DATELINE: 27th July 2001
INDONESIAN PARADISE
- new extended version. The Raja Empat Islands in Irian Jaya, Indonesia, look set to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site after a research team conducted a 14-day survey.
The team, from Conservation International, accompanied by researchers from the University of Cendrawasih, Jayapura, surveyed 45 areas. It recorded 950 species of coral fish, 450 species of coral and 600 species of mollusc, writes Mike Ball.
Four new fish species and seven new corals were discovered. The team is now convinced that hundreds of other marine species are awaiting discovery.
The four new fish species belong to the genera Eviota (gobies), Apogon (cardinalfish, two species) and Hemiscyllium (bamboo sharks). The findings look set to knock Palau, which has some 700 species of coral and 1400 fish recorded, off the top spot as the world's richest marine biodiversity zone.
According to coral expert John Vernon, Raja Empat has a higher density of species than Palau. "Never before in the world have researchers found 400 coral species in one dive, as they did in Raja Empat," he said.
Fellow team-member Dr Gerry Allen, author of Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and Southern Asia, bubbled "unbelievable!" repeatedly after breaking his own record for numbers of species recorded on a single dive.
In February last year, Allen recorded 204 different species at Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea; at Raja Empat he recorded 283 species of coral fish, adding that he had never encountered such sheer numbers before.
The convergence of sea currents from the Philippines, Maluku and Australia make Raja Empat a particularly affluent habitat. Its hundreds of islands, large and small, shelter numerous calm micro-habitats, ideal for reproduction of diverse fish, corals and molluscs.
UNESCO World Heritage Site status would afford protection from environmental damage, with moves to curb use of cyanide and explosives by local fishermen, and poaching by fishing boats from Thailand and the Philippines.
Another concern, run-off pollution from the activities of a logging consortium, with forest soil settling as sediment over coral reefs, would also be tackled.
There is only one dive centre in the islands (Irian Diving, www.iriandiving.com), and it does not have an agent in the UK. A liveaboard known to sail around Raja Empat is the Pindito (www.pindito.com).
Raja Empat's designation as a World Heritage Site would allow controlled diving tourism, following principles of sustainable development.
Palau, which safeguards its sea while having developed as a holiday destination for the economic benefit of local people, might be seen as a model for the development of the islands.