Kedonganan beach, Jimbaran Bay, Bali - For the first time, the World Oceans Day was celebrated on 8 June 2012, continued with the Coral Triangle Day (CTD) on 9 June 2012. The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MAF) represented directly by the Minister, Mr. Sharif C. Sutardjo, attended the celebration at Kedonganan beach, Jimbaran Bay, Bali, to lead the event. The implementation of the CTD in Kedonganan was a result of hard works of Kelompok Pemuda Eka Canthi, a local youth group, and a group of environmentalist students from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Udayana University – Bali, named Turtle Guard. 

The Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries inaugurating the CTD on Saturday morning continued with beach clean-up activity which is participated by thousands of students and the community around Jimbaran. Photo above: © WWF-Indonesia / Stanny ANGGA; below: © WWF-Indonesia / Kadek S PREHARTA

 
A series of events in Kedonganan was also supported by WWF-Indonesia which actively participated in socializing sustainable seafood to consumers and managers of 24 seafood restaurants located along the beach of Jimbaran. Each restaurant also cooked seafood from the green list of WWF-Indonesia Seafood Guide (http://www.wwf.or.id/seafoodguide) which was served to the VIP invitation and could also be consumed by everyone attended the lunch and dinner.

A famous celebrity chef with Egyptian-Chinese descendant, Bobby Chinn, is giving suggestions and quick tricks to cooks in each restaurant in Jimbaran on the best preparations for sustainable seafood. Photos: © WWF-Indonesia / Stanny ANGGA 

 
For people in Jimbaran and many parts of Indonesia in general, seafood is a source of daily livelihood. Seafood is a culinary tourism that is heavily relied on in the region. For the coral triangle area itself, the ocean supports the life of 120 million people living in coastal areas, as well as supplying seafood to all part of the world. In addition to becoming the main source for fishing activities, the coral triangle area also becomes the foundation for the marine tourism sector, especially the underwater panorama.

A carnival with thousands of participants and watched by tens of thousands of people packed in Kedonangan beach for one full day. Besides the activities at the beach, a parade of fishing boats at the sea is also invigorating the carnival. Photos: © WWF-Indonesia / Kadek S PREHARTA

The CTD commemoration is expected to be held every year as agreed by the six countries that manage the coral triangle area namely Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Timor Leste. In the first year, the CTD was held at several places in Indonesia such Aceh, Jakarta, Bandung, Manado, Komodo Island, as well as other countries such as Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Malaysia.

Contact: Aulia Rahman, Campaign Division of Marine Program, arahman(at)wwf.or.id