Underwater & Conservation

"It is a complex underwater biome, a vital part of the oceanic world, a testament to the power of Nature, a historical record of our past, a teaching in the fragility of ecological balance, a declaration of biodiversity — but above all a healthy coral reef is a living sculpture of great beauty."

The reefs around Nikoi Island sit on the Sunda shelf, a shallow shelf rarely deeper than 20 meters, swept by strong tidal currents. The water is often murky, and the diving here was never meant to be "world class" — but look closely and the biodiversity is extraordinary: fringing reefs, mangrove flats, sand flats, rubble patches, seagrass beds, soft coral gardens, granite boulders, swim-throughs and ledges, each with its own community of plants and animals.

"Nikoi reefs are surprisingly resilient, and considering the various pressures from fishing and pollution drifting from the South China Sea, the reefs are relatively healthy." Since the island opened as a resort, the most destructive fishing methods — dynamite fishing above all — have stopped locally, and species like grouper have started coming back into view.

"Nikoi, on the other hand, not unlike the analogy of Noah's ark, has still enough of each species to pursue an effort towards total protection of its waters."

The fishermen. "Three men in a small prahu, they specialize in needlefish, encircling the school with a net. The weather needs to be calm. A good sustainable practice — the nets never touch the reef, and the fish are sold locally to the community."

Not every method is so gentle. The "pukat" fine-mesh net "takes everything in one go" — local fishermen have been persuaded, village by village, to keep it out of the reef areas, though whether the promise holds long-term is never certain. Wire-mesh bubu traps used to be dressed with live coral broken straight off the reef; years of conversation have shifted most fishermen to dead coral instead — "the fisherman are paying attention, and showing respect."

Grazing fish are the reef's gardeners — parrotfish, surgeonfish, rabbitfish keep algae from choking the coral. "Without them, algae would get the upper hand and eventually choke the coral reefs." That's what makes overfishing, not just dynamite or cyanide, the deepest long-term threat.

What's being done, quietly, on the water:

• Mooring blocks installed to keep boats from anchoring on the house reef
• Discarded nets cut and removed by hand before they entangle reef life
• Ongoing conversations with local bubu fishermen on live-vs-dead coral bait
• A proposed half-mile no-take zone around Nikoi, small enough not to strip other villages' fishing grounds
• Marine university students conducting field surveys — grassroots documentation instead of relying on outside researchers

"Think globally, act locally!" — echoing Gotong Royong, the Indonesian principle of shared effort.

Two species nest on Nikoi's beaches — the Green turtle and the critically endangered Hawksbill. Around 60 to 140 eggs per nest, a 60-day incubation, nesting season running March through September. In 2011 alone: 67 nests, roughly 4,000 successful hatchlings.

The program's philosophy, in its own words: "do less to achieve more. Leave nature alone, stay out of the way if we can, enjoy it while we can and help when it is necessary." Nests are fenced only against monitor lizards; no artificial incubation unless the eggs are genuinely at risk. Unlike much of the wider Riau Archipelago, nobody harvests the eggs here — "a real contribution to the protection and conservation of the ocean" — though turtle eggs are still openly sold as a delicacy in Tanjung Pinang.