Turtles on the 1000 Island

Besides the mangrove project, the government also runs a turtle hatchery on the small island. Eggs are collected from nearby islands and incubated until they hatch. The baby turtles are then nursed until they are big enough to be released into the wild. I only have photos of the turtles. I'll update with pictures of the facility when I return to the island. One interesting resident at the hatchery was a large deformed turtle. He has been at the facility for a long time and is quite tame. I guess the people that work there thought he couldn't survive in the wild and decided to raise it. I'll check to see if he is still there the next time I make the trip.

Mangrove Project Continued

After the mangrove seedlings are planted into plastic bag pots, they are kept in a shaded and protected area. They are watered regularly to keep them wet. After some of the roots take and leaves start to show, they are transplanted into the beach.

Government Mangrove Project on 1000 Island

As part of the government requirement of acquiring an aquaculture license, all export companies must fund the mangrove restoration project on the 1000 island. Basically, the export companies give money on a monthly basis to the locals to gather mangrove seedlings. These seedlings are then planted into sand filled plastic bag pots. Here are some pictures of the activities.

Pulau Seribu!

This means 1000 islands. These are islands that lay off of the northern side of Java. There are about 12,000 people living scattered throughout these islands on the Java Sea. The Java Sea extends upward to Kalimantan (Borneo). About 3 hours out on a ferry from Jakarta, there is a small island called Pramuka. This island is dedicated by the Forestry Government as a place where corals can be aquacultured. This whole area is a national marine park, but to help the locals to make a living, an aquaculture project was introduced. Not too many people live on this island and is shared with a turtle hatchery. I'll post pictures and info later on another post. The next two or three posts will be dedicated to this island and its activities. For now, these are some images of this desolate little place.

Hi Guys!

I just got back to Indonesia a few weeks ago from the US. Finally I have access to decent internet connection, so hopefully I can update this blog on a regular basis. After a horrible December of not being able to ship corals, because of cites and airline problems, we are almost back on track. January has also been bad because of lack of fresh corals. Most exporters are using up their leftover stock to send. Everyone is waiting for the cites quota to be released so the fishermen can get back to work. Because corals can't legally be sent from island to island without the cites paperwork, most fishermen have stopped collecting. The suppliers that buy from the fishermen have no way to send it to Jakarta or Bali. So the exporters also have no coral (only leftovers).

To get things moving again, here are some pictures of aquacultured corals from one of the 1000 island islands. It is about 3 hours away on a boat from Jakarta.