The Derawan Islands ( id, Kepulauan Derawan) are in the province of

East Kalimantan East Kalimantan ( Indonesian: ) is a province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the current boundary), 3.42 million at the 2015 census, and 3 ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

. They consist of 31 islands, most well known among these are the islands of Derawan,

Kakaban Kakaban island is part of the Derawan Islands, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The island has an area of and is quite steep. Its limestone cliffs are covered with dense jungle right down to the water's edge. The wall drops to , and currents can be s ...

, 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 processes—deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

and

islets An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanen ...

. They are located in the

Sulawesi Sea The Celebes Sea, (; ms, Laut Sulawesi, id, Laut Sulawesi, fil, Dagat Selebes) 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 ...

, on the coastal shelf of

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

Berau Regency Berau Regency ( id, Kabupaten Berau) is one of the seven regencies in East Kalimantan province in Indonesia. The capital is the town of Tanjung Redeb. It has an area of 36,962.37 km2 and had a population of 179,079 at the 2010 census and 2 ...

Biodiversity

Derawan islands is part of the

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

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

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity'') ...

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

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and se ...

, and

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordat ...

, 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 and invas ...

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

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

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 exten ...

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 royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested fr ...

, West Papua, Togean Island,

Central Sulawesi Central Sulawesi (Indonesian: ''Sulawesi Tengah'') is a province of Indonesia located at the centre of the island of Sulawesi. The administrative capital and largest city is located in Palu. The 2010 census recorded a population of 2,635,009 for ...

and one in

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

East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara ( id, Nusa Tenggara Timur – NTT; pt, Sonda Oriental) 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 nor ...

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, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

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

groupers Groupers are fish of any of a number of genera in the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family Serranidae, in the order Perciformes. Not all serranids are called "groupers"; the family also includes the sea basses. The common name "grouper" i ...

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, Napoleonfish, ''so mei'' 蘇眉 (Cantonese) ...

, and

lobsters Lobsters are a family (Nephropidae, synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. 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, including the first pair, ...

, 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 September 11, 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 International Airport , also known as APT Pranoto Airport or Samarinda Airport, is the main airport in Samarinda, the capital city of East Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is in the district of Sungai Siring. The airpo ...

is the main gateway to Derawan.

References

{{authority control Archipelagoes of Indonesia Landforms of East Kalimantan Islands of Kalimantan