Bird's Head Seascape
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The Bird’s Head Seascape[edit]
The Bird’s Head Seascape (BHS) is one of the most biodiverse areas of the planet. The region comprises the northwesternmost reaches of the island of New Guinea, which is roughly divided in half into the sovereign country of Papua New Guinea in the east, and the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua (formerly the single province of Irian Jaya) in the west. Home to a rich repository of rare and endemic marine life, birds, mammals, insects, and plants, the BHS is world renowned as the global epicenter of marine biodiversity.
Comprised of more than 225,000 square kilometers (22.5 million hectares) in West Papua and Papua provinces, the BHS stretches from Cenderawasih Bay, Indonesia’s largest marine park, in the east to the Raja Ampat archipelago in the west and the Kaimana Regency and Triton Bay in the south. Established as a multi-partner conservation initiative in 2004, the Bird’s Head Seascape initiative's aim is to secure the long-term effective management of the rich marine resources of the BHS in a manner that ensures food security and sustainable economic benefits for its citizens while also preserving its globally significant biodiversity.
The centerpiece of the initiative is a network of 26 Marine Protected Areas[1] (MPAs), safeguarding 5,229,782 hectares, spread across more than 2500 islands and reefs.[2] Within the scuba diving community, the BHS is known as “dive heaven”. More than 200 dive sites have been documented and explored during the past two decades, revealing the highest coral reef diversity of any area its size in the world.
The Seascape Initiative[edit]
Since 2004, West Papua’s marine wonderland has been designated as the Bird’s Head Seascape. It is distinguished by its high biological diversity, ecological and economic conductivity, and aesthetic and cultural value. Dependent on the strong cooperation between local, provincial and national governments, coastal communities, local and international NGOs, and universities, the initiative seeks to balance the needs of the Seascape’s human population while effectively protecting its rich natural resources. The Bird’s Head’s original network of 12 multiple-use marine protected areas (MPAs) formed the core of this initiative. Today the MPA network has more than doubled to 26 marine protected areas as coastal communities throughout the seascape have witnessed the benefits from the initial 12 MPAs and have initiated the gazettement of their own MPAs.
The BHS is an important haven for a wide diversity of sharks and rays, and the bold move by the Raja Ampat government in 2012 to declare SE Asia’s first shark and ray sanctuary was eventually leveraged into much bigger conservation success when the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries extended full protected species status to reef and oceanic manta rays and whale sharks throughout Indonesian waters. The Bird’s Head Seascape exemplifies the priorities of the six-nation Coral Triangle Initiative and is being promoted as a national model for Indonesia’s future marine resource management.
People of the BHS[edit]
The first humans to populate Indonesian Papua crossed the shallow Arafura Sea from Australia about 5,000 years ago. Little is known about Papuan contact with the outside world prior to the 15th century, when trade routes were established between Papua and the multiplying networks of spice-rich Sultanates to the west. The region quickly became a crossroads for traders who had traveled east on monsoon winds to exchange metal tools and cloth for Papuan products like Bird of Paradise feathers and massoy bark, which was used in many traditional medicines of the day.
By the early 16th century, the burgeoning spice trade encompassed all the islands between the Moluccas and New Guinea. The Portuguese spearheaded the influx of European spice traders, followed closely by the Spanish, Dutch and British. Through their treaty with the Sultan of Tidore, the Dutch finally asserted their sovereignty over what is now Indonesian Papua at the end of the 17th century. Dutch rule over Papua continued during World War II when the north coast, especially Manokwari, became a focal point of battles between the Allies and the Japanese. General MacArthur built a major base on Biak Island, just at the outer edge of Cenderawsih Bay. Additional remnants of WWII can be seen at several abandoned airstrips on the north coast of the Bird’s Head, with nearby submerged WWII wrecks attracting scuba divers.
After the war, most of what is modern Indonesia gained independence from the Dutch, but colonial authorities did not relinquish their control over Papua until 1962. For the next 30 years immigrants from the rest of the Indonesian archipelago sought business opportunities in Papua, but few ventured into the Seascape’s more isolated coastal areas. Today, however, potential employment in the petroleum, mining, logging, and tourism industries has attracted workers to the Bird’s Head from Indonesia and around the world.
Naturalist and Scientific Surveys in the BHS[edit]
Since the early 19th century, naturalists have visited areas of the Seascape. The French zoologists Quoy and Gaimard collected the first marine fishes from the region and described such ubiquitous species as the blacktip reef shark, big-eye trevally, bluefin trevally, semi-circular angelfish, and the circumtropical sergeant major from their early collections in Raja Ampat. During the 1860s, Dutch ichthyologist Peter Bleeker added over 100 species to the Seascape’s fish count. During the same period, British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace journeyed by sailing canoe around Raja Ampat’s Waigeo Island in search of Birds of Paradise and endemic insects and wrote about the area’s singular beauty.
Modern surveys began in 2001 with the rapid assessment survey of Raja Ampat’s reefs conducted by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and Conservation International, led by Dr. Gerald Allen. Since that first survey, more than a decade’s worth of surveys and studies have confirmed the BHS’s superlative biodiversity and stressed balancing the needs of the environment with the needs of the people who live in the BHS.
