Right now Indonesia had 13 million hectares of conservation area, Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad said in a press statement on Monday.
On Sunday (Nov 21), the minister inaugurated a marine conservation area in Nusa Penida, Bali, in a move to protect marine and coastal life as well as to encourage sustainable marine tourism.
The inauguration followed an ecological study conducted by a number of world marine experts such as Emre Turak and Gerry Allen last year.
The results of the study suggest that the 20,057-hectare marine conservation area holds 296 kinds of coral species and 576 kinds of fish species, five of them new fish species.
Meanwhile, the results of a survey made by the TNC Indonesia Marine Program show the Nusa Penida waters has 1,419 hectares of coral reefs and 230 hectares of mangrove consisting of 13 kinds.
Fadel said the creation of conservation areas in Nusa Penida and the rest of the country was a concrete step taken by the government to implement the CTI launched by Indonesia, along with the Philippines, Malaysia, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea, and Solomon Islands.
The Coral Triangle is an expanse of ocean covering 2.3 million square miles (5.7 million km2). This area, sometimes referred to as the "Amazon of the Seas", is the epicenter of marine life abundance and diversity on the planet.
In some areas, it has more than 600 coral species (more than 75 percent of all known coral species), 53 percent of the world`s coral reefs, 3,000 fish species, and the greatest extent of mangrove forests of any region in the world.
In addition, the Coral Triangle serves as the spawning and juvenile growth areas for what is the largest tuna fishery in the world.
In December 2007, at the CTI meeting in Bali, the six countries agreed on a plan of action to move the initiative forward and ensure the region`s marine resources sustainability.
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