can visit a tourist destination without causing physical, economic, or socio-cultural environment damage or an unacceptable decline in the quality of tourist satisfaction [8][9][10].
Maritime tourism, which includes coastal and marine tourism, is a segment of the tourism industry that has experienced rapid growth, including in Indonesia. Many people began to work on this type of tourism so that marine tourism became the fastest growing sector in the maritime sector [11]. The development of ecotourism can be considered the main opportunity offered by the current economic context since this form of tourism brings significant socio-economic benefits with minimal investment by using the natural tourism potential in a sustainable manner; furthermore, it can be a tool for nature conservation and sustainable local development [5]. In spite of significant economic benefits, ecotourism may have some negative impacts on the environment and population in the destination areas [12].
The tourism development program is one of the main city government programs in Bontang, East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia (e.g. decree of the mayor of the city of Bontang No.112/2011 about the reserve of a water conservation area in Bontang). So far, the economic structure of the city is highly dependent on the natural gas and fertilizer industries, with a contribution of 83.95%. However, economic growth was negative in 2016 and only grew 0.68% in 2017 [13]. Therefore, the government programmed the development of other more sustainable economic potentials such as tourism. For the tourism sector, Bontang has a coastline of approximately 24.4 km, directly facing the Makassar Strait, which is traversed by Indonesian archipelagic sea lane II and international shipping lines, between the Mahakam delta and Sangkulirang Bay [14]. The development of marine tourism in the coastal of Bontang continues to be developed along with other developments such as industry, land reclamation, ports and dredging channels [15].
Actually, Bontang is also a tourism destination. In the coastal area of Bontang there is an exotic Beras Basah Island for snorkelling to enjoy underwater beauty. In addition, there are also Segajah and Kedindingan islands that are equally beautiful. The existing tourism activities include beach tourism, snorkelling, diving and mangrove tourism. But, the impacts of massive tourism on water resources has received comparatively little attention from the scientific community, other than from a public health stand point. Furthermore, land-use planning in relation to water quality and point and non-point source pollutants, and to methods of managing eutrophic recreational waters, is frequently mentioned in literature concerning tourism and ecotourism [16][17][18]. However, there is a lack of quantification in the ecotourism of Bontang City. Most of the literature related to this kind of tourism are social and offer qualitative measures [13]. This situation is very crucial, because it is related to the planning of establishing this area as a part of the management of coastal areas and small islands according to law No.27/2007 and Act No. 1/2014. The lack of current environmental data collection and historical data in the Bontang coastal area necessitate reductionist approaches. This study aimed to assess the ecological aspects of the ecotourism industry and collect relevant information for studies on ecological compatibility and carrying capacity. Furthermore, the study aimed to provide base line data for policy makers in organizing strategic planning for coastal areas and small islands in Bontang City.

Materials and Methods
This research was carried out in the coastal area of Bontang City, comprising Kedinding Island and Beras Basah Island. The study site covers an area of 472.82 Ha which is located at coordinates 0° 5' 9.11" N, and 117 ° 33' 21.30" E (for Kedindingan Island) and 0° 3' 50.41" N and 117° 33' 21" E (for Beras Basah Island) ( Figure 1).

Method of Collecting Data
The data collected included the average number of visitors and the characteristics of the tourism destination area including: water quality, characteristics of beaches, sea grasses, coral reefs, and mangrove forests. The data were then tabulated and analysed using a matrix scoring method to determine the Tourism Compatibility Index and regional carrying capacity. Water quality was determined by the Pollution Index (PI) procedures and standards of water quality for marine tourism [19,20].

Water Quality Analysis
The measured water quality parameters were compared with Quality Standards [20]. The parameters were: clarity, smell, total suspended solids (TSS), waste, temperature, oil and grease, pH, salinity, total ammonia (NH3-N), sulphide (H2S), phenol and detergents as MBAS. Water quality analysis is carried out by calculating the pollution index (IP), with the following classification:

Compatibility Analysis
Tourism compatibility was analysed by the following categories: mangrove tourism ( Table 2); snorkelling tourism (Table 3) and beach tourism (  Table 2. Compatibility matrix for mangrove tourism [21].

Tourism Carrying Capacity Analysis
Estimating the carrying capacity of tourism activities for the use of conservation areas referred to Government Regulation No. 18/1994 concerning exploitation of natural tourism in the utilization zone of national parks, forest parks, and natural tourism parks. Tourism should not exceed 10% of the total utilization zone of the national park. The carrying capacity equation used was as follows: Where: CC is the carrying capacity of the area (person/day) K is the maximum number of visitors per unit area (Table 5) Lp is the area that can be utilized Wt is the time available for each tourist activity per day (Table 5) Lt is the unit area for each tourist category (Table 5) Wp is the time visitors spend on each tourist activity (Table 5)

Water Quality
The Pollution Index (PI) was 0.72 for Kedindingan Island and 0.80 for Beras Basah Island (

. Beras Basah Island
Ammonia can accumulate in water because aquatic organisms continuously excrete ammonia and are part of the nitrogen cycle. Three main pollutant types are nutrients, sediments and pesticides. Pollutant loads can be usefully disaggregated [24]. Kedindingan island has a mangrove ecosystem characterised by muddy substrate which is nutrient-rich from organic matter decomposition. Conversely, Beras Basah island has no mangroves at all and is dominated by beach and coral reef ecosystems. Nutrients are generally deemed detrimental to mangroves because of synergistic effects occurring with other pollutants during intense discharge events [22]. Coral reef ecosystems are particularly sensitive to turbidity. Suspended sediments reduce light availability for coral symbionts (zooxanthellae), which may result in coral bleaching and death [23]. Suspended sediments also disturb the coral reproductive cycle.

