The Derawan Islands () are in the province of

East Kalimantan East Kalimantan (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo/Kalimantan. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the cu ...

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, ...

. They consist of 31 islands, most well known among these are the islands of Derawan, Kakaban, Maratua, and Sangalaki. There are also numerous submerged

reefs A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition of sand or wave eros ...

and

islets An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and ...

. They are located in the

Sulawesi Sea The Celebes Sea ( ; ) or Sulawesi Sea (; ) of the western Pacific Ocean is bordered on the north by the Sulu Archipelago and Sulu Sea and Mindanao Island of the Philippines, on the east by the Sangihe Islands chain, on the south by Sulawesi's ...

, on the coastal shelf of

(2°17′N – 118°13′E). The islands are part of the

Berau Regency Berau Regency (, Berau: ''Barrau'') is the most northern of the seven regencies in East Kalimantan province in Indonesia. The capital is the town of Tanjung Redeb. The regency has an area of 36,962.37 km2 and had a population of 179,079 a ...

Biodiversity

Derawan islands is part of the

Coral Triangle The Coral Triangle (CT) is a roughly triangular area in the tropical waters around Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste. This area contains at least 500 species of reef-building corals in each ...

, which contains some of the richest marine biodiversity on earth. Located in a

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

hotspot, the Derawan Islands feature 872 species of reef fishes, 507 species of

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

, and

invertebrates Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordate subphylum ...

, including

protected species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, invasiv ...

(5 giants clam species, 2 sea turtles, coconut crab, etc.). Some of the islands harbor the heavily exploited

turtle Turtles are reptiles of the order (biology), order Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Crypt ...

eggs and yet the largest

green turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exte ...

nesting site in

Stingless jellyfish

Derawan Islands have at least two lakes containing stingless jellyfish, one in Kakaban Island and the other in Maratua Island with Haji Buang Pond. Kakaban is more famous than the second, which is also more difficult to access. The lake in Kakaban consists of millions of jellyfish, ranging from small to large ones, some, twice as big as an adult's palm. Indonesia has at least 7 lakes with stingless jellyfish. Some others are located in:

Raja Ampat Raja (; from , IAST ') is a noble or royal Sanskrit title historically used by some Indian rulers and monarchs and highest-ranking nobles. The title was historically used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The title has a long ...

, West Papua, Togean Island,

Central Sulawesi Central Sulawesi (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''Sulawesi Tengah'') is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located at the centre of the island of Sulawesi. The administrative capital and largest city is located in Palu. The provin ...

and one in

Rote Island Rote Island (, also spelled ''Roti'') is an island of Indonesia, part of the East Nusa Tenggara Provinces of Indonesia, province of the Lesser Sunda Islands. According to legend, this island got its name accidentally when a lost Portuguese people ...

East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara (; ) is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the north, with a total land area of 47,238.07 km2. It cons ...

Resources use

There are two inhabited islands, namely Derawan (with a village of 1,259 people) and Maratua (comprising four villages with 2,704 people).

Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

is an important income-generating activity for the community. Since the early 1990s, people have caught live

groupers Groupers are a diverse group of marine ray-finned fish in the family Epinephelidae, in the order Perciformes. Groupers were long considered a subfamily of the seabasses in Serranidae, but are now treated as distinct. Not all members of this f ...

Napoleon wrasse The humphead wrasse (''Cheilinus undulatus'') is a large species of wrasse mainly found on coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific region. It is also known as the Māori wrasse, Napoleon wrasse, Napoleon fish, ''so mei'' 蘇眉 (Cantonese), ''mameng'' (F ...

, and

lobsters Lobsters are malacostracans decapod crustaceans of the family Nephropidae or its synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, in ...

, to fill high demand. There are three diving resorts in the Derawan Islands, while more additional resorts or facilities are in the planning process.

Caves

Maratua Island has an area of 35.5 square kilometers and has at least 13 caves, but the prediction is that there are more than a hundred caves which are not yet explored. The caves usually have connection directly to the sea. These caves originated from reef which sea water infiltrated into, creating underground channels.

Islands

There are 31 named islands (see table)

Airport and seaport

On 11 September 2015 Maratua Airport with runway 1,200 meters has been operated to boost tourism and also to secure defence strategy due to Maratua island is near the border with Malaysia and the Philippines.

Samarinda International Airport Aji Pangeran Tumenggung Pranoto Airport , also known as APT Pranoto Airport or Samarinda Airport, is an international airport on the subdistrict of Sungai Siring in the North Samarinda, northern Samarinda. The airport is also colloquially know ...

is the main gateway to Derawan.

References

{{authority control Landforms of East Kalimantan Populated places in Indonesia