Bintan wasn’t on my diving bucket list, but I’ve learnt it is home to tiny undiscovered creatures

SINGAPORE – As a new scuba diver, I have big, charismatic animals like whale sharks and manta rays on my bucket list of things to see.

With the richness of the Coral Triangle – South-east Asia’s globally renowned marine biodiversity hot spot – in our backyard, many divers here often flock to popular dive sites like Raja Ampat and Bali in Indonesia for a glimpse of these creatures.

But over four days in April, during a visit to Cempedak Island, a resort off the eastern coast of Bintan, I learnt to appreciate the smaller creatures of the sea.

The private island was hosting two scientists, who were there to document the biodiversity in the area, and invited me to join their expedition.

In 2019, marine biologists Mark Erdmann and Gerald Allen, then with American non-profit Conservation International, had been invited by Cempedak to survey the marine life there as part of a proposal to zone some parts of the waters off Bintan as a marine protected area (MPA).

The East Bintan MPA was established by the Indonesian government in 2022, although Cempedak Island does not fall within its boundaries.

During the 2019 expedition, Erdmann photographed some rare reef fish, including six which he believed had never been identified before nor found anywhere else in the world.

He was back to obtain specimens of them to confirm their identities.

After a delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Erdmann and marine biologist Nesha Ichida from Indonesia-based non-profit Thrive Conservation, who was leading the second expedition, managed to coordinate their schedules for the April trip.

Their focus was on gobies, sand divers and other small fish whose size can make it extra hard for an untrained eye to find against the messy seabed.

For instance, gobies average about 2cm to 3cm in length.

The beauty of small things

Before this trip, I had thought of Bintan more as a place for weekend getaways, not so much as a biodiversity hot spot.

But during my stay on Cempedak, I realised it could be both.

There was a sense of “wilderness” as I entered my villa, which seemed to be made almost entirely of bamboo and had neither real doors nor windows. A fellow traveller reported being awoken at dawn by a loud hornbill perched on the railing of his bedroom.

There was no air-conditioning at the eco-friendly resort, although ceiling fans were available.

The living room opened to a private pool, which overlooked the trees and the sea.

The expansive view was great, but I later discovered that underwater, too, there was wildlife to be enjoyed.

Erdmann said the waters around Bintan – located an hour’s ferry ride from Singapore – are teeming with life.

In 2019, after spending over 40 hours underwater at 17 dive sites, he managed to identify 425 species of reef fishes.

Erdmann and Ichida’s enthusiasm for the small things was infectious.

During an hour-long briefing on the expedition, Erdmann shared more information about sand gobies that awoke the biology nerd in me.

I was hooked by the way Erdmann described the different types of reef fish, along with their unique behavioural quirks, and was ready to give the island and its reefs a shot.

While on a dive, looking down at a monotonous landscape of sand seems like a waste of precious oxygen, especially if there are colourful coral reefs nearby.

But with the knowledge from the briefing in mind, I managed to spot little fish hiding amid the grains of sand.

These sand gobies usually stand in pairs at the mouth of tiny tunnels, guarding a nearly blind shrimp that shovels away inside. At any sign of danger, they too get to use the tunnels as shelter.

Over the four days, I began to see the draw of looking out for the small things amid a vast ocean.

I managed to catch several camouflaged gobies – though not the unnamed ones – standing guard over a burrow at about 12m under the surface and eventually, with a quiet bubble of joy, I also glimpsed the elusive shrimp.

It came out once in a while when its sentinels signalled that the coast was clear, to dump out the sand from its network of tunnels.

Guided by Jaslan Button, Cempedak’s resident nature guide, I also spotted several brightly patterned nudibranchs – sea slugs – and baby coral.

At the end of the expedition, the two veteran divers seemed pleased with what they had found.

While looking for the elusive six, they found four, and stumbled upon another seven potentially new species.

Three could be gobies, and the other four triplefins, characterised by their three dorsal fins.

DNA analysis and other work to officially describe the species and induct them into scientific literature are ongoing.

The benefits of protection

During my visit, I had the chance to explore seven dive sites.

The benefits of protection quickly became clear.

Underwater visibility in the reefs around Cempedak, which sits outside the East Bintan MPA, was low.

The small islands and reefs off the mainland have been struggling with sedimentation – the consequence of economic development as the mainland constructs new coastal developments.

As the works stir up the seabed, the sediment is pushed towards the island by the currents, affecting the nature there, said Button.

But farther away from Cempedak, near its sister island Nikoi, another private resort owned by the same owners, visibility is better.

Nikoi sits within the boundaries of the marine park.

The difference is stark – there are more baby coral and baby fish, and more schools of edible fish, which shows that the protection zone has worked, noted the two ecologists.

The marine park rules prohibit destructive fishing methods, pollution and littering behaviour such as the dumping of waste. In specific zones, all fishing is disallowed.

Cempedak hopes the expedition’s findings help to strengthen the case for long-term protection and active management of the East Bintan MPA, said Lilly Milligan Gilbert, the resort’s marine conservation adviser.

While the designation of the area in 2022 has improved marine life to an extent, the trouble is that enforcement can be spotty.

On my last dive of the trip, we heard a loud boom underwater which flustered both Gilbert and Button, who were guiding the group.

Worried that it was someone practising bomb fishing – an outlawed practice of detonating explosives underwater to stun or kill large schools of fish for easy collection – they quickly cut the dive short.

The Cempedak staff later found out, after a number of calls were made, that the sound came from bags of lead waste being thrown on an aluminium-bottom boat.

It was a relief, but highlighted their concern that the MPA designation alone would not keep out illegal activity.

Ichida and Erdmann hope that their efforts to document the biodiversity raises awareness of the richness of nature and marine life in Bintan, which in turn helps the efforts of those trying to better protect it.

The rate of economic development happening is at odds with marine tourism and conservation, and is a challenge that the area is going to face continuously, said Erdmann.

Another mining smelter or refinery – the sector is among Bintan’s top-performing and fastest-growing – could mean more sediment that could kill the reefs and the fish, if they are not built and developed correctly, he added.

The marine scientists said that Bintan could benefit from its marine biodiversity as an engine of growth as well.

There is still a lot that has not been explored in Bintan, Ichida said. “This is not a massive diver hub, but it could be… It could be a massive tourism asset if done right.”

New species draw attention and excitement, as well as pride for local governments and communities, said Erdmann.

It could lead to enhanced marine conservation – even how the new species are named could play a part in drumming up the hype, he added.

Newly described species are sometimes named after where they are found.

Cempedak’s Gilbert said a follow-up expedition is planned for November.

The resort island hopes to continue supporting long-term marine research and biodiversity monitoring around East Bintan, including hosting follow-up expeditions and contributing to observations of suspected endemic reef fish species, she added.

An endemic species is one that is uniquely found in a part of the world.

The island also hopes to be able to contribute to the active management of the MPA by supporting governance, enforcement, community engagement and sustainable financing, added Gilbert.

For Cempedak, having clearer waters full of wildlife is clearly to its advantage.

Guests are drawn by its beaches, marine life and sense of wilderness, said Gilbert.

“Protecting these ecosystems isn’t just the right thing to do, but fundamental to who we are as a destination,” she added.