Pol Raja Ampat Island waters are protected as a sea cucumber population center

The waters of East Pol Misool Island are protected by the government and the people of Kampung Folley as a population center for sea cucumbers which are a source of the local economy.

The government and the people of Kampung Folley agreed not to search for and take sea cucumbers in Pol Island waters to become a center for developing sea cucumbers.

Head of Folley Village, Yefta Mjam, in East Misool, Raja Ampat, West Papua, said Tuesday that Pol Island is the administrative area of the Folley Village Government. The island was the first village of the Folley people, but over time, with the development of the population, many people eventually moved to the mainland island.

He added that the government and the community agreed to carry out Sasi or full traditional protection of sea cucumber marine biota in Pol Island waters, so that it becomes a population center.

The Program Coordinator of the Nusantara Nature Conservation Foundation in the Bird's Head Seascape, West Papua Province, Awaludinnoer, who gave a separate statement, said that the people of Kampung Folley fully protecting the sea cucumber marine biota on Pol Island was an ongoing conservation effort.

He explained that the people of Kampung Folley agreed not to take, even to touch sea cucumbers on Pol Island and let these marine biota remain in nature following the life cycle.

The aim is for the eggs or larvae of sea cucumbers from Pol Island to be washed away by the current and spread throughout the coast of Kampung Folley, so that the sea cucumber population, which is a source of the community's economy, remains sustainable.

"This traditional protection process, so that the people of Kampung Folley can harvest sea cucumbers on the coast of the village every six months with satisfactory results," he also said.

SOURCE : https://papuabarat.antaranews.com/berita/23889/perairan-Pulau-pol-raja-ampat-dilindungi-As-Pusat-population-teripang