November 04, 2002

Pindito anchored just north of Wagmab Island, eastern Misool, at 03:00 this morning. The view is astonishing, a string of rocky islands rise vertically from the sea, each capped by a stunted dry forest. The islands are karst limestone, which the sea has undercut by a meter or so; most of the coast is rocky, with very few sandy beaches.

Tetha Hitapeuw investigated three of these beaches, and found evidence of nesting turtles on all of them - green and hawksbill turtles. Several of the nests had been disturbed by monitor lizards, which in turn had been disturbed by people. All of the beaches had the remains of fisher camps on them, with discarded shark fins and a monitor lizard tail next to the ashes of one campfire. Sometimes these fishermen burn back the vegetation behind their camp, another conservation hazard.

During his first day's diving, Gerry Allan covered three sites, and recorded an incredible 320 fish species, averaging about 175 species per site. This list included 3 new records for the Raja Ampat islands, among them the red-headed wrasse (Halichoeres rubricephalus) which was recorded only for the 5th time ever! Gerry made a striking observation: there were no sharks, few groupers, and very few coral trout. Clearly the fisherman are having a major impact on the commercial fishes of this area.

At another beach, Rod uncovered more evidence of fishing activities in this remote peninsula: the operculum of the Green Snail (Turbo marmoratus), which is being collected for the button and mother-of-pearl industry, and the claw of a coconut crab, which has been hunted to extinction in many islands.

In their first dive together, Emre and Jemmy Souhoka also covered three sites. They had the best day for corals so far, with more than 130 species recorded. They found the sites to be very rich, with an unusual zonation pattern. Here the deep-water corals are found closer to the surface than is usual, and Emre surmises this may be due to the shadows thrown by the steep cliffs, which let these corals grow in shallow waters. Here, the true colors of these deep-water corals can really be appreciated.

The vegetation team had an outstanding day at their two location on Wagmab. Narrow valleys, where a little soil collects, split the rocky islands. In these valley floors, the vegetation is primarily rainforest, with many typical New Guinea genera. Moving up the rocky slopes, these typical rainforest genera are mixed with some montane species adapted to cope with the drier conditions, with surprising results. Notable finds included a carpet form of Podocarpus, a relic of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwanaland, and a montane type of Polascias at sea level, an unusual Calophyllum, and a Streblus.

The area has incredible biodiversity; many of the corals defied identification and some plants couldn't even be placed in a genus! Independently of each other, both Emre and Wayne summed up their feelings about the biological richness of Wagmab: "We're just scratching the surface". But we've four more days of scratching to do, and are sure to uncover many more exciting finds!