Geology, Natural history, and Current Threats[edit]
Scientists have long pondered why the Bird’s Head Seascape is such a complex treasure of marine species. One answer lies in the region’s geologic dynamism. West Papua’s Bird’s Head Peninsula sits atop a tectonic plate convergence zone, one of the most geologically active places on earth. During eons of geologic upheaval, an unprecedented variety of marine habitats evolved here: fringing reefs, and walls of coral that drop into the blue abyss. It is as if the Bird’s Head’s geological history and geographic position somehow conspired to bring about unparalleled habitat development that is ideal, especially for reef fish. Reef fish are particular about where they live, and adding up the species inhabiting each of the huge variety of habitats in the Bird’s Head leads to a very impressive cumulative total indeed – 1871 at last count!
On any large-scale map of Indonesian Papua, most of the Seascape’s islands appear to be in the middle of nowhere, just dots of land widely separated by a sweeping expanse of ocean. The paradox is that oceanic currents connect a great deal of the Bird’s Head to other, seemingly distant regions, in ways not revealed on most maps. Within a vast area of the equatorial Pacific known as the Coral Triangle, which includes the Philippines, Borneo, eastern Indonesia and all the territory east to the Solomon Islands, the Bird’s Head is the sweet spot. Scientists believe that because significant larvae-bearing oceanic currents traverse the region, it functions like an incubator or “species factory”, which in turn also partially seeds the Coral Triangle. Hard to deny when at least three-fourths of the species found in the Bird’s Head are also present throughout the Coral Triangle.
The story in Cenderawasih Bay is a bit different. The marine life in the 15,000 square kilometer Cenderawasih Bay National Park, Indonesia’s largest marine protected area, has been greatly affected by the past 15 million years’ of tectonic plate movement. But instead of merging with its neighbors, Cenderawasih over time became more isolated as elongate fault slivers moved across the mouth of the bay, impeding larval dispersal, especially when sea levels dropped. Even today, Cendrawasih Bay is largely isolated from the impressive New Guinea Coastal Current that sweeps around the Bird’s Head and through Raja Ampat. Separated from their relatives’ gene pools, Cenderawasih’s fish populations developed peculiar traits, including odd color variations and the propensity of some deeper-dwelling fish, Burgess’s butterflyfish (Chaetodon burgessi) for instance, to inhabit much shallower water than anywhere else on earth. Coral communities in Cenderawasih are also highly unusual, with many unique growth forms and a predominance of Porites, Montipora and Astreopora species rather than the more typical Acropora-dominated reefs of the Coral Triangle.
An impressive number of endemic marine species, known only from the Bird’s Head, thrive within the Seascape. At last count there were 51 endemic fish species in the BHS, and scientists have recorded more than eight endemic mantis shrimp species and between 10 and 40 endemic corals (this group is still under active study!). Walking Sharks, nocturnal epaulette sharks that move over the bottom using their pectoral fins, seem to be especially picky about where they evolve. Triton Bay has its very own endemic Walking Shark, as do Raja Ampat and Cenderawasih Bay.
And yet, there is another side to this marine life oasis. The same dynamic geological past that spawned the Seascape’s splendid marine habitats also left rich deposits of gold, copper, nickel and other minerals on many of the islands. Extracting the ore will undoubtedly have negative consequences for the area’s reefs. There has moreover been a recent surge in permits from the national government for increased seismic exploration for undersea oil and gas deposits in Indonesian Papua, which has been implemented in some cases in sensitive cetacean migratory routes. Illegal fishing has damaged some habitats, and even the scant local population has impacted reefs surrounding their villages. Additionally, Indonesia’s human population is increasing, and it now must find ways of feeding its growing masses. There are plans for industrial-scale agricultural production in Indonesian Papua which require that forests be cleared, resulting in sediment runoff that will suffocate nearby reefs.
As the Seascape’s own population develops, its needs will become more complex. The construction of modern infrastructure, particularly roads, already threatens fragile coastal environments on those islands slated for development. Fortunately, in 2018 the West Papua government declared itself the world’s first Conservation Province and is now committed to pursuing only truly sustainable development that provides tangible benefits to especially indigenous Papuans – a move which should ensure that the Birds Head Seascape, the planet’s heart of marine biodiversity, not only survives but continues to flourish.
Quick Facts About The Bird’s Head Seascape[3][edit]
- Heart of the Coral Triangle and the global epicenter of marine biodiversity with the highest coral reef biodiversity for any area its size in the world
- 22.5 million hectares with over 2500 islands and reefs
- 1871 species of reef fish, including 51 which are endemic to the seascape
- 600+ species of corals
- 17 species of whales and dolphins; significant cetacean migration routes and aggregation sites
- Some of the world’s most extensive mangrove forest and sea grass beds, which support dugongs, juvenile fish, saltwater crocodiles, and provide protection and food for the people of the BHS
- World's largest Pacific leatherback turtle nesting beaches, with regionally significant nesting sites for green, olive ridley, and hawksbill turtles
- 5.23 million hectares protected by a network of 26 Marine Protected Areas, strongly supported by the communities that surround and live within them
External links[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ "MPA's added to the BHS MPA network". Bird's Head Seascape. 2021-01-12. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
- ↑ "About the Bird's Head Seascape". Official website.
- ↑ "About The Bird's Head Seascape". Bird's Head Seascape. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
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