Ministry to launch Wallacea expedition

JAKARTA: Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Rokhmin Dahuri will launch a three-month scientific voyage from Makassar, South Sulawesi on May 22, his office said here on Thursday.

The Wallacea Expedition 2004, named after British explorer Alfred R. Wallacea who explored the Indonesian archipelago in the 19th century, will range across eastern Indonesian waters and include surveys on oceanography, geology, geomorphology, geography and archeology. Experts from Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan and the Netherlands will join the voyage.

Some 100 divers will make an inventory of Indonesian marine resources during the journey.

Rokhmin said Indonesian fishery experts would also conduct a survey on fresh water fish found in two lakes in Sulawesi, as fish there had characteristics that distinguished them from fish in other parts of Indonesia. --Antara