Bunaken National Park

Bunaken National Park is a park located in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. The park is located in the Coral Triangle, a habitat for 390 species of coral reefs and also various species of fish, molluscs, reptiles and marine mammals. Bunaken National Park is representative of Indonesia's marine ecosystems, including prairie sea, coral reefs and coastal ecosystems.

This national park was established in 1991 and covers an area of ​​890.65 km². 97% of this national park is the habitat of the sea, while the remaining 3% of the land, includes five islands: Bunaken, Manado Tua, Mantehage, Naen and Siladen.

Bunaken National Park has a coral reef ecosystem is very rich. There are about 390 species of coral reefs in the region. Species of algae that can be found at Bunaken National Park is Caulerpa, Halimeda and Padina, while the seaweed species that were encountered are Thalassia hemprichii, Enhallus acoroides, and Thalassaodendron ciliatum. Bunaken National Park also has a variety of fish species, marine mammals, reptiles, birds, mollusks and mangrove. About 90 species of fish living in waters of this region.

On the mainland, the island is rich in Arecaceae, sago, woka, silar and coconut. In addition, Bunaken National Park also has an animal species that live on land, such as deer and possum. Mangrove forest in the park is a habitat for crab, lobster, mollusks and sea birds. sure!

In this region, there are 22 villages with a population of about 35,000 inhabitants. Most of them work as fishermen or farmers coconut, sweet potatoes, bananas and seaweed for export, while others work as a guide, workers at the cottage and boat captains.

Tourism in the region continue to be developed. Between 2003 and 2006, the number of visitors in Bunaken National Park reach 32,000 to 39,000 souls, with 8-10000 them are foreign tourists.

Bunaken National Park was formally established in 1991 and is one of Indonesia's first marine park. In 2005, Indonesia is to register a national park to be included into the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Despite its national park status and receive sufficient funding, this park has a small degradation of coral reefs caused by mining, anchor damage, the use of bombs and cyanide in fishing, diving and trash. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) conservation assistance as part of the "Sulu Sulawesi Marine Eco-region Action Plan". Conservation includes the patrol, which has reduced the use of bombs in fishing.