Marine conservation collides with mining in Indonesia’s biodiversity-rich Moramo Bay

A 2024 government survey found just 22 humphead wrasse across Moramo Bay's protected waters in Indonesia's Southeast Sulawesi, with three sites that had fish in 2018 now empty. The species' presence helped justify the bay's protected status in 2021, but at least a dozen mining permit areas now line its coast and one nickel mine sits upstream.

Researchers and officials describe sedimentation, coral decline and reduced water visibility, and one local ecosystem manager says a once-productive shrimp fishery has disappeared entirely near the river mouth. No study has drawn a direct line between the mining and the fish's collapse, though the officials quoted keep noting it's plausible.

Three companies already hold production permits for quarry materials within or bordering the conservation zone, with others still in exploration stages. One official said permits predated the protected designation, which is the sort of fact that explains everything and excuses nothing.

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