Arkeodive | Wisata Bawah Laut

With the vast territory and its strategic location, Indonesian waters have a large variety of UCH as the traces of human activities in the past, specifically from the spice trade period as a part of the maritime Silk Road and from World War I (Ridwan 2016; Mochtar 2016; Ardiwidjaja 2017; Polkinghorne et al. 2024). Although the Indonesian government has never published comprehensive data regarding the UCH, which is regarded as a state secret, it has been indicated that the majority of these UCHs are shipwrecks. A report from UNESCO (2014) indicated that there were approximately 3,000 shipwreck locations in Indonesian waters. Of these, the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of Indonesia identified approximately 464 in 2011.

Data on the number of shipwrecks in Indonesia

No	Region	Total	No	Region	Total
1	Bangka Strait	7	11	Belitung	9
2	Gaspar Strait, SUMSEL	5	12	Karimata Strait	3
3	Riau	17	13	Malaka Strait	37
4	Kepulauan Seribu	18	14	Central Jawa	9
5	Karimunjawa, Jepara	14	15	Madura Strait	5
6	West Nusa Tenggara & East Nusa Tenggara	8	16	Pelabuhan Ratu	134
7	Makassar Strait	8	17	Cilacap region	51
8	Arafuru, Maluku	57	18	Ambon, Buru	13
9	Halmahera, Tidore	16	19	Morotai	7
10	Teluk Tomini, SULUT	3	20	Irian Jaya	32
			21	Enggano Islands	11
Total			464

(Source: Directorate General of Marine Resources and Fisheries Monitoring 2011 in Ardiwidjaja, 2017)

According to data from the same Ministry, the number of shipwrecks in Indonesia that have been recorded by 2022 is more than 700. However, the precise locations of only around 170 of these wrecks have been identified through surveys (Polkinghorne et al. 2024). As illustrated in Figure 3.1., Polkinghorne et al., (2024) explained that registered wrecks by the National Center of Hydrography and Oceanography of Indonesia are marked by the blue dots. Shipwrecks explored by commercial salvage companies are indicated by the light green dots and warship wrecks are indicated by the yellow dots. Shipwreck sites surveyed by the Ministry of Education and Culture are indicated by dark green dots. The others are shipwreck sites reported by fishers; these are represented by the red dots. The number of shipwrecks indeed continues to grow, considering the latest discoveries during underwater archaeological research in the last ten years resulting in several newly identified vessels. Some of these recently detected shipwrecks have not been recorded yet in the table, they are shipwrecks in Weh Island, Teluk Mandeh, Mentawai, Sangihe, and Talaud (Ridwan, 2019).

List of wreck diving sites in Indonesia

Name of shipwreck	Location	Size (m)	Depth (m)
Japanese shipwreck	Purwakerti Village, Karangasem, Bali	Length: 20 Width: 5 Height: 2.14	6 – 12
Japanese shipwreck	Penyaring, Moyo Utara, Sumbawa Regency, Nusa Tenggara Barat	Not available	20 – 25
Japanese shipwreck	Teluk Tahuna, Tahuna City, Sulawesi Utara	Length: 40 Width: 5 Height: 7	18 – 25
Japanese shipwreck	Leato Village, Gorantalo City, Gorontalo	Length: 50 Width: 10 – 12 Height: 8	25- 50
Japanese shipwreck	Melonguane Bay, Mala Village, Kabupaten Kepulauan Talaud	Length: 160 Width: 16 Height:	7 – 24
Japanese Shipwreck	Waigete Village, Sikka Regency, Nusa Tenggara Timur	Length: 62 Width: 10 Height:	12 – 34
Molas Wreck	Bunaken, Manado, Sulawesi Utara	Not available	22 - 41
Shopie Rickmers	Teluk Sabang, Weh, Aceh	Length: 134 Width: 10 Height:	37 – 60
Indonoor shipwreck	Karimunjawa, Jawa Tengah	Not Available	7 – 16
USAT Liberty	Tulamben, Karangasem, Bali	Length: 135 Width: 17 Height:	7 – 30
MV. Boelongan Netherland	Mandeh Village, Tarusan, Sumatera Barat	Length: 73 m Width: 11 m Height: 7 m	18 – 28
Mawali Shipwreck	Lembeh Bay, Bitung, Sulawesi Utara	Lenght: 60 m	18 – 32
Shinwa Maru	Monokwari, Papua Barat	Length: 120 m	16 – 34
SS Aquila	Teluk Ambon, Ambo, Maluku	Length: 100 m Width: 23 m Height: 7.7 m	15 – 40

The Potential of Wreck Diving Tourism in Indonesia