, 2009 and Becking et al., 2011). The majority of lakes in Raja Ampat do not have stingless jellyfish and are difficult to access safely, which may focus tourism and any impacts from tourism on just a few marine lakes ( Becking et al., 2009). Soft sediment communities are well represented but poorly understood in the BHS. Rodoliths, soft corals and sponges provide low-rugosity shelter covering up to 75% of substrata in some areas. Both black and white sand habitats exist in sheltered bays, coves and barrier habitats along Raja Ampat, the Wasior peninsula (particularly learn more the eastern coast) in Cendrawasih Bay, Bintuni Bay and the greater Fakfak-Kaimana coast, especially

Arguni, Etna and Triton Bays. Preliminary ROV surveys of deeper waters (100–865 m) soft-sediment communities revealed a wide range of species including deep-sea frogfish, Oegopsid squid, chaetognaths and siphonophores (B. Robison, personal communication). Major nesting beaches for green (Chelonia

mydas), hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) turtles are found on the coasts and small islands of the BHS. Among these are Indo-Pacific regionally significant nesting beaches for leatherback and olive Linsitinib in vivo ridley turtles at Jamursba-Medi and Wermon in Abun MPA; green turtles at Piai and Sayang Islands in Kawe MPA, Pisang Island in the Sabuda Tataruga MPA and Venu Island in the Kaimana MPA; and hawksbill turtles at Venu Island (WWF and Yayasan Penyu Papua, unpublished data; see also Tapilatu and Tiwari, 2007, Hitipeuw et al., 2007, Benson et al., 2007 and Benson et al., 2011). The many threats faced by turtles in the BHS include habitat destruction of nesting beaches from coastal development, beach

erosion, pollution, egg predation, poaching of adults and eggs, bycatch (Hitipeuw et al., 2007 and Tapilatu and Tiwari, 2007) and saltwater inundation as a result of increasing occurrence of storm surges during extreme high tides (M.V. Erdmann, personal Adenosine observations). Hitipeuw et al. (2007) estimated a fourfold decline in the number of nesting leatherbacks from 1985 (1000–3000 females/annum) to 2004 (300–900 females/annum), with this pattern of decline continuing to 2011 (Fig. 9). Post-nesting migration patterns of leatherback turtles from Jamursba-Medi across 4800 to 21,000 km of ocean to Philippines, Malaysia, South China Sea, Sea of Japan, the equatorial Pacific and North America are well documented (Benson et al., 2007 and Benson et al., 2011). Satellite telemetry showed some of the summer nesting leatherback turtles traveled 170–315 km west to Raja Ampat during inter-nesting periods, while some of the winter nesters traveled 120–300 km east to Cendrawasih Bay (Benson et al., 2011). Although no quantitative estimates are available, locals report high bycatch rates during nesting seasons (Hitipeuw et al., 2007).