DIVING AND CORALS

Reef Passion (Issue: 01-07)

Everyone knows Mr. Dodent! His passion and fight for the reefs of Pulau Weh has made him well-know all over Indonesia, even decorated by the Environmental Minister. His latest project is to rebuild the coral reef along Pulau Rubiah that was destroyed by the tsunami. He does this by transplanting pieces of corals. He got the idea already in 1973 when he tried to move some corals. He noticed that pieces of corals tied directly to cement bars, survived and grew, whilst the corals in no direct contact with the cement died.

After the tsunami, he remembered his observations and decided to try to rehabilitate the damaged reefs. In January 2006 he started by applying for funds from BRR, the rehabilitation agency for Aceh and Nias. They decided to carry out a project through a University in Bogor (IPB). Dodent became an adviser. However, as he felt that they didn't listen to him, he started a parallel project with his private savings. IPB used square blocks as the base to which corals were tied to.

They covered 40 square meters with 160 square cement modules. Dodent choose to make long cement bars, which he places in such a way squares are formed. Inside and on top of these squares he puts smaller cement pieces, molded after plastic buckets. In this way he give the fish places to hide and sleep. Fish normally moves in after a few weeks, and after a year or two the corals are interesting enough for snorkeling.

The coral pieces are collected with care from places where the corals are threatened by other activities, like harbor construction or where a careful harvesting won’t harm the reef. According to Dodent he has achieved an 85-90% survival rate for the transplanted corals. Dodent places minimum one square meter every week. So far he has not received any kind of financial support.

Dodent points out that without the support of the local fishermen and them feeling ownership, the reefs cannot be saved. For this reason he also makes fishing spots for the fishermen, for example by sinking old boats, even old cars. You can witness his activities in Iboih in front of his diving school.

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GENERAL SUBJECTS

Maxim Gorky Visits Sabang (Issue 01-07)

On March 30 the Russian cruise ship Maxim Gorky entered Sabang Bay with 500 German around-the-World-travelers. The passengers spread out over town and the nearby beaches.

It is however not clear what was the biggest attraction, Sabang for the visitors or the Germans for the locals! Most of the town went to the harbor to see the ship arrive. It was the first cruise ship entering Sabang for a long time!

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Fishing (Issue 1-07)

Fishing has become increasingly popular amongst visitors from Jakarta and Malaysia. Pulau Weh offers plenty of fishing possibilities and it easy to arrange.

Fishing trip can be arranged at any accommodation or direct with fishermen if you prefer. Gapang Resort has arranged several fishing trips. Balek Gunung is also a good spot for fishing trips.

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Enjoy a Solar Lunch (Issue: 01-07)

Going around Pulau Weh you will probably notice all the Solar Cookers recently introduced by Klimaschutz eV from Germany. It is the first CDM Solar Cooker Project in the world as defined by the Kyoto Protocol, The project combines climate protection with poverty alleviation.

Seven hundred solar cookers are being installed all over Pulau Weh just now. The locals build up the solar cookers themselves with supplied kits. This is followed up by courses in cooking in order to increase the usage.

The reflector, is constructed of a specially coated aluminum, only produced by Alcan of Canada. They also finance this pilot project.

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