Private Marine Reserve · Blue Park (Platinum) · Indonesia · 121,400 hectares
Misool Marine Reserve
The reef that came back from the dead.
Misool Marine Reserve: the numbers, sourced
As of July 2026.
- +248% fish biomass — inside the no-take zone. Misool Foundation reef monitoring, 2007–2021.
- +190% sharks — since 2012; 25× more sharks inside the reserve than outside (2012 study). Misool Foundation, 2012–present.
- 121,400 hectares — Indonesia's largest no-take zone, leased from local villages since 2005. Misool Foundation, 2005–present.
- 18 rangers, 1,000+ patrols/yr — local ranger corps, 3 stations, 5 patrol boats, ~60 illegal boats intercepted a year. Misool Foundation, current.
- 1,730 mantas — individuals in the reserve’s database — roughly doubled in ten years. Misool Foundation, current.
What was lost at Misool Marine Reserve?
In 2005, Marit and Andrew Miners landed on Batbitim Island and found a freshly abandoned shark-finning camp — the beach strewn with the carcasses of finned baby sharks. Cyanide and dynamite fishing were working the reefs around it. Raja Ampat's most biodiverse waters were being stripped.
What brought it back?
Instead of leaving, they leased the island and its surrounding sea directly from the local villages — the lease itself evicted the finning operation and wrote a no-take zone into being (2005). The resort that opened on Batbitim in 2008 exists to pay for the reserve; the Misool Foundation, an Indonesian charity, was established in 2011 to run it. The no-take zone grew to 121,400 hectares — Indonesia's largest.
What is it like now?
Inside the reserve, fish biomass rose 248% between 2007 and 2021, and sharks are up 190% since 2012 — a 2012 study found 25 times more sharks inside the reserve than directly outside. The manta database holds 1,730 individuals, roughly doubling in ten years (Misool Foundation). The Marine Conservation Institute rates it a Platinum-level Blue Park.
Who does the work?
Eighteen full-time salaried rangers — recruited from the local villages that lease the reserve — run more than 1,000 patrols a year from three permanent stations and five boats, intercepting around 60 illegal fishing boats annually. The reserve is a village economy now: lease payments, ranger salaries, resort jobs.
How do you visit Misool Marine Reserve?
Misool Resort on Batbitim is the reserve's engine — a dive stay here is the budget the patrols run on. The house reef is inside the no-take zone; you surface from what your booking protects.
Stay at Misool and fund the patrols
Booking links may earn TravelConservation a commission at no cost to you. The visit is what funds the work.