Mangrove Tourism Compatibility
Kedindingan Island is actually a kind of muddy sandbar overgrown with mangroves. This sandbar inhibits the flow of currents and slows the ocean waves that lead to the coast so that it increases the sedimentation process in the surrounding area and has slowly formed a dry and submerged island periodically submerged by high tides. The survey results on the condition of the mangrove forests on Kedindingan Island gave an S1 category (score 3) for mangrove parameters, tidal conditions, and the presence of fauna as tourism objects. The analysis of mangrove tourism compatibility obtained a value of 80.7%. This index value is in the very appropriate category (range of 83-100%). The high tourist compatibility of mangroves on Kedindingan Island is certainly influenced by the extent of 117.4200 m 2 with good tidal conditions (0.18 m) and a wide variety of fauna. The only parameters with low scores were mangrove species and density, with only 6 types of mangroves present in relatively low densities. Mangroves on Kedindingan Island included Rhizophora mucronata, Avicennia mucronata, and Sonneratia sp. These mangroves are common types that grow in coastal areas with salinity up to 32 ppt. This mangrove forest is a nursery for various types of marine life, including nekton, crustaceans and molluscs. The types of fish found included; Abudefduf sexfasciatus, Chromistern atensis, Ctenchaetus striatus, Caesio teres and Thalassoma lutescens. The mangrove ecosystem of Kedindingan Island is also a habitat of the little egret (Egretta garzetta) which is a protected species of bird in Indonesia [20,25]. In addition, there are also reptiles such as monitor lizards and crocodiles which are sometimes seen around the mangroves on Kedindingan Island.

Snorkelling Tourism Compatibility
For coral reef tourism the main zone is around Beras Basah Island. Although there are also coral reefs around Kedindingan Island, the area is small and the diversity low. The snorkelling tourism compatibility matrix (Table 8) obtained a value of 68.42%, in the Suitable category S2 (50%-80%). For snorkelling, water clarity is very important. Around Beras Basah Island, water clarity had a score of 3 (the highest category) with 100% visibility . The other parameters had scores of 2, but no parameters scored 1 or 0.
In addition, the diversity and beauty of corals and reef fish in the coral reef ecosystem is certainly a major attraction for tourists. The corals around Beras Basah Island were diverse with stable categories and stable fish communities. The types of fish found in Beras Basah waters included: Pterapogon kauderni, Chaetodon octofasciatus, Thalassoma lutesccens, Abudefduf sexfasciatus, Chromis ternatensis, Neoglyphido donoxyodon and Pomacentrus alexanderae while the types of coral found included the genera Echinopora, Pachyseris, Porites, Pectinia, and Acropora. Coral community cover (%) 5 stipulation in Government Regulation No. 18 of 1994 concerning exploitation of natural tourism in the utilization zone of national parks, major forest parks, and natural tourism parks. In general, the number of visitors in the main tourism zone area is still very low, below 50% of the total area carrying capacity. This condition is certainly considered to be very good in terms of conservation, because it is assumed that it will not be able to have a significant impact in terms of damage to the natural environment. Kedindingan Island has a higher carrying capacity (10766 people/day) compared to Beras Basah Island (392 people/day). The difference is certainly influenced by the area of the island. Kedindingan Island does not have coastal tourism potential, but has the advantage of 117,4200 m 2 of mangrove forest. Meanwhile, Beras Basah Island does not have mangrove forests, but has a beach tourism with white sand covering an area of 25800 m2. However, the two islands have seagrass and snorkelling potential (coral reefs). The shortage of tourist categories on Beras Basah Island is complemented by Kedindingan Island and vice versa. So that it forms an integrated tourism main zone that is attractive to visitors and has the potential to be developed as marine tourism (Figure 2). Overall, the carrying capacity of the main coastal zone of Bontang City is 11,158 people/day. This value is higher than the carrying capacity of ecotourism in Lantebung, Makassar City [25], which reportedly has a carrying capacity of 274 people/day. However, it is lower than the carrying capacity of Panjang Beach, Bengkulu [28] which has a carrying capacity of 42,045 people/day and Baluran, NTB with a carrying capacity in the ecotourism area of 3288 people/day [29].
The balance between the number of visitors and the condition of the resource and the type of activity developed certainly needs to take into account the area used which is compared with the ability of nature to tolerate visitor activities so that sustainability is maintained [21]. An increase in