Coral Reef in Mansinam Island

Marine Life in Mansinam island

I went to Mansinam island this afternoon to do a field survey over its coral reef. The island was located across from Manokwari city. We did the survey at Sera Oser beach on the east coast of the island. I was with a friend of mine - Matias. I did the survey by snorkeling and freediving over the coral reef. My friend did not freedive, he only did the snorkeling. To take photographs, I brought my camera - Fujifilm XQ2 that had been put inside its waterproof case.

I freedived to a depth of 3 to 7 meters below the surface. There were a lot of small and medium size fish that I saw including striped surgeonfish, butterflyfish, moorish idol, damselfish, wrasse, grouper, and a lot more.

Marine life in Mansinam island

From my personal observations, I could say that the coral reef at this beach was relatively better than the ones on the other side of the island, in Pasir Putih beach, Lemon island, and "Lampu Senen." 

Local villagers were building two concrete structures for coconut crab farming at the beach. Every day during high tides, wastes that drift from Manokwari city land on the beach. As the city is getting bigger, the number of wastes is also increasing. 

In shallow waters at depths of 0.5 to 1 meters,  I saw sea grass. It was a very important component in coral reef ecosystem. It prevents fine sand and mud from flowing and covering the reef.

Unfortunately, we did not see sea cucumber. This marine animal absorbs nutrient in sea water. Sea cucumber improves the quality of sea water in places where it lives. We hope that in the future, villagers in the island will protect the population of sea cucumber. I have guided a lot of tourists to Mansinam island, we go there by water taxi which is an outrigger boat powered by a 15 to 40 horse power outboard Yamaha engine. In addition to swimming and snorkeling , we also do sightseeing tour to Jesus Christ statue at the top of the island or around the village. - written by Charles Roring
Related Posts:

• Snorkeling and Coral Reef Preservation
• Marine Life at Sra-Oseri Beach of Mansinam island
• Surgeonfish and Coral Reef
• Watercolor Painting of Gereja Lahai Roy

Indonesian Language:

• Liburan Snorkeling di Pulau Mansinam
• Festival Budaya di Manokwari