50 Event to Commemorate Coral Triangle Day

Written by Yuni Arisandy Jakarta (Antara) - Interim Regional Secretariat of Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) stated that about 50 events will be held in six countries to commemorate The Coral Triangle Day 2013. "About 50 events will be held at almost 100 places in six countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippine, Solomon Islands, and Timor Leste. Those events are carried out to enliven The Coral Triangle Day on June 9," Coordinator of CTI Interim Regional Secretariat Arwandrija Rukma said here on Friday. According to him, in commemoration of the Coral Triangle Day this year, CTI would like to re-raise public awareness about the importance of marine resources. "The Coral Triangle Day which has been celebrated for the last two years could gather people and organizations on a special day to celebrate the beauty and uniqueness of the Coral Triangle," he said. Besides, he further said the commemoration of Coral Triangle Day also aims to strengthen people's understanding of the importance of sea through a variety of activities, including beach cleanup, educational exhibition, tagging of turtles, and dinner with seafood obtained in a responsible manner. "Approximately 10 thousand people living in countries across the area of Coral Triangle are expected to engage in Coral Triangle Day celebration this year," he said. The Coral Triangle is one of the three great ecological complexes on the planet, together with the Congo Basin and the Amazon Rainforest. It is a vast ocean expanse that geographically spreads across six countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippine, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Timor Leste. "The Coral Triangle is very important since it is "the nursery of the seas", which provides spawning grounds and migratory routes for commercially-valuable open ocean species, such as tuna," Arwandrija explained. (*)