Posts Tagged ‘indonesia’
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Shark Poachers Chased Down by Indonesian Communities + Police
[caption id="attachment_12653" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Fishermen from outside Raja Ampat, Indonesia hold up carcasses of dead sharks caught in Raja Ampat. Next to the boat is the Kawe MPA patrol speedboat being held by a community patrol officer. (© CI/Photo by Abraham Goram)"][/caption] Off the northwestern tip of West Papua, Indonesia is a remote chain of stunning islands surrounded by the world’s richest coral reefs. The islands are called Raja Ampat (“the four kings”), and are part of the Bird’s Head Seascape; they’re also my ancestral home. Both as a CI employee and as a member of Raja Ampat’s indigenous council known ... -
Ridge to Reef: Conservation in West Papua, Indonesia
[caption id="attachment_11043" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Kaimana CI monitoring staff Yasser and Bastien with a Venu turtle guard. (© CI/Photo by Matthew Fox)"][/caption] After a series of red-eye flights spanning the Indonesian archipelago, we touch down in the land of sunsets. I am on my way to Kaimana in Indonesia’s West Papua province with my colleagues Keith Lawrence, Laure Katz and Kristin Bergantz. For several years, CI’s Birds Head Seascape program has worked with Kaimana community leaders to conserve the region’s marine assets. But protecting the water is not enough — in the next five years, we hope to extend our engagement to the ... -
Seamount Expedition Kicks Off in Costa Rica
[caption id="attachment_10856" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Fish swimming near Cocos Island off the coast of Costa Rica. The marine protected area surrounding the island is an important part of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape. (© CI/ Photo by Sterling Zumbrunn)"][/caption] I’m briefly back home in Hawaii and am preparing to fly to Central America to begin a National Geographic expedition to explore seamounts off the coast of Costa Rica. With the large amount of travel I’m doing these days I’m very much beginning to feel like Jules Verne’s famous character Phileas Fogg from “Around the World in Eighty Days.” First, let me backtrack; we’ve ... -
Video Showcases Artificial Reef-Building in Indonesia
Since February 2011, CI-Indonesia has been collaborating on a reef restoration project with the Nusa Wisata Foundation, a local NGO based in Nusa Penida, Bali. The project aims to restore the live coral in front of the Ped Temple of Nusa Penida — an ecologically-important area and a popular tourist site, as well as an area of significant spiritual importance for the communities of Bali. From 1995 to 2000, a tourist pontoon, or floating platform, was heedlessly positioned over the old Ped reef. The metal chains anchoring the pontoon to the ocean floor swayed with the current, severely damaging the reef ... -
7 Little Reasons for Hope
[caption id="attachment_9858" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Children releasing turtles into the Mekong River as part of CI's Cantor's Turtle Conservation Project. (© CI/Photo by Sun Yoeung)"][/caption] As a writer and editor for CI, I spend a lot of time reading and writing stories about some of CI’s most fascinating projects. While compiling yesterday’s list of “7 Big Reasons for Hope,” I came across many “on the ground” activities that may not be successes that span the globe, but which are, quite simply, really cool stories that reveal the often-unexpected ties between people and nature. What follows is my highly subjective list of seven of ... -
7 Big Reasons for Hope
[caption id="attachment_9815" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Famed for its pristine beaches and coral reefs, Bora Bora in French Polynesia is an international tourist destination. Critically impacted by climate change, many Pacific Island nations are leading the charge for marine conservation, as their waters play a critical role in stabilizing the planet’s atmosphere. (© Art Wolfe/ www.artwolfe.com)"][/caption] In an age of 7 billion people on Earth and unprecedented environmental challenges, CI knows that while local, small-scale projects are critical for conservation success, they’re also not enough. We need to ramp up these efforts to have the global impact we need — and we need ... -
Dive Guidebook Aims to Expand Ecotourism on Indonesian Reefs
[caption id="attachment_9656" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="School of fish in the Bird's Head Seascape. (© Burt Jones and Maurine Shimlock)"][/caption] By producing guidebooks for scuba divers, my husband and I have found a way to combine our love of exploring, photographing and writing about remote reefs with promoting sustainable marine tourism in one of the world’s most stunning underwater treasures. A few years ago, our old friend and one of the world’s foremost ichthyologists, Dr. Gerry Allen, played matchmaker between us and Dr. Mark Erdmann, the manager for CI’s Bird’s Head Seascape program. Mark believed that marine tourism could become a viable economic alternative ... -
Tagging Whale Sharks in Indonesia: Conclusion
[caption id="attachment_9079" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Mark Erdmann collecting fish in the Bird's Head Seascape. (Photo courtesy of Mark Erdmann)"][/caption] Mark Erdmann has been participating in an expedition tagging whale sharks in Indonesia's Cenderawasih Bay. Read previous posts from this expedition. Heading into our last dive of the trip in Cenderawasih Bay National Park, it’s been a great trip, albeit too short! The interactions with the whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) and the successful tagging of five individuals (one female, one large male, and three adolescent males) were undoubtedly the highlights of the trip. But beyond this, we've also managed to do some important ... -
Mr. Leatherback Visits the Bird’s Head Seascape
[caption id="attachment_9010" align="aligncenter" width="505" caption="Mr. Leatherback atop Anak Krakatau, a volcano born in 1927 on the site of the original Krakatau volcano that exploded in 1883, sending shock waves that were felt around the planet and an ash cloud that blocked the sun for two years.(© Roderic B. Mast)"][/caption] Hi there, Mr. Leatherback here. If you don’t know me, I’m a sea turtle who travels the world as an ambassador for my kind, bringing the message to humans about how important it is for our oceans to stay clean and healthy. Take it from a turtle — you humans depend on ... -
Tagging Whale Sharks in Indonesia: Part 5
Shark expert Brent Stewart is currently participating in a whale shark tagging expedition in Indonesia’s Cenderawasih Bay. Read other posts from the expedition.© CI/Photo by Mark ErdmannAn awesome day on Thursday, beginning around 5 a.m. when one of our boats sent a group over to a nearby bagan (fishing boat) to start some whale sharking. There turned out to be nine or 10 whale sharks there (all adolescent males), so it kept them occupied most of early morning. [caption id="attachment_8991" align="alignright" width="317" caption="© CI/Photo by Mark Erdmann"][/caption] On my boat we waited for the head of the Cenderawasih Bay National Park to ...
