Press

Indonesia Manta Trust and Birdsheadseascape.com announce the BHS Manta ID database

Starling Resources is a Bali-based sustainability consulting and advisory practice.
This is their monthly newsletter 2021-7

Starling Resources is a Bali-based sustainability consulting and advisory practice.
This is their monthly newsletter 2021-8.

Starling Resources is a Bali-based sustainability consulting and advisory practice.
This is their newsletter #6 for 2021.

Penyu asap kali menjadi atraksi ekowista yang berharga. Namun demikian, populasi penya terus menurun dari hari ke hari, bahkan beberapa jenis mungkin akan hilang dalam beberapa dekade mendatang. Padahal, keberadaan penyu dikenal sebagai salah satu indkator lingkungan uan baik.
Salah satu tantangan konservasi penyu ialah kurangnya pemahaman, kesadaran, dan dukungan masyarakat. Hal ini, salah satunya, disebabkan kurangnya informasi yang diterima masyarkat terkait isu-isu konservasi seperti peranan makhluk hidup bagi kehidupan (keseimbangan ekologis) seta ancaman kelestariannya.

Raja Ampat archipelago in West Papua is home to Indonesia’s largest population of reef manta rays, Mobula alfredi. They are not mammals, but cartilaginous fish that are related to sharks. This species is characterised by late maturation and extremely low fertility, which make their populations especially vulnerable. Males start to sexually mature at 9to 13 years old, while females require 13 to 17 years to mature. A female gives birth to only one pup every 2 to 6 years after about one year of pregnancy.
Their populations have been depleted due to overfishing in many regions in Indo-Pacific.

Kepulauan Raja Ampat, Papua Barat, adalah habitat bagi kebanyakan pari manta karang di Indonesia, Mobula alfredi. Satwa laut ini bukanlah mamalia, melainkan ikan bertulang rawan yang masih berkerabat dengan hiu.
Populasi pari manta karang rentan terganggu. Pasalnya, mereka bertumbuh
dewasa sangat lambat dan memiliki tingkat kesuburan yang sangat rendah. Pejantannya baru menjadi dewasa secara seksual pada umur 9-13 tahun, sedangkan betina butuh waktu lebih lama lagi – sekitar 13-17 tahun. Pari manta karang betina juga hanya melahirkan satu individu saban 2-6 tahun, dengan masa kehamilan mencapai setahun.
Di kawasan Indo-Pasifik seperti Nusa Tenggara Timur, Sulawesi Utara, Filipina, dan Papua Nugini, populasi pari manta karang menyusut karena penangkapan berlebihan. Tren yang sama juga terjadi di Mozambik di Afrika Timur.

Conservation International Press Release (December 5, 2022)

New study reports thriving Reef Manta Ray populations in Indonesian waters

Scientific study shows where manta rays thrive in Raja Ampat

The Indonesia Sustainable Development News Digest is a biweekly collection of summaries of articles related to conservation, the environment, and sustainability in Indonesia that have appeared in print or online in local, regional, and global English-language media. We welcome comments, suggestions, and corrections. To learn more about us and to access previous editions of the News Digest, please visit our website at www.starlingresources.com. If you would like to add colleagues or friends to our distribution list or unsubscribe, please contact us at newsdigest@starlingresources.com. This is issue 4 for 2023.

The Indonesia Sustainable Development News Digest is a biweekly collection of summaries of articles related to conservation, the environment, and sustainability in Indonesia that have appeared in print or online in local, regional, and global English-language media. We welcome comments, suggestions, and corrections. To learn more about us and to access previous editions of the News Digest, please visit our website at www.starlingresources.com. If you would like to add colleagues or friends to our distribution list or unsubscribe, please contact us at newsdigest@starlingresources.com. This is issue 13 for 2023.

"Aquariums around the world are raising endangered sharks and releasing them into the sea. It's an unprecedented mission and it just might work."

500 baby sharks to be released: An exclusive look at an unprecedented mission
A team spanning 15 countries is raising endangered sharks from aquariums and reintroducing them to the wild, starting in Indonesia. It's never been done at this scale, but experts think the plan might work.
A new organization with partners in 15 countries—including 44 aquariums—is raising endangered zebra sharks in captivity and aims to release 500 of them in Indonesia to try bringing back a self-sustaining wild population that has been teetering on extinction.

This is a global first. While scientists often reintroduce rare captive animals on land—think California condors or giant pandas in China—nothing quite like this has ever been tried with sharks, which are disappearing around the world at an alarming clip.

But some of the top shark scientists in the world believe this effort has a shot at working. And zebra sharks may be just the beginning. This new group, calling itself ReShark, is already assessing plans to apply the same approach to other shark species in different parts of the world.

