14 May 2010: The Good, the Bad, and the Really Ugly |
By Marit + Andrew Miners |
As ever, it's a mixed bag here in Raja Ampat. This astounding and humbling seascape is punctuated, from time to time, with the horrors of mindless environmental ravage. Let's start with 'The Good' - all you tender souls are safe to carry on reading for another few paragraphs.
Many of you already know that the island paradise on which Misool Eco Resort now stands is a former shark finning camp. Since we leased this area in 2005, we've been doing our best to safeguard all the inhabitants of this area. I know, I know... In the grand scheme of things, 425 sq km ain't much. But we've staked our claim on this corner of the world, and we and our local hosts are doing everything in our power to make sure that Southern Raja Ampat remains one of the most pristine ecosystems on earth.
Every afternoon, our efforts are rewarded with the sight of baby black tips cruising through the shallow water of the North Lagoon, looking to snap up a tasty sardine or anchovy. What we recently discovered that the bay is not only a nursery, but also a hot-spot for kanoodling young sharks!!! |
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The day started with six males and one female black tip reef shark, all between 80cm and one meter long, cruising in circles directly in front of the dive shop. That in itself is a rare occurrence - once they grow past about 40 cm, the sharks move out of the nursery and venture onto the nearby reefs. We assume these big fellas are some of the previous years' litters. As we watched them and to our utter surprise, the males started biting the female, trying to get a hold. One lucky male managed to turn the female, and while mating raising her nearly 1/2 a meter out of the water. This all took place not more than 3 meters in front of Water Cottage number 1! What a racy show to witness from your balcony… |
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The sharks stuck around for the whole of the morning and mated again at least once in the middle of the bay. Unfortunately for us the first coupling happened so quick no one had time to reach for the camera and the second was too far away and fast to focus. However we did get a couple of shots of them cruising (presumably courting!) before their mating display.
We have also recently seen the return of schooling sardines in the lagoon. For the best part of a year, a huge school of sardines had made the North Lagoon their home. Over the last couple of months of 2009, their numbers rapidly dwindled to nil - they were harassed every afternoon by a school of ravenous blue fin trevally. These merciless hunters would round up the sardines, driving them into the shallows and often right onto the beach, sometimes even beaching themselves in the meantime. By the time the New Year had arrived, the sardines were all gone. |
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| But the winds have once again shifted to the south and brought with them a fresh school of sardines. It hasn’t taken long for the trevallys to find them and so the afternoon hunting has begun once again. Glorious entertainment... though it's hard not to root for the underdogs sometimes! The arrival the south wind presages the onslaught of long-lining vessels plundering the seas between us and Ceram to the south. Which leads me to The Bad: |
Last night we saw the blinking lights demarcating the long-lines, burning bright on the Southern horizon. A nasty storm blew in and our Rangers were unable to reach them, unfortunately. Morning broke, and the fishing boat pulled up their lines and headed in our direction. The boat, KM Adem Laut, arrived at the Resort around midday, enquiring as to whether we'd like to buy some of their fish. Cheeky, eh? Our Rangers, Rajak and Pak Din, sent them on their way, but not before checking all their papers. As it turns out, they didn't have the proper fishing licenses for Raja Ampat, even outside of our No-Take Zone. The fishing boat set out towards Daram, the island chain directly to our east. This is the group of islands we're trying so desperately to protect. |
Daram is outside Misool Eco Resort's No-Take Zone. We are currently seeking funding to expand our No-Take Zone to include Daram, which would increase the total protected area to over 1200 sq km (about 300,000 acres). Nevertheless, the Daram islands are within the bounds of the SE Misool Marine Protected Area established by a coalition of NGO's. While this area awaits zonation, no fishing is allowed. Unfortunately, these regulations are not upheld by any sort of enforcement. And without proper enforcement, it's an extractive free-for-all. |
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Daram sadly remains outside of our jurisdiction, and so our Rangers called in back-up from the Indonesian military. Together they set out to Daram to pursue KM Adem Laut. The boat was nowhere to be found. They did, however, intercept another large fishing vessel. Which leads me to The Ugly...
Our Rangers intercepted a large vessel from Sorong, laden with fishing nets and LOTS and LOTS of drying shark fins. We haven't seen shark finning on this scale in quite some time. The fishermen did indeed have permits and claimed to be just passing through the Marine Protected Area on their way back to Sorong. Since no one actually witnessed them fishing in the MPA, there was nothing the authorities could do other than give them a fierce warning.
Rajak and Din boarded the boat to collect some data. The recent catch included only one small shark, but there was quite a massive haul of shovelnose rays, obviously caught many days earlier. The fishermen reported that had caught them in the islands between Daram and FakFak. These rays, also called Guitar Fish, are in taxonomic limbo, somewhere between sharks and rays. But that's a minor distinction for fin traders - the rays are made of cartilage rather than bone, just like sharks.
(The photos to the left were all taken by Rajak this afternoon. As far as I know, these images represent Rajak's first ever attempt at photography - the Patrol's own digital camera just arrived on the island last week. Isn't the composition stunning? ) |
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And so we are on high alert, as we expect this veritable shark-finning factory boat to creep west, back into our No-Take Zone. The Komandant of the Indonesian military is on standby, awaiting our call. The clock is ticking. Let's hope that by the time the new litter of baby black tip sharks arrives in our protected bay, Daram will be a safe haven as well.
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