Les village in North Bali became LINI’s first permanent field site in 2010. It started from a live-in with fishers’ families and eventually became the LINI Aquaculture and Training Centre with the community of Les. In 2013, LINI helped to facilitate a Forum Wisata Tejakula or the Tejakula Tourism Forum, which consisted of several resorts in the Tejakula Subdistrict, including Tembok, Sambirenteng, Penuktukan Les, Tejakula, and Bondalem villages. Regular meetings were held until 2015, hosted by the Alam Anda and Gaia Oasis resorts. The forum discussed various environmental issues that needed to be addressed, including waste management, reefs and beach cleaning, and the construction and deployment of artificial reef structures. The Forum was a useful platform on which to connect everyone in the tourism industry who was concerned about the local environment. Unfortunately, the forum gatherings were discontinued in 2015.
On 5th December 2019, LINI organised a gathering of resorts and dive operators from Tejakula Sub-District at the LATC. The purpose of having such a gathering was to introduce LINI and our work in the LATC to the local resorts, and to see whether there was any interest from the tourism industry in collaborating to help to conserve the local coastal and marine ecosystems.
The event included talks, a tour of the Centre facility, and coral planting. We used this opportunity to explain about the range of activities available for the public at the centre (including short visits, the Airbnb Experience, volunteers, and various kinds of training). We also discussed about the various environmental efforts being initiated in the Tejakula District. We received a great deal of positive feedback from the participants, and we hope that, together, we can provide greater support to the communities and environment in the Tejakula District in the future.
By Eveline Kurniati and Gayatri Reksodihardjo-Lilley