Environmental groups, The Nature Conservancy and WWF will help set up the reserve, where efforts will be made to stamp out illegal practices such as dynamite and cyanide fishing. Tourism activities and subsistence fishing by locals will be allowed but restricted to certain areas.

The Savu Marine National Park, launched at the World Ocean Conference in Manado, Sulawesi, will cover 3.5 million hectares (8.649 million acres) in an area of 500 species of coral, 14 species of whales and 336 species of fish living in the Savu Sea near Flores in eastern Indonesia.

“(It is) potentially one of the largest marine protected areas in the Coral Triangle,” Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Freddy Numberi said. He was referring to the biologically diverse coral reef network bounded by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and the Solomon Islands.

“About 14 species out of 27 — meaning 50 percent — species of whales in the world migrate using this route from the Pacific Ocean, passing through the Banda Sea, Flores Sea and Savu Sea to the Indian Ocean,” said Numberi. Rili Djohani, The Nature Conservancy’s marine expert, said the park will protect sea turtles, dolphins, sharks and could help boost tuna stocks by protecting their spawning grounds.

Indonesia has a rich marine environment, but the environment often faces pressure from pollution and loose law enforcement make it difficult to stop practices such as using explosives to catch fish.

Here’s a video about the Coral Triangle Indonesia