By: Adella Adiningtyas (Marine & Fishery Campaign and Social Media Assistant)

Impressions never cease when Indra dives into the beauty of the underwater world of Southwest Maluku. Indra, one of the members of the Southwest Maluku Expedition Team (#XPDCMBD) from Bogor Agricultural University had the golden opportunity to take part in a rapid survey in Southwest Maluku with WWF-Indonesia and a number of partners. The trip, which took place on November 1-15, 2015, provided new stories for this final year student. For him, seeing the diversity of fish species and benthic biota at each dive site became a valuable experience in collecting underwater ecological data in one of the outermost islands in Indonesia.

Igna, one of the expedition participants from KKP, also felt lucky to be able to dive directly to enjoy Indonesia's natural wealth. The same thing that Indra felt from the #XPDCMBD Sea Team was felt by Igna from the Land Team who collected social and fisheries data in several villages.

""Experience is the best teacher. Through #XPDCMBD I got many things. God's majesty through the beauty of nature and the friendliness of the people is the main thing. Yes ... that's Southwest Maluku, abundant fishery resources, simple fishing technology and local wisdom are the hallmarks of fisheries utilization in this archipelago. This is one of the riches in the eastern part of Indonesia",explained Igna, Researcher of Capture Fisheries and Capture Technology - Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (Balitang KKP).

Nara from the Land Team, also revealed that Southwest Maluku is an interesting region. Socially and culturally, the people have their own uniqueness. In addition to natural resources, Southwest Maluku also has local wisdom for the management and utilization of marine resources, in the form of the sasi system, which is still implemented today. Sasi is an open-close system for the sustainable utilization of certain marine biota.

After conducting activities for approximately 15 days, both the Sea Team and the Land Team, argue that the natural and socio-cultural wealth of Southwest Maluku deserves thumbs up. Its natural sustainability also needs to be maintained for future generations.

Data collection on ecology, social and fisheries in Southwest Maluku is carried out with a rapid exploration survey step, with the aim of obtaining as much information as possible related to these three aspects. The #XPDCMBD team of 16 people was divided into several small teams that had their respective tasks in the data collection. The #XPDCMBD team consists of researchers from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Southwest Maluku Maritime and Fisheries Service, Pattimura University, Bogor Agricultural University, WWF-Indonesia, and Wildlife Conservation Society-Indonesia Program.

Then, what are the interesting stories found by the #XPDCMBD Team in Southwest Maluku? Let's see the full story at www.wwf.or.id/xpdcmbd