Ocean protections clash with mining pressure in Indonesia’s most diverse marine ecosystem

MISOOL, Indonesia (AP) — There is an explosion of color beneath the surface in Raja Ampat, a remote archipelago in eastern Indonesia where sharks, mantas and sea turtles glide alongside vast schools of fish through sea fan coral formations, some of which are only found in its waters. “There’s nowhere on Earth that has as many fish, corals and everything else packed into one small place,” said Mark Erdmann, an American coral reef biologist who has spent more than two decades studying the region and became a central figure in building Raja Ampat’s conservation model. The world famous diving archipelago sits at the heart of the Coral Triangle, in southwestern Papua, where powerful ocean currents carry nutrients that sustain what scientists describe as the most biodiverse marine ecosystem on the planet. Long regarded as a global model for ocean conservation, Raja Ampat ecosystems are now under pressure, as concerns grow over the expansion of nickel mining alongside a surge of ...