Malayan Nature Journal 2020, 72(4), 545-550

Mapping mangrove distribution in

Kong Kong Laut, Masai, Johor,
using remote sensing

ZUHAIRI AHMAD1, ZALEHA KASSIM 1,5, KHALILAH ZAKARIYA2,

ROZILAWATI SHAARI3, AHMAD MUKHLIS AMIN3,
MUHAMMAD SHAHEED SHAMMODIN1, NUR SUHAILA MOHD ROSLI1,
HAZWANI HANIM HASNAN1, NAJEHAH SHAMMODIN4 and
MUHAMMAD IDZHAM HELMI MOHD JINAH1

Abstract: This study examined the mangrove distribution in Kong Kong Laut, Masai, Johor
using remote sensing. Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS imagery at Kong Kong Laut estuary has been
analyzed using NDVI and supervised classification based on the field survey data. In this
study, field survey for supervised classification only observed the exclusive mangrove
species and does not include the associate species. The total number of exclusive species
found is eleven, although there are many other associate mangrove species in the area.
Results showed that total cover of 29.63 ha of “Mangrove Class A” consisting of four
mangrove species have been identified. Besides, the total cover of “Mangrove Class B”
consisting of eleven mangrove species is 9.27 ha. The overlapping mangrove classification
is due to the spectral similarities in mangrove vegetation, thus some species cannot be
segregated into different groups found in both classes. In addition, the total mangrove cover
in Kong Kong Laut is bigger than the classified 38.90 ha as the mentioned figure is only
focused on the proposed mangrove conservation area by the local community. It is found
that remote sensing is one of the reliable techniques to map the mangrove distribution and
coverage, thus allowing continuous monitoring for sustainable planning and management.

Key words: Kong Kong Laut; Remote Sensing; GIS; Land Cover; Mangrove.

INTRODUCTION

Mangrove is defined as a group of shrubs and trees that have special adaptation to grow
within high salinity, strong tides, high temperature, destructive wind and muddy soils of
estuary areas, the intermediate vegetation between land and sea, at tropical and sub-tropical
climates. Mangrove also can be found in saline condition of intertidal water, which include
palms and ferns (Kathiresan and Bingham, 2001; Spalding, Kainuma and Collins, 2010).
According to Juliana et al. (2014) and Jusoff (2013), there are 38 exclusive and 57 non-
exclusive species of mangroves available in Malaysia, with mangrove forest coverage about
577,500 ha. The geomorphological structure and humid tropical regions contribute to the
extensive coverage of mangrove forest in Malaysia (Juliana et al. 2014).

1
Aquatic Resources Research Group, Kulliyyah of Science, International Islamic University Malaysia, Jalan Sultan
Ahmad Shah, 25200, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
2
Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design, International Islamic University, Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia
3
Plant Science Department, Kulliyyah of Science, International Islamic University Malaysia, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah,
25200, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
4
Postgraduate, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Selangor,
Malaysia
International Institute for Halal Research and Training (INHART), Kuantan Campus, International Islamic University
Malaysia, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, 25200, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
Corresponding author : email: zuhairiahmad@iium.edu.my.

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 The decline of the mangrove ecosystem may have been caused by the coastal
development that is increasing each year. The mangrove areas were cleared to give space for
these developments such as human settlements, aquaculture farms, parking area, schools
and small market. As mentioned by Shahbudin et al. (2012), mangrove forest is valuable
economically but currently facing the degradation caused by the development in coastal
areas. The land by the river is reported to have low value and affordable thus attracting the
developer to develop the area and lead to severe destruction of mangrove forest (Dasgupta
and Shaw, 2013; Shahbudin et al., 2009).

