By Casandra Tania, et al
The Teluk Cenderawasih National Park (TNTC) is not only home to whale sharks (Rhyncodon typus), but also other charismatic megafauna, namely whales. On February 21, 2014 at 12.00 WIT, the BBTNTC-DKP Teluk Wondama-WWF Indonesia SPAGs team recorded the appearance of a whale suspected to be a humpback whale in the waters around Anggromeos Island, Nabire. The whale, whose length is thought to reach 11 m, was enough to amaze the monitoring team, even though the whale only surfaced for a few seconds.

After that, on March 22, 2014 in the waters of eastern Wondama Bay (S 02°32.755' and E 134°41.109') at 14:36 WIT on the way from Kwatisore to Wasior with speed boat Geelvink Baai, WWF Indonesia team who was with Dr. Brent Stewart from Hubbs SeaWorld Research Institute (HSWRI) again recorded the appearance of a whale. However, this whale was different from the first whale, because the whale that appeared was identified as a Cuvier's beaked whale (Cuvier's beaked whale - Ziphius cavirostris) with a length of about 3 m so it is still considered a calf.

This beaked whale spent a few minutes playing around the speed boat, so the team was happy to be given enough time to watch and capture it. The monitoring team had actually encountered Cuvier's beaked whale several times (Nov 2012, April, and May 2013), but the short time of encounter and the long distance sometimes obscured the identification process, so it wasn't until the beaked whale finally appeared behind the Geelvink Baai speed boat that the team was sure that the species seen so far was indeed Cuvier's beaked whale.

From some information that has been collected both from the management of the Cendrawasih National Park Center (BBTNTC) and the community, information was also obtained about the appearance of other whales suspected of being pilot whales (Pilot Whale) in large enough groups in certain areas and at certain times. However, this still needs to be verified, as clear supporting information and documentation is not yet available to assist in its identification.

TNTC still holds a lot of potential that still needs to be explored, it is not wrong if the Cenderawasih Bay area is designated as a conservation area because it is home to diverse, unique, and endemic marine biodiversity.

Source:
WWF Indonesia - TNTC Project
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/23211/0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuvier's_beaked_whale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuvier's_beaked_whale