Ricard Buxo: This is the 3rd in a series of articles about Raja Ampat's Diving Pioneers. It is written by Australian photojournalist, Don Silcock.

Max Ammer: This is the second in a series of articles about Raja Ampat's Diving Pioneers. It is written by Australian photojournalist, Don Silcock.

Edi Frommenwiler: This is the first in a series of articles about Raja Ampat's Diving Pioneers. It is written by Australian photojournalist Don Silcock.

Indonesia Sustainable Development News Digest
2024 Issue 1 — 11 January
The Indonesia Sustainable Development News Digest is a biweekly collection of summaries of articles related to conservation, the environment, and sustainability in Indonesia that have appeared in print or online in local, regional, and global English-language media. We welcome comments, suggestions, and corrections. To learn more about us and to access previous editions of the News Digest, please visit our website at www.starlingresources.com. If you would like to add colleagues or friends to our distribution list or unsubscribe, please contact us at newsdigest@starlingresources.com.

Selamat tahun baru 2024! Kali ini kami dari Program Sains untuk Konservasi LPPM Universitas Papua kembali menyapa Sobat Lestari dengan kumpulan cerita-cerita dari lapang selama bulan Oktober sampai Desember tahun 2023. Kami berharap semoga cerita dari kami dapat menjadi hiburan bagi Sobat Lestari untuk mengisi waktu luang Anda. Selamat membaca!

Maps and tourism information brochure: Regional info, MPA's (Marine Protected Areas), Mantas, History& Culture, mantas, endemic species

Brosur dan Peta KKP Kepulauan Raja Ampat

The behaviour and spatial use patterns of juvenile manta rays within their critical nursery habitats remain largely undocumented. Here, we report on the horizontal movements and residency of juvenile reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi) at a recently discovered nursery site in the Wayag lagoon, Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, we provide further corroborative evidence that the lagoon serves as an important M. alfredi nursery.

From Shark News: the Newsletter of the IUNC SSC Shark Specialist Group

With growing conservation concern for sharks adn rays, the majority if interventions have consisted of species protection advocacy at the local and national levels, fisheries regulations at the national and regional levels, international treaties, (e.g. Convention of the International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITIES), Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMSI), and spatial protections (e.g. Marine Protected Areas (MPA), dedicated "Shark" Sanctuaries", etc.).
In stark contrast, one intervention strategy that has received almost no attention for threatened elasmobranchs is the ex-situ breeding for wild release and other translocation efforts.
There is, however, no a priori reason why translocation should not form an essential part of integrated conservation strategies for sharks and rays.
Enter ReShark (www.reshark.org) an international collective focused on linking in-situ and ex-situ conservation solutions for threatened shark and ray species through captive breeding and/or other translocations.

Science for Conservation (Sains untuk Konservasi) LPPM Unipa. Bahasa Indonesia, Sekolah Alam Virtual, Pemantauan Penyu dan Perlindungan Sarang, www.science4conservation.com

The Indonesia Sustainable Development News Digest is a biweekly collection of summaries of articles related to conservation, the environment, and sustainability in Indonesia that have appeared in print or online in local, regional, and global English-language media. We welcome comments, suggestions, and corrections. To learn more about us and to access previous editions of the News Digest, please visit our website at www.starlingresources.com. If you would like to add colleagues or friends to our distribution list or unsubscribe, please contact us at newsdigest@starlingresources.com.

Though a previous study in Sudan confirmed the existence of a living hybrid of an oceanic
manta ray (Mobula birostris) and a reef manta ray (M. alfredi), courtship behaviors between the two
closely related species have never been documented. Here we report the first observation of courtship
behaviors between two male M. birostris and a female M. alfredi at a manta ray cleaning station on a
shallow coral reef seamount in Misool, Raja Ampat, Indonesia. The observed courtship event lasted
for approximately 45 min and involved one male oceanic manta actively chasing the mature reef
manta female around the cleaning station and repeatedly bumping her on the left wing tip with his
right cephalic lobe, while the second male continuously flanked the female to seemingly prevent her
retreat from the cleaning station and potential evasion of the pursuing male. Notably, the female
exhibited a rapid coloration change, likely indicative of courtship-related stress, transitioning from
the striking pale hue she exhibited throughout the courtship activity to a normal chevron pattern
once the males departed.

The Indonesia Sustainable Development News Digest is a biweekly collection of summaries of articles related to conservation, the environment, and sustainability in Indonesia that have appeared in print or online in local, regional, and global English-language media. We welcome comments, suggestions, and corrections. To learn more about us and to access previous editions of the News Digest, please visit our website at www.starlingresources.com. If you would like to add colleagues or friends to our distribution list or unsubscribe, please contact us at newsdigest@starlingresources.com.