Jemaja Island is the most westerly of the main islands in the

Anambas Islands Regency Anambas Islands Regency () is an island regency in the Riau Islands Province, Indonesia, located in the Natuna Sea. The regency consists of 255 islands, including five outer islands that are important for Indonesia's sovereignty boundaries, n ...

, part of the province of

Riau Islands The Riau Islands () is a provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia consisting of a group of islands located in the western part of the country. It was established in 2002 after being separated from the neighboring Riau Province. The capit ...

within

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. The island is administered (including small offshore islands) as three districts of the regency.

Description

The island is located in the

Anambas Islands Anambas Islands Regency () is an island regency (Indonesia), regency in the Riau Islands, Riau Islands Province, Indonesia, located in the Natuna Sea. The regency consists of 255 islands, including five List of outlying islands of Indonesia, out ...

in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

. Jemaja is close to the strategically important

Singapore Strait The Singapore Strait is a , strait between the Strait of Malacca in the west and the South China Sea in the east. Singapore is on the north of the channel, and the Indonesian Riau Islands are on the south. The two countries share a maritime ...

. The island is populated with several villages and is heavily vegetated, including thick

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

groves, and the waters off Jemaja are rich with corals.Prakoso, Gilar. "GIS Application for Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM) in Indonesia." PhD diss., UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND, 2016. The island is served by Letung Airport. The economy of Jemaja is small, but the island has been considered for increased economic investment to promote its use as a tourist destination. Several sources have noted that the island possesses beautiful beaches. The island has also been considered as a quarantine area for livestock. In the 2000s, the island was a center for pirate activity. From 2007 to 2017, 34 incidents of piracy/armed robbery at sea occurred off the Anambas Islands, some of which originated from Jemaja.

References

{{IslandsofRiauIslands Islands of Indonesia Islands of the South China Sea