Indonesia Launches Southeast Asia's Biggest Marine Park
Indonesia has opened Southeast Asia's largest marine park in the Savu Sea, a migration route for almost half the world's whale species and home to vast tracts of rare coral, the country's fisheries minister said.
Environmental groups, The Nature Conservancy and WWF will help set up the reserve, where efforts will be made to stamp out illegal practices such as dynamite and cyanide fishing. Tourism activities and subsistence fishing by locals will be allowed but restricted to certain areas.
The Savu Marine National Park, launched at the World Ocean Conference in Manado, Sulawesi, will cover 3.5 million hectares (8.649 million acres) in an area of 500 species of coral, 14 species of whales and 336 species of fish living in the Savu Sea near Flores in eastern Indonesia.
"(It is) potentially one of the largest marine protected areas in the Coral Triangle," Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Freddy Numberi said on Wednesday.
He was referring to the biologically diverse coral reef network bounded by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and the Solomon Islands.
"About 14 species out of 27 -- meaning 50 percent -- species of whales in the world migrate using this route from the Pacific Ocean, passing through the Banda Sea, Flores Sea and Savu Sea to the Indian Ocean," said Numberi.
Rili Djohani, The Nature Conservancy's marine expert, said the park will protect sea turtles, dolphins, sharks and could help boost tuna stocks by protecting their spawning grounds.
"It's a beautiful place and it's now the largest marine protected area in the Coral Triangle," she said.
Source: www.tourismindonesia.com
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- Greg Roberts / Australia
This unbelievable journey that began at Jakarta and concluded at Ubud, Bali, would not have been possible without the guidance and recommendations of Udhi Sudiyanto, Director of Antar Anda Tour and Travel, Yogyakarta - Jan Thiels / Belgium
Dear Udhi We want to thank you for the good organization of our trip in Indonesia. - Cees de Mos / Netherlands
Namens de groep (8 volw. en 3 kind.) laat ik jullie graag weten dat onze reis niet alleen uitstekend is verlopen door Indonesie, maar ons ook zeer goed bevallen is.