What is the Bunaken National Marine Park?

• ­The park was established in order to suppo­rt the still existing marine bio-diversity, as it is a migratory route for protected animals and b­ecause it is of high economic value for fisheries and tourism.
  
• There are over 20,000 residents ­in the area who depend on the natural resources of the park.
  
• Angiously it was feared that if the area was not to be looked after, over-fishing or destructive fishing practices and uncontrolled pollution would ruin the marine habitat, this causing a serious threat to everyone living in and of the area.
  
• In addition to its enormous bio-diversity­, Bunaken is known for rare and endangered animals to be found, such as coelacanths, dugongs, whales, dolphins and turtles.
  
• The park has a unique bathymetry, which is an attraction to tourists diving at Bunaken Island. The absence of a continental shelf in the northern part of North Sulawesi allows the coastal area to drop directly down the continental shelf.
• There are at least 58 different genera and sub-genera of corals in the park.
  
• The number of different fish species is estimated at 2,000.
  
• The deepest water is around 1,360 meters between Manado Tua and Montehage.
  
• There are about 25 d­ive sites in Bunaken.