Raja Ampat Richness

RAJA AMPAT

Google it and you'll return results pertaining to 'highest diversity in the world', 'new species discovered', 'biodiversity hotspot', 'diver's paradise'...

It's true... this is an INCREDIBLE area. Of all the coral species known to exist on earth, Raja Ampat and the 'Bird's Head' area is home to 75% of them! There are over 1200 species of fish, 600 types of hard coral, 700 molluscs, etc, etc, the list goes on...

Of course, with this resource-richness also come the pressures of exploitation. Especially in an area as remote, poor, and corrupt, as Indonesia.

The need for a Marine Conservation Education Program is blatantly obvious when you have a look at the list of current and impending threats that exist in the area:

Turtle Hunting for meat
Turtle Egg Harvesting (also for human consumption)
Blast (dynamite) Fishing
Poison Fishing (using cyanide, potassium or other poisons)
Trawler Fishing
Over-harvesting of certain marine species
Shark-finning
Wild-life trade (aquarium fish and birds!)
Coral Mining (mainly to use as building material)
Sand Mining
Mining Operations (mostly nickel in this particular area)
Illegal Logging
Mangrove Clearing & Coastal 'Reclamation'
Casting anchor over coral
Garbage and Waste Management

I'm sure I've forgotten one or two in there, but you get the idea.

Our Marine Environmental Conservation Education Program is focused on knowledge and attitudes in order to change these destructive and unsustainable behaviours... and, the youth program especially, is largely based on the following quote from Baba Dioum:

In the end, We will conserve only what we love,
We will love only what we understand,
And we will understand only what we are taught.

Sorry, I know, I've been keeping this blog light for the most part, this, as I mentioned previously, is in an attempt to give me some relief from the stress/heaviness of life/work (trying to find a way to save the world... ok, not the world... but a small corner of it - one that is considered to be some of the most pristine area left on this incredible Earth).