![]() ![]() The sanctuary is also expected to prevent a drop in manta ray numbers, with the species' gills increasingly used in Asian medicines. "Sharks in particular play an important role, as apex predators at the top of the food chain, maintaining fisheries and ecosystem health," the statement said. Overfishing has also been a problem, but the sanctuary will support existing no-take zones that have helped shark numbers slowly recover. Scientists have warned the Coral Triangle, which spreads across a vast area of Southeast Asia's waters, is under threat, with heat-trapping carbon gases blamed for creating acidic seas hostile to much marine life. "Scientific evidence states that the value of live sharks and manta rays far outweighs the one-time profit of dead sharks and manta rays, benefiting a growing world-class and increasingly popular marine tourism and dive destination," he said. Rizal Algamar, Indonesia director of the Nature Conservancy, described the regulations in a joint statement with Conservation International as a "breakthrough in policy". The local government in Raja Ampat on the western tip of New Guinea island announced the move this week, issuing local regulations to ban the finning and fishing of sharks in the area, a tourist destination popular with divers. Environmentalists Wednesday welcomed the creation of the 46,000-square-kilometre (18,000-square-mile) protection zone, in an area at risk from both overfishing and climate change. Indonesia has announced a new shark and manta ray sanctuary, the first to protect the species in the rich marine ecosystem of the Coral Triangle, known as the "Amazon of the ocean". ![]()
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