According to Zha et al. (2003), monitoring the vegetation and land cover using
remotely sensed images is accurate as the remote sensing tools are advancing according to
time as the urban areas are growing fast. Thus, remote sensing and GIS technique have been
used to map the current mangrove distribution and coverage in Kong Kong Laut estuary.
The multispectral imagery data is the current remote sensing technology that help users to
map coastal development with supporting data library from Geographical Information
System (GIS) which make the mapping process easier and improved (Zha et al., 2003).
Thus, the current mangrove cover in year 2017 was examined using remote sensing
techniques based on supervised classification and field survey data. Mapping the mangrove
distribution in Kong Kong Laut is necessary in order to record the existing mangrove area
and the types, while at the same time to monitor how the mangrove areas can be sustained
in the future against potential threats of depletion due to uncontrolled development.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Mangrove Forest of Malaysia
Based on a study done by Wan Juliana et al. (2014) and Jusoff (2013), there are 38 exclusive
and 57 non-exclusive species of mangroves available in the invaluable mangrove forest of
Malaysia with mangrove forest covers about 577,500 ha and Sabah has the most extensive
coverage with 59% overall coverage. According to Wan Juliana et al. (2014), the humid
tropical region and the geomorphological structure of Malaysia contribute to the extensive
coverage of mangrove forest in Malaysia. Malaysia mangrove forests are managed under
the jurisdiction of the various managements at the federal, state and local level. Giri (2008)
stated in his study that mangrove forest in Malaysia are degraded due to the clearance of the
mangrove forest for human activities such as aquaculture as well as coastal development
and settlement done within the area. Within the last ten years, the total area for mangrove
forest in Malaysia has decreased to approximately 580,000 ha due to conversion of land
uses, overharvesting, overfishing, pollution, sedimentation and alteration of flow regimes
(Omar et al., 2018).

Tourism and Coastal Development

Coastal development in Malaysia has been rapidly increased for past 32 years to meet the
high demand of tourism activities. Malaysia can be considered as one of the tourist hotspots
in Southeast Asia. Even though mangrove forests are abundantly distributed in South and
Southeast Asia, this ecosystem is also considered as the most disturbed, distinguished and
cleared out due to the anthropogenic activities and climate change (Dasgupta and Shaw,
2013). Kong Kong Laut is located within the coastal range and these development
and urbanization undergoing within the coastal area lead to major stress toward the coastal
habitat particularly mangrove ecosystem. Kong Kong Laut currently still has a well-
preserved mangrove area and water body. It has high potential to optimize the richness of
its mangrove for edu-tourism and eco-tourism. Mangrove-based activities such as
mangrove trail, nature interpretation, low impact recreational activities and wildlife
sightings. However, these activities will only be able to thrive if the mangrove areas are
conserved and integrated into the future plans of Kong Kong Laut.

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Remote Sensing in Mapping Mangrove Distribution
The application of remotely sensed images for monitoring land cover is considered as highly
accurate since the remote sensing tools are advancing according to time as the urban areas are
growing rapidly (Zha et al., 2003). Operating land Imager (OLI) data performed better in land
cover classification over vegetation due to higher quality data than ETM+ within visible
bands. The existence of Landsat 8 OLI aids in determination of land cover and vegetation
change. Landsat 8 OLI consists of 11 spectral bands including Thermal Infrared Sensor
(TIRS) with narrower wavelength covered compared to previous Landsat series (Roy et al.,
2014).The high accuracy of the imagery data depend on the high number of spectral bands and
more classification can be done with the narrower wavelength covered.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Kong Kong Laut is located near Masai, Johor Bahru, Johor. The climate is equatorial, with
uniform air temperature throughout the year, varying from 24ºC to 28ºC with 80% humidity
(“Malaysia - Malaysian Meteorological Department,” n.d.). The coordinates of the study area
is 1°31'5.54"N, 103°59'51.30"E (Lat/Long); 388489.30 m E and 167833.57 m N (UTM
WGS1984 Zone 48N). Mangrove is one of the main attractions in Kong Kong Laut for
eco-tourism. Thus, local community try to conserve the mangrove area by proposing a
mangrove reserved forest through local society; Persatuan Penduduk Selat Mendana
Kongkong (PPSMKK). Satellite images of Kong Kong estuary were obtained from USGS
Earth Explorer archive. Latest images (year 2017) were analyzed, which is 6thJune 2017 from
Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS (Id: LC81250592017157LGN00). ENVI software was used to
pre-process the satellite images. Standard atmospheric and geometric correction procedures
have been applied to the images. The mangrove vegetation was assessed using
Normalize Differences Vegetation Index (NDVI).The simplified flowchart was shown in
Figure 1.The Kappa coefficient (K) and confusion matrix were used on both unsupervised and
supervised classification to compare the error made between classifications generated by the
producer and by the users.

Landsat images of Kong Image Enhancement NDVI Computation

KongLaut
Subset images, NDVI=(NIR - R)/(NIR +R)
(Path: 125, row: 59, dated: Atmospheric and
6/6/2017) Geometric correction
Id: LC81250592017157LGN00

Ground Truth
GCP, Mangrove species, Drone Unsupervised
images, Urban identification Classification

ISODATA clustering
Digitizing in Arc View
Supervised Classification Accuracy Assessment
Mangrove/Urban Map Accuracy Assessment

Figure 1. Flowchart of image processing and mapping.

