Located
off the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula on the island of New
Guinea, in Indonesia's West Papua province, Raja Ampat, or the Four
Kings, is an archipelago comprising over 1,500 small islands, cays and
shoals surrounding the four main islands of Misool, Salawati, Batanta
and Waigeo, and the smaller island of Kofiau. It encompasses more than
40,000 km² of land and sea, which also contains Cenderawasih Bay, the
largest marine national park in Indonesia. It is a part of the newly
named West Papua (province) of Indonesia which was formerly Irian Jaya.
The islands are the most northern pieces of land in the Australian
continent.
According
to Conservation International, marine surveys suggest that the marine
life diversity in the Raja Ampat area is the highest recorded on Earth.
Diversity is considerably greater than any other area sampled in the
Coral Triangle composed of Indonesia, Philippines and Papua New Guinea.
The Coral Triangle is the heart of the world's coral reef biodiversity,
making Raja Ampat quite possibly the richest coral reef ecosystems in
the world.
The
area's massive coral colonies along with relatively high sea surface
temperatures, also suggest that its reefs may be relatively resistant to
threats like coral bleaching and coral disease, which now jeopardize
the survival of other coral ecosystems around the world. The Raja Ampat
islands are remote and relatively undisturbed by humans.
The
high marine diversity in Raja Ampat is strongly influenced by its
position between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, as coral and fish larvae
are more easily shared between the two oceans. Raja Ampat's coral
diversity, resilience, and role as a source for larval dispersal make it
a global priority for marine protection.
1,309
fish species, 537 coral species (a remarkable 96% of all scleractinia
recorded from Indonesia are likely to occur in these islands), and 699
mollusk species, the variety of marine life is staggering. Some areas
boast enormous schools of fish and regular sightings of sharks, such as
wobbegongs.