By: Riansyah Sigit Kurniawan (Marine Buddies Medan Coordinator)

The Marine Buddies Medan community has successfully held a Fun Talkshow "Recognize, Visit, and Monitor Indonesia's Marine Conservation Areas" last Saturday, May 6. The event, which was attended by 49 participants from various universities in North Sumatra, succeeded in making the Joker cafe room boisterous. With the aim of inviting participants to become #TemanTamanLaut, participants were also given interesting information about marine conservation areas in Indonesia, especially Berhala Island.

"One of the impacts caused by irresponsible visitors is the discovery of piles of garbage in conservation areas. It is not uncommon for garbage to be carried into the sea and damage the coral reefs," said Yusran, who is often called Bang Yus, a traveler educator, a resource person in the first session.

Dwi Aryo Tjiptohandono (Marine and Fisheries Campaign Coordinator, WWF-Indonesia), introduced the marine buddies application for android-based smartphone users to recognize more than 165 marine protected areas in Indonesia and be directly involved in monitoring them. Marine buddies is a location-based application that can only be used when in a conservation area. Through the application's settings, the talkshow location was switched to the South Nias Conservation Area on that day so that participants could try out the various features. There was enthusiasm from the participants when trying out marine buddies.

"The safety of the reporter is our top priority, WWF-Indonesia will verify the incoming report, then WWF-Indonesia will contact the government to follow up on the irresponsible incident," replied Dwi Aryo when responding to Muhammad Erick's question, a student of the University of North Sumatra, about the mechanism and follow-up of the reporting feature on the marine buddies application when seeing irresponsible actions while in the marine conservation area.

Dwi Prayudha, Head of Exovanesia-Tour Provider, was also present as a resource person to share his experience as a tour provider who has access to Berhala Island, a marine conservation area in Serdang Bedagai, North Sumatra. Berhala Island is directly adjacent to the Malaysian sea so the island is guarded by the Marines of the Indonesian National Army (TNI). It takes six hours by bus and boat to reach Berhala Island. At certain times the island is often visited by sea turtles to lay their eggs. "Usually when there are turtles laying eggs in the early hours of the morning, the TNI marines will invite us to pay attention and capture the moment," said Dwi.

At the end of the event, the committee announced the winner of the photo contest via Instagram. Cintami Shofwa, a student of Medan State University, won a funtrip ticket to Berhala Island. Funtrip to Berhala Island is a follow-up activity to the #TemanTamanLaut fun talkshow that will be held in July. Participants are also expected to participate in visiting Berhala Island and directly monitoring the area using the marine buddies application.

When visiting a marine conservation area, don't just come and enjoy the nature, contribute to the area by reporting marine activities that are not environmentally friendly. Let's follow our steps to become a #MarineParkFriend!