By:

1. Eta Yuspita (Marine Buddies Denpasar Community); and
2. Nisa Syahidah (Sunda Banda Seascape Communication & Campaign Assistant, WWF-Indonesia)

At Kopi Laut #1, it was apparent that the information on bycatch provided by the resource persons received a very favorable response from the participants. In fact, at the end of the event, the participants crowded around enthusiastically to see La Ode Sidik - a WWF-Indonesia-assisted fisherman in Benoa Harbor who was present at the event - and Wahyu Teguh Prawira practicing the best way to handle turtles and sharks caught on a hook (with a de hooker) on a boat.>

In addition to discussing the issue of bycatch and its mitigation and handling directly in the field, in this event the participants also received information on efforts that can be done indirectly to help reduce this threat.

"Being a smart consumer in choosing and actively finding out the origin of seafood products that will be consumed is one of the efforts that the public can do to help reduce the threat of bycatch," said Noverica Wijdojo, Sunda Banda Seascape Communication and Campaign Coordinator, WWF-Indonesia.

"WWF-Indonesia has provided a Seafood Advisor application that can be downloaded for free on the Google Play Store. This application contains guidance on what fishery products should be avoided; considered; and allowed to be consumed, in order to support sustainable fisheries in Indonesia, "he continued.

In addition to Seafood Advisor, on this occasion, WWF-Indonesia also introduced several other tools that can be accessed and used by the public to reduce the threat of bycatch in particular, and support marine protection in Indonesia in general.

The first Tools is the website of the Bycatch and Shark Conservation WWWF-Indonesia Program (www.wwf.or.id/programbycatch and www.wwf.or.id/programhiu), which can assist the public in understanding more about the mitigation and handling of bycatch in the field as well as shark protection efforts carried out by WWF-Indonesia and its partners to date.

Second, the Marine Buddies application that invites the public to get to know and be directly involved in monitoring the utilization and management of natural resources in Indonesia's marine conservation areas. The application, which was launched on March 2, 2017, can be downloaded for free on the Google Play Store.

"In addition to getting to know more and directly supervising the marine conservation areas in Indonesia that are being visited, the Marine Buddies application can also be an educational forum for the public to carry out responsible tourism activities," added Noverica Widjojo.

More information about the Marine Buddies app can be found at www.marinebuddies.org. Meanwhile, for more information about the Marine Buddies Denpasar Community, please follow the Instagram social media account @marbud.dps.