Revitalizing the Marine Gardens of Bakti Seraga Village

Baktiseraga Village’s coast is increasingly home to accommodation and stalls, and is the only village in the Indonesian Coral Reef Garden (ICRG) project, where structures are constructed on the grounds near the village office.

The site is divided into two areas, with iron welding in the closed area of the village’s waste management (TPST) area, and other work done on an empty lot, where conditions are hot.

The village’s coordinator, Gede Karang Sadnyana, is Chairman of the Sari Segara Fishermen Joint Business Group, and also a member of Penimbangan Lestari Community Watch. The village is known for Penimbangan beach, also known as PP, a popular place for young people to hang out in Singaraja, the capital of Buleleng.

The structures planned for construction include 250 units of fishdome, 500 spider, 500 rotibuaya, and others. The fishdome and roti buaya structures will be placed in a certain pattern, and submerged around 300-400 meters east of Penimbangan Beach. As a beneficiary of this program, Sadnyana hopes there will be further programs for the structures’ maintenance and care.

He said his group once created a reef structure independently. The conservation group in Penimbangan also protect the Lekang turtle landing area, with activities shared via the Facebook pages of Kelompok Wisata Penimbangan Lestari and Pokwasmas.

“Monitoring coral, the challenge of it is the minimal human resources and maintenance budget,” he said. One of the threats is garbage because Penimbangan is the mouth of the Tukad Banyuasri river, which flows from other cities and rivers. “Fortunately there’s seagrass, fish and animals,” said Gede Karang. In the past here, numerous fishermen were spearfishing divers.

“We will strengthen capacity and hope that maintenance is not just one project,” he continued. This village also has a plan to build a regional icon structure of Panji Sakti with art statues of Megoak-goakan and Dewa Ruci.

Long ago, the goak troops were commanded by Ki Barak Panji Sakti, and succeeded in war. “It’s history we want preserved. But it is difficult to build and there is a lack of time,” explained Gede Karang.

Currently 200 residents are involved in the project, including those with a background of tourism work who were sent home from hotels, restaurants, and cruise ships.

Penimbangan Beach has become increasingly crowded with rows of beachside cafes, and coffee and snack stalls, such as Dewangkara Shop. Its owner, an artist, explained he has studied turtles laying eggs beside his stall. He said that despite surrounding noise, the mother turtle walks calmly up the shore and digs into the sand to lay eggs, before tamping the sand with its hind legs.

“When it returns to the beach, it makes a 45 degree path, looks at the location of the eggs, then swims,” he said. The shop owner immediately secures the eggs from predators, such as dogs, by making a cage or covering the area with a basket, then moving the eggs to a safe location.