Biak Numfor Regency is one of the

regencies A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state ''pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy, ...

(''kabupaten'') in

Papua Province Papua is a province of Indonesia, comprising the northern coast of Western New Guinea together with island groups in Cenderawasih Bay to the west. It roughly follows the borders of Papuan customary region of Tabi Saireri. It is bordered by ...

Western New Guinea Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, or Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the Melanesian island of New Guinea which is administered by Indonesia. Since the island is alternatively named as Papua, the region ...

in northeastern

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 Guine ...

Geography

The regency consists two of the three largest members of the

Schouten Islands The Schouten Islands ( id, Kepulauan Biak, also Biak Islands or Geelvink Islands) are an island group of Papua province, eastern Indonesia in the Cenderawasih Bay (or Geelvink Bay) 50 km off the north-western coast of the island of New ...

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

at the northern entrance into

Cenderawasih Bay Cenderawasih Bay ( id, Teluk Cenderawasih, "Bird of Paradise Bay"), also known as Sarera Bay ( id, Teluk Sarera) and formerly Geelvink Bay ( nl, Geelvinkbaai), is a large bay in northern Province of Papua, Central Papua and West Papua, New Gui ...

. These two large islands are

Biak Biak is an island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak is the largest island in its small archipelago, and has many atolls, reefs, and corals. The large ...

and

Numfor Numfor (also Numfoor, Noemfoor, Noemfoer) is one of the Schouten Islands (also known as the Biak Islands) in Papua province, northeastern Indonesia. It was the site of conflict between Japanese and the Allied forces during World War II, and w ...

; the remaining large island within the Schouten Islands group,

Supiori Island Supiori is an island of the Schouten Islands archipelago in Cenderawasih Bay, just west of Biak island in Papua Province, Western New Guinea, northeastern Indonesia. Description The island has a rugged terrain, largely covered in tropical rai ...

, was formerly also part of the regency but was administratively split off to form the separate Supiori Regency on 8 January 2004. The remaining Biak Numfor Regency also includes the 54 small islands of the

Padaido Archipelago The Padaido Islands, also known as the Padaido Archipelago, is a group of Islands in Indonesia's Papua Province. They lie in Cenderawasih Bay, south and southeast of the island of Biak. The archipelago consists of many small islands and coral reef ...

, to the southeast of Biak, and there are 87 other small islands within the regency. Biak Numfor Regency covers an area of 2,601.99 km². and had a population of 126,798 at the 2010 Census and 134,650 at the 2020 Census. Yje official estimate as at mid 2021 was 135,231. The regency's administrative centre is the town (''kota'') of

, on the island of the same name.

Administrative Districts

The existing regency comprises nineteen

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

(''distrik''), tabulated below with their populations at the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2021. The table also includes the location of the district headquarters, the number of administrative villages (''desa'' and ''kelurahan'') and minor islands within each district, and its post code.

Island (comprising the first five districts listed above) is currently in the process of being split off to form a separate regency under proposals approved in 2014 by the Indonesian Government. The Padaido Archipelago geographically comprises the 54 islands in Paidado District and Aimando Padaido District, plus Pulau Owi, Pulau Purbasbeba and Pulau Ruisbasbedar (islands which are part of Biak Timur District).

Diving sites

There are at least 12 diving sites in the Padaido Archipelago, which comprises 54 islets, with its pristine water, wide sandy beaches and high biodiversity, about two hours from Biak town by speedboat. The visibility is well up to 30 metres, and a favourite site is the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

preserved wreckage of a US Catalina seaplane, with angelfish, lionfish, damselfish and other smaller fishes swimming around the wreckage.

References

External links

Statistics publications from Statistics Indonesia (BPS)
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