REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BIAK -- WWF Indonesia's MV Gurano Bintang has concluded the Saireri Expedition by sailing along the Cenderawasih Bay stretching 500 nautical miles, or 850 kilometers.
The expedition was flagged off from Wasior and ended in Biak, Captain of MV Gurano Bintang Bardin Tandiono stated here, Tuesday.
The boat made stopovers in the beaches of Sarawandori, Ambai, Barawai, Sawendui, Aisai, and Asai kampongs in Yapen District and Samberpasi, Pasi, and Yenmanaina in Biak Numfor District.
During the 16-day expedition, the vessel carried onboard 35 people, including the crew members.
The wrapping up of the expedition in Biak coincided with the opening of the office of WWF Indonesia by acting CEO Benja Mambai of WWF Indonesia's Papua Program.
The expedition selected the Yapen Islands and Biak Numfor for exploration as Yapen has terrestrial potential for a community forest program, WWF Indonesia's Papua Program Coordinator for Sustainable Forest Management, Piter Roki Aloysius, stated on Monday.
In Yapen, WWF Indonesia has been carrying out a community forest program in the kampongs of Sawendui and Asai that have been granted concessionary rights by the Papua forestry office.
In addition to the customary forest, Yapen has the Sawendui Beach, where various species of turtles, such as the leatherback, green, gray, and hawksbill, lay eggs.
Besides being a preferred location for turtles to lay eggs, Sawendui is also a habitat for lobsters.
Therefore, terrestrial and marine integration is possible, he noted.
Biak Numfor's ecotourism potential can be tapped by carrying out community forest management and environmental education programs.
"Actually Cenderawasih Bay was popular far before Raja Ampat, but (I) do not know why it is now left behind," he remarked.
Papua, the world's second-largest island after Greenland, had been called "Labadios" by Roman astronomer Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy), who had lived during 90-168 A.D., while Chinese traders in 500 A.D. had named it "Tungki."
The name Papa-ua was given by the Tidore Kingdom, while Spanish traveler Karens de Retes, who had met indigenous Papuans in 1554, had called it Nueva Guinea.
With an area of 786 thousand square kilometers, Papua Island comprises Indonesia's easternmost region and Papua New Guinea.
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