By Steve Kimani NAIROBI, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Countries in the West Indian Ocean region, stretching from South Africa through Kenya to Egypt must increase investments and come up with conservation policies to ensure the resources within the ocean benefit their people, the United Nations environmental agency in Nairobi said in a newly released report. In the report, the Marine Biodiversity Assessment, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) predicts that the outlook for biodiversity in marine and coastal waters is uncertain and will be influenced by decisions taken by policymakers and investments to protect the region. 'The marine and coastal resources of the Western Indian Ocean have facilitated job creation and improved livelihoods in coastal regions, said the UN and this should be improved,' noted the report released late Wednesday. In South Africa for example, in 2000, the estimated value of the direct benefits derived from all coastal goods and services was approximately 25 billion U.S. dollars, with indirect benefits contributing a further 19 billion dollars. 'Tourism is the largest direct source of income injecting more than 6 billion dollars per year in the Western Indian Ocean region and fisheries generate about 4.8 percent of the global fish catch, equivalent to about 4.5 million tonnes per year,' the report said. The UNEP however warns that increasing human and environmental pressure on the marine and coastal ecosystems has increasingly changed the functioning and structure of many of the components of coastal and marine ecosystems. But the report also praises efforts by regional countries that have established a network of more than 70 designated marine protected areas covering up to 8.7 percent of the coastline in Kenya, 4 percent in Mozambique and 7.9 percent in Tanzania. The report highlights the physical alteration and destruction of habitats in the form of coastal erosion, coral reef degradation and land conversion for agriculture, urban development, and extensive deforestation as the main cause for a reduction in biodiversity. The estimated loads of organic material, suspended solids, nitrogen and phosphorous generated from municipal wastewater in coastal areas within the region range from 4,000 to 97,000 tones per year mainly concentrated around urban centers, affecting some of the most productive areas of the coastal and marine environment such as estuaries and near shore waters. 'One of the biggest challenges faced by fisheries managers in this region is the dramatic growth of industrial tuna fisheries and the rise in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing which contribute to overfishing. More than one million tonnes of tuna are caught annually and several species of tuna are now considered over- fished,' noted the report. UNEP said increasing maritime oil transport also presents a major threat to the biodiversity of the coastal and marine environment. 'Many oil tankers and ships now sail between Madagascar and the African mainland instead of passing offshore in the high seas. Pollution, such as tanker washing, sewage, garbage and alien species, are carried in ballast water and are already affecting the marine environment.' The number of ships transiting through the major ports in the region is on the rise and the composition of that traffic is also changing. The total tonnage of ships and cargo has increased from around 130,000 tonnes in 1990 to around 220,000 tonnes in 2008. Current assessments indicate that climate change in West Indian Ocean region also has some effects. 'The ongoing trend in upper ocean temperature has in the past decade led to the destruction of about 50 percent of the corals in the region. While many have recovered, the communities have changed considerably.' For example, the 1997-98 El Nino led to a dramatic decline in the tuna catch in this region. The coral bleaching event of 1998 reduced hard coral cover throughout much of the region by between 30 percent and 95 percent, to a rubble and algal dominated coral reef system in the inner Seychelles and Grand Recif of Toliara in Madagascar. Five species of marine turtles found in the West Indian Ocean feature are listed as endangered species. 