Saleh Bay conservation area: status, threats and what is planned

By Saleh Bay Whale Shark Editorial Desk

The Saleh Bay conservation area is reserved, not finished. A 2026 West Nusa Tenggara governor's decree reserves 73,165.05 hectares as a species-based area in the park category, covering feeding and nursery areas and movement routes, according to Antara. As of November 2026 we know of no later decree or management plan.

What did the 2026 decree do?

It started a process. Antara, quoting the provincial spokesperson, reports that Governor Decree 100.3.3.1-196 of 2026 sets the area aside as a species-based conservation area. Reservation is a step ahead of full designation. Asik Travel, a tour seller, dates the decree to 7 May 2026 and calls it a first step in Indonesia's marine protected area process, not a finished national park. That is a seller's reading, but it matches Antara's description of a reservation, so anyone describing a finished Saleh Bay marine protected area is ahead of the record.

Tracking data fed into it. Mongabay says tags that can deliver up to three years of data shaped the government's plans, and our page on whale shark satellite tagging in Indonesia describes that work. The 2026 Frontiers paper identified 91% of the bay as suitable habitat, with the caution that one or two individuals underpin some of its models. The decree's reference to nursery areas echoes a paper in Diversity which proposes, without confirming it, that the bay may be a pupping ground and early nursery.

Do not confuse this decree with a similar-looking number. Kompas reports an earlier provincial instrument, Governor Regulation 100/2023, on governing whale sharks in the bay's waters. That earlier regulation concerns governance of the sharks, the 2026 decree reserves space, and they are different instruments. Only press reports of the 2023 text are cited here, so its clauses are not quoted.

How do the different protection labels differ?

At least five labels get used for the same stretch of water, sometimes interchangeably. They come from different bodies, cover different areas and carry different weight.

The sizes also need care, since the bay's own area is disputed. The province's fisheries head gives 1,459 square kilometres and a 2025 paper gives about 2,123. Measured against either, the reserved 73,165.05 hectares, roughly 732 square kilometres, is part of the bay rather than all of it. We know of no map of its exact boundary. Its neighbours are unsettled too: the same paper puts the bay between Sumbawa and Dompu regencies, while Kompas.com names Dompu and Bima.

How does the Samota Biosphere Reserve relate to Saleh Bay?

The two overlap in name and geography, but they are different kinds of thing. UNESCO's Saleh-Moyo-Tambora reserve, known as SAMOTA, spans the bay, Moyo and Tambora across five major ecosystems, and UNESCO notes that dugong species and dolphins can be found in Saleh Bay. Tempo dates the listing to 2019, seven years before the provincial decree. So the biosphere status is not what created the 2026 area, and a visitor reading "UNESCO" on a brochure should not take it as a sign of whale shark rules on the water.

Why is Saleh Bay an Important Shark and Ray Area?

The IUCN shark specialist group factsheet places it in northeast Sumbawa, a semi-enclosed embayment opening to the Flores Sea, with small islands, reefs, seagrass and mangroves. It lists the site under Criterion A and Sub-criterion C2, which correspond to threatened species and feeding. The BBC reports that the world's whale sharks have fallen by more than half since the 1980s, which is why a reliable feeding area counts for so much.

The food supply has a physical explanation. The factsheet credits river inputs all year and seasonal upwellings driven by monsoon winds. An interviewee told the BBC that krill abound because mangroves surround the bay. The 2024 expedition reported by Konservasi Indonesia recorded more larvae and zooplankton in the east and south, an area proposed for conservation, which ties the food supply to the map under discussion.

What threatens the bay?

The threats to Saleh Bay whale sharks named by sources fall into three groups. None comes with a Saleh Bay measurement of its overall effect on sharks.

• Bagan growth. A scientist quoted by Mongabay warns that continued bagan expansion could eventually leave too little food for whale sharks.
• Behaviour change. Konservasi Indonesia's 2025 report warns that the sharks' tie to bagans could foster dependency and bring more contact with people, and it names tourism, pollution from land and fishing pressure as possible causes of shifting habitat use.
• Reef and shore damage. The 2024 expedition saw traces of mangrove felling and possible seagrass loss, and few large reef fish, indicating overfishing of reef fish.

