Mentawai Stoke - Latest & Highlighted Discussions

Interactive Mentawai Map - On-line

Rick — Thu, 01 May 2008 23:40:04 GMT

The first ever interactive Mentawai surf location map is now on line. There are new map pages at www.mentawai.com or you can link directly to this full screen view. Wave images coming soon.

FULL SCREEN LINK

Mentawai Government Announce New Regulations

Rick — Thu, 01 May 2008 23:25:25 GMT

It seems that the demos two weeks ago have resulted in the Mentawai Government taking a tough line. The MMTA have been lobbying for months to call a public meeting and it is now scheduled for Saturday 3rd of May at the Bumi Minang Hotel in Padang. The entire Mentawai surf industry will be invited along with all government sectors and shipping agents..... BREAKING NEWS - PADANG (www.padangkini.com) Unlicensed Charter Boats in Mentawai to be Controlled
(Padangkini.com - 30 April, 2008)
Thursday, 01 May 2008
Padang - Charter boats that do not have a license to take tourists surfing in the Mentawai Regency, West Sumatra will be controlled. In the near future, the Regional Government of Mentawai will operate patrols to check the boats that carry tourists surfing that enter the area without permission. Head of the Department of Tourism Mentawai, Zulkarlin, said the Mentawai Regional Government will operated the patrols and control all the boats that entered. In his estimate there are about 60 ships that do not have a marine tourism license to operate in Mentawai, they only have permission from the harbour-master to navigate to Mentawai waters. He stressed, the Mentawai Regional Government did not intend to determine a quota on the number of surfing tourists that arrive. What will be arranged is that all the (licensed) operators of marine tours will receive the same opportunity. The restrictions have been put in place to minimize the risk of collisions between one surfer and another. "Surfing is an adventure sport but we dont want to see a uncontrolled scramble for every wave, for example if one surfing spot already has a tourist boat in place, the other tourist boats have to wait their turn," said Zulkarlin. According to Zulkarlin, at this time there are five marine tour companies that have bu licenses to operate surfing businesses in Mentawai, they (collectively) have 30 passenger vessels taking tourists to Mentawai. Each ship pays Rp20 million per year to the Mentawai Regional Government for the moment and Rp30,000 per day for each person. "From this surfing tourism fee, this year we aimed at an income of around Rp1,2 billion," He said. To accommodate candidates for marine tourism in Mentawai, Zulkarlin suggested that there is a need to revise the Regional Regulations No 16/2002 (PERDA No16 2002) related to marine tourism fees/retribution. "With the stage of development now, possibly this Regional Regulation should be revised, so that all candidates will be able to have the same opportunity, (providing that it is) in accordance with the rule and the current procedures," he said. In the meantime, the Head of the Mentawai Department of Income, Finance and Regency Assets (BPKKD), Nurdin, said that last year the fee that was deposited by the maritime tour businesses in Mentawai was around Rp500 million. The prediction is that this total will increase when all the vessels pay the fees. Nurdin estimates that, if in one year approximately 3,000 surfing tourists arrived, and if they, respectively paid Rp30,000 (per day), and most of them stay in the area for 10 days, then the total fee that could be raised, will be around Rp900 million, and that is only the fees for surfers. For the moment, the Vessel Tax/Fee, will be about Rp600 million per annum, with the assumption, that 30 charter boats that received a license all pay Rp20 million per year. So from the surfing business sector, we can raise at least Rp1,5 billion per year. "He said, there are seven 'exclusive' wave locations where the number of visitors are managed/limited, these are Silabu, in Katiet, in Mapadegat and in Nyang Nyang." The Mentawai Regional Government plans, said Nurdin, to divide the wave zones into three types, the exclusive zones, where visitors must pay the fee, the economy price zones that are allocated for beginners and the free zones, where anyone can surf without paying a fee. In the meantime, Un Suheri (Un), Head of the Mentawai Marine Tourism Association, fully supports the Mentawai Governments plan to control surf boats arriving in Mentawai. Un says that because of the number of unlicensed vessels entering Mentawai without permission, the (licensed) surfing industry is currently depressed and operating at a loss. The owner of PT. Saraina Koat Mentawai that has six vessels explained, that in the same period last year he had a total of 10 trips, but now he has only two trips. "If previously (each boat) could expect 15 trips a year, now they get at most 3 trips a year," he said. He estimated that proceeds from the surfing industry in Mentawai, is around Rp40 billion a year. However because of many companies that did not have permission and are not paying fees and taxes, the income that was received by the Mentawai Regional Government is not being maximized. Rp 9,000 = US$1 (approx) The original Indonesian version is available on the MMTA website

Jack McCoy - Timeless Video Clip - (Download for smooth playback)

Rick — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:27:59 GMT

Enjoy our video clip by Jack McCoy. To enjoy this amazing footage of E-Bay and Pit Stops, it is best to download the video to your hard drive and then play it off-line and full screen with good stereo speakers. High speed broadband will be needed to enjoy it streaming on-line. There is also an iPod/iPhone version available at this link. CLICK HERE to download the video clip by Jack McCoy

Online Videos by Veoh.com

What are the new laws and regulations about

Rick — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 14:17:51 GMT

The Mentawai parliament has passed new legislation that regulates tourism with two key objectives:

1. To protect coral reefs from indiscriminate anchoring near surf breaks. Each time a surf charter boat anchors at a break, the anchor and chain destroy between 10 and 20 m2 of live coral Some boats move several times a day and with about 25 boats working at any time, that could mean between 250 and 500m2 of coral reef lost every day of the season. Multiply that by 200 days and we are talking about up to 100,000m2 (10 Ha) of reef being trashed every year. Many times the same part of the reef is being dragged and crushed every day making recovery impossible and causing substantial loss of habitat and opening up the reef to virus and algae attack as the damaged area decomposes and dies. You could liken this to an ulcer that wont heal and the long term impact on Mentawai's amazing reefs is hard to imagine. Marine Management Areas are being established around the more sensitive reefs and moorings will be installed.

2. To raise tax revenues for infrastructure. Since Autonomy, Regencies like the Mentawais have been under pressure to stand on their own feet and raise taxes and tariffs so that funding from Jakarta can be phased out. This year is crunch time. Last year the five licensed Marine Tourism Operators in Mentawai raised over Rp600 million and an additional Rp250 million is still due from boats for 2007. This exceeds the total tax revenues (PAD) for Komodo National Park in Flores and the dragons have been well know for 50 years. All boats working in Mentawai must now be licensed under one of the 5 Marine Tour companies approved by the Mentawai Government. See http://www.mmta-mentawai.org

Lautan Megah is now in Padang

Rick — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 05:07:44 GMT

After a 2,500 nm delivery from Sulawesi, Lautan Megah is anchored off Pulau Pisang, Padang and ready for deployment.

How to get the most from this Groupsite

CollectiveX — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 04:14:30 GMT

To get the most from your experience as a member of Mentawai Stoke, a Groupsite powered by the CollectiveX platform for groups, it is important that you have an understanding of how this Groupsite will empower you to share, communicate and network securely within this Web Community.

The video below provides a brief 3-minute introduction to Groupsites. Please take a moment to view it fully. It will help you to become actively involved in making this a productive Web Community.

For additional, more detailed, instruction we encourage you to view the full demo tour.

Thank you,

Mentawai Stoke

Welcome to Mentawai Stoke!

CollectiveX — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 04:14:30 GMT

Welcome to Mentawai Stoke!

This site serves as a secure private meeting place providing members of Mentawai Stoke with tools to centralize communication, synchronize calendars, and share files. Furthermore, the network area enables members to learn more about each other and build deeper working relationships.