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 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Accuracy Assessment
Based on the combination of supervised and unsupervised analysis, the Kappa coefficient
and the confusion matrix in the forms of percentage was obtained from the generated map.
The values of the Kappa coefficient and confusion matrix were listed in the Table 1. The
accuracy assessments were reliable and the Kappa coefficient (K) for supervised classification
for year 2017 is good. The confusion matrix for supervised classifications ranged from is
91.2%, improved from 85.5% for unsupervised classification. Kappa coefficient value for
supervised classification is 0.8520 compare to 0.7968 for unsupervised classification. High
resolution of Landsat 8 OLI, selection of quality image with less than 10 percent cloud
cover and numerous field survey data are the main factor for the reliable classification.
Table 1. The accuracy assessment based on the unsupervised and supervised classification.

Image and Landsat Unsupervised Classification Supervised Classification

series Confusion Kappa Confusion Kappa
matrix coefficient matrix coefficient
2017 Landsat 8 OLI 85.5% 0.7968 91.2 % 0.8520

Dominant Mangrove and Mangrove Classes

Based on supervised classification, some mangrove species cannot be segregated into
different group and found in both classes. This is due to the spectral similarities in mangrove
vegetation. Total of eleven (11) dominant mangrove species were found in the proposed
mangrove reserved area although there are many other associate mangrove species. The list
of mangrove species found is listed (Table 2). Mangrove Class A consists of four mangrove
species, dominated by families Acanthaceae, Lythraceae and Rhizophoraceae. Mangrove
Class B consists of eleven mangrove species, dominated by families Acanthaceae,
Combretaceae, Lythraceae, Malvaceae, Pteridaceae, and Rhizophoraceae. The total area for
classified mangrove cover is 38.90 ha, with Mangrove Class A is 29.63 ha and Mangrove
Class B is 9.27 ha. However, the total mangrove cover in Kong Kong Laut is bigger than the
classified 38.90 ha as the mentioned figure is only focused on the proposed mangrove
conservation area by the local community. The distribution map of mangrove cover in Kong
Kong Laut for the year 2017 is shown in the Figure 2. The aerial view of the mangrove and
surrounding area taken from drone is shown in Figure 3.
Table 2. Dominant mangrove species in Mangrove Class A and Mangrove Class B according to
spectral similarities in supervised classification.
No. Family Species Supervised Classification
Class A Class B
1 Acanthaceae Avicennia officinalis √ √
2 Acanthaceae Acanthus ebracteatus √
3 Combretaceae Lumnitzera littorea √
4 Lythraceae Sonneratia alba √ √
5 Malvaceae Hibiscus tiliaceus √
6 Meliaceae Xylocarpus granatum √
7 Pteridaceae Acrosticum aureum √
8 Pteridaceae Acrostichum speciosum √
9 Rhizophoraceae Rhizophora apiculata √ √
10 Rhizophoraceae Rhizophora mucronata √ √
11 Rhizophoraceae Ceriops tagal √

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Figure 2. Map of mangrove cover and proposed mangrove reserved area in Kong Kong Laut,
Masai, Johor in year 2017.

Figure 3. Aerial drone image of Kong Kong Laut: (A) Kong Kong Laut village;
(B) The Southern part of proposed mangrove reserved area; (C) The middle part of proposed
mangrove reserved area; (D) The Northern part of proposed mangrove reserved area.

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 CONCLUSION

This study shows that the mangrove distribution in Kong Kong Laut could be well classified
using Landsat 8 OLI with good accuracy of 91.2%. The classification was only conducted
using survey data based on dominant mangrove species, although there are many other
associate mangrove species in the study area. Overall, the mangroves in Kong Kong Laut
are diverse, well mixed and old, which is suitable to be reserved as mangrove protected
area. These efforts will help to conserve mangrove habitat and encourage development in a
sustainable manner.

Acknowledgements : This research was carried out during the Knowledge Transfer
Programme (KTP) (LL(R2)-ECC/2(UIAM-17)). The research assistants for remote sensing
and GIS and mangrove survey were funded by IIUM Research Grant RIGS15-140-0140
and RIGS16-315-0479, respectively.

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