November 15, 2002

Pindito anchored at Pulau Sayang (00° 03' 40" N, 129° 59' 29" E)

Now we are north of the Equator! As usual we traveled at night to save dive time, and many people were awoken by the heavy swell around Sayang, especially pronounced as the sea is shallow, and the waves come straight in from the Pacific Ocean.

The terrestrial teams landed early to explore the island. Immediately they discovered that the island had been logged, and the forest heavily disturbed. According to a man working copra in a coconut plantation in the interior, the logging happened around 1984. After 18 years the disturbance is still very clear both on the ground and from satellite analysis. Like most other disturbed habitats we've found, it is also colonized by fire ants. On the southern tip there is a big stand of Cassuarina trees, whose pine-like fronds are a sure sign of disturbed land (mainly river banks) in Papua. The beach-front habitat includes many plant species found in Hawaii. Although we were disappointed to find that a supposedly sacred island was so disturbed, we were happy to meet one of the (almost) tame monitor lizards which visited us during lunch.

The turtle team walked all the south and eastern beaches, and found a total of 130 nests over about 10 km of each. They found much predation by lizards, and more by man. One kilometer off the northern beaches on Ai Island, there are even more turtle nests - 279 were counted in a distance of only 200 meters. Unfortunately, this island is also heavily used by fishermen, and the team also discovered 68 turtle carapaces there.

Agus and the Social Economy team interviewed the crews of 3 boats anchored at a camp-site. The boats originated in Buton (South Sulawesi), and had been out since March 2002, catching sharks in the waters around Raja Ampat and Teluk Cenderawasih in the eastern Birds-head region. They said that they had just sold their catch in Sorong, and received Rp 450,000 per kilogram of dried sharkfin. The 7 man crew earned Rp 9,000,000 from this sale. Using a rough estimation (typically the catch is shared 1:1:1 between boat master, crew, and boat repairs; and 4 sharks yield 1 kilogram of dried fin [small sharks now]) we figured that a single boat can catch 240 sharks per month. There are upwards of 200 shark fishing boats licensed from Sorong, so its hardly surprising our divers are not seeing any.

In water of 35 meter visibility, Gerry dived a different type of habitat - flat sand bottom - and found a possibly new species of razor wrasse. These fish are rarely seen because they bury themselves in the sand substrate. The reefs themselves are some of the most exposed of the trip, and also include large expanses of reef flats. Emre and Jemmy made 7 new records for hard corals, and found some striking beds of the branching coral Acropora bruggemani.

These reefs also showed many signs of bomb damage, and had the upturned and smashed corals associated with cyanide fishing. [Divers using air compressors first squirt dilute cyanide (potas) into holes in a reef, and then break open the reef to reach the stunned fish].
Today the turtle team had an adventure. Twice the pick-up boat passed them by as they were bushwhacking between beaches. When they were found at 18.00, dusk was setting in and they were on a rocky beach with big swells and no boat access. As they had used all their water during the day, this was a precarious situation. Whilst he was swimming drinking water in to them, Rod Salm discovered a surge channel in the reef, and eventually managed to swim the 3-person team from shore to the boat, by torchlight.