AFP also notes growing corn and aquaculture around the bay, and names no effect on sharks.

What stands to be lost goes beyond one species. The expedition counts 560 reef fish species, against 570 fish from an eight-day expedition in Antara, and it surveyed mesophotic coral reefs below 30 metres.

What is planned for zoning?

Only outlines are public. Konservasi Indonesia's lead author told Mongabay that zoning considers critical habitat, including no-take zones covering key whale shark areas. Which waters and which activities remain to be seen, and we know of no zoning map. A Konservasi Indonesia study argues that a whale-shark-based protected area is economically viable, using a cost-benefit analysis running to 2045. The group is an interested party, and that should be weighed. Its involvement in the bay goes back years: Tempo reports a May 2022 agreement with Sumbawa Regency to develop whale shark ecotourism. Its estimate of hotspots under formal protection predates the 2026 step, so it cannot show what the reservation has added.

What does protection mean for a visitor?

Ask what applies when you travel. The conduct rules that matter day to day come from other instruments, and they are set out on our Saleh Bay whale shark rules page. Kompas.com, quoting the provincial fisheries head, says the province urges operators to hold guide certificates and sets entry procedures through a regional public service agency. Procedures and charges could change as designation advances, so ask your seller what applies at the time of travel, and whether your planned route crosses any zone that has since been defined. Our Saleh Bay whale shark overview sets out how visits work today.

What do readers ask about the Saleh Bay conservation area?

Is Saleh Bay protected?

Partly, and in stages. Whale sharks have full national protection as a species. A 2026 governor's decree reserves part of the bay as a conservation area, which is a step ahead of full designation.

What is the Saleh Bay conservation area?

It is a reserved species-based area in the park category, covering feeding and nursery areas and movement routes, as Antara reports. It is not a finished national park, according to a tour seller's reading of the decree.

How does the Samota Biosphere Reserve relate to Saleh Bay?

It is a much wider UNESCO listing that takes in the bay, Moyo and Tambora. It came before the 2026 decree and is a separate designation.

What threatens whale sharks in Saleh Bay?

Sources name bagan expansion, possible dependency on fishing platforms, tourism pressure, land pollution, and traces of mangrove felling with possible seagrass loss.

Why is Saleh Bay an Important Shark and Ray Area?

It is listed for threatened species and feeding, under Criterion A and Sub-criterion C2. River inputs and seasonal upwellings make the water highly productive, according to the IUCN shark specialist group factsheet.

Which sources support this page?

• Antara: province reserves Saleh Bay as a conservation area
• Asik Travel, tour seller: Saleh Bay whale sharks
• Mongabay: 10-year satellite study and the new protected area
• Frontiers in Marine Science 2026: whale shark satellite tracking in Indonesia
• Diversity (MDPI): neonatal whale sharks recorded in Saleh Bay
• Kompas: whale shark tourism in Saleh Bay, Sumbawa
• Antara: West Nusa Tenggara on protecting key species in Saleh Bay
• Geographia Technica 2025: paper on Saleh Bay
• UNESCO: Saleh-Moyo-Tambora (SAMOTA) Biosphere Reserve
• IUCN shark specialist group: Saleh Bay Important Shark and Ray Area factsheet
• BBC Future: the giant shark that seems to appear from nowhere
• Konservasi Indonesia: 2024 Saleh Bay expedition
• Konservasi Indonesia: Saleh Bay whale shark 2025 report
• AFP in The Jakarta Post: decade-long whale shark study
• Antara: keeping whale sharks and people in balance at Saleh Bay
• Konservasi Indonesia: economic feasibility of a whale shark protected area
• Tempo: Sumbawa to develop whale shark ecotourism in Saleh Bay
• Konservasi Indonesia: population, habitat and economic value review
• Kompas.com: efforts to make Saleh Bay whale shark habitat a protected area
• Marine ministry legal database: Decree 18/KEPMEN-KP/2013

How do I reach the desk?

For status questions, the provincial government is the right authority rather than this desk. If you are planning a visit and want to know how current procedures affect it, write to us, and any arrangement would be set out in a written offer. Requests can lead to a paid booking, so we have a commercial interest; the about page explains it.

• WhatsApp: 6281139414563
• Email: bd@juaraholding.com