CORAL TRIANGLE DAY EVENTS ATTRACTED THOUSANDS-IN BALI FOR MARINE CONSERVATION

By Farrah Habibie

This year, the third annual Coral Triangle Day took place across the Coral Triangle, where a total of around 9,000 people attended in the islands of Bali alone. Fish Markets, Beach Clean Ups, Seminars and various festivals occurred on this day, all to raise awareness and celebrate marine conservation.

For Coral Triangle Day 2014, a festival was held off the coast of Bali in the island of Nusa Penida. Windia Adnyana, Turtle Conservationist, worked alongside volunteers to help support the Nusa Penida Festival which lasted from the 8th to the 11th of June. This is a festival that involved beach clean ups with people from the army, navy, and volunteers, as well as meetups and seminars on the importance of turtle conservation. People also received training on coastal beach tourism. Turtle night was also conducted, where people gathered and listen to speeches about coastal areas and conservation of marine resources and endangered species.

The participants of the lectures were from Udayana University, students had the chance to listen to the Introduction to Management of Aquatic Species. This lecture consisted of learning about marine wildlife such as Turtles, Porpoises, Whales, Sharks and many others and about conservation of threatened and endangered species.

Windia Adnyana said he sees Coral Triangle Day as “something like the independence day”. He believes that it is very important for the community to know about the Coral Triangle initiative, and believes that it is crucial to have a day in the year to spread the message of the Coral Triangle to people, as well as understand these important values. He wishes that “one day everyone that is involved, Malaysia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste and Indonesia, will use Coral Triangle Day to appreciate the service that has been given in the coastal and marine area”.

Hehas formerly worked for WWF Coral Triangle Global Initiative, and has been participating and contributing to Coral Triangle Day since the beginning. His first contribution to Coral Triangle Day was in 2012 at Kabupaten Badung, Bali. This was a festival that tried to spread awareness of sustainable seafood consumption. This festival was held from morning to night, with activities such as contests, beach clean ups, carnivals and drawing competitions. Around 7,000 people came, consisting of students, tourists, as well as locals. The second Coral Triangle Day was in 2013 at Lombok with around 5,000 people. Festivals were held along with speakers who helped raise awareness of marine debris, as well as beach clean ups.

Elsewhere on Nusa Penida, an Underwater Cleanup was conducted by WWF-Indonesia, lead by Dwi Suprapti, Marine Species Conservation Coordinator. This included WWF-Indonesia supporters like Model and Actress; Davina Hariadi, Miss Scuba International 2012; Dayu Prastini Hatmanti, and Miss Scuba International 2013; Drucella Benala Dyahati. Beach Cleanups were also conducted along Sempalan Beach in Nusa Penida and Serangan Beach in Serangan Island, supported by the Indonesian navy, boy scouts, elementary and university students. Around 150 Turtle hatchlings were released on Serangan Beach. Conservation lectures were also conducted at the Turtle Conservation and Education Center attended by people from the Fisheries Agencies of Bali, representatives of turtle-care communities, Turtle Guardian of Udayana University and local authorities. Workshops and photo expeditions were also held to help local communities more aware on illegal egg and meat trading.

The 2014 events were all held on June 8th to 9th, and were spread across two locations (Nusa Penida and Serangan). Around 3000 people came and participated in these events in total. Participants were recruited via Social Media, advertisements and banners, as well as direct invitations. Dwi Suprapti believes these events were all successful because “we had a lot of participants took part in this celebration"". Alongside this, Dwi thinks that she has met her reasons for joining Coral Triangle Day and has taught people to become more “aware about our marine diversity and how to protect them in simple ways.”