Living in the center of the Coral Triangle region, communities across Indonesia play host to Coral Triangle Day celebrations every year. This year, the Coral Triangle Center, in collaboration with Coastal and Marine Resources Management Center Denpasar (Balai Pengelolaan Sumberdaya Pesisir dan Laut Denpasar) celebrated Coral Triangle Day on June 19 at Kusamba Beach, Dawan, Klungkung, in East Bali.

Starting at 6 a.m, participants were ready to clean up the beach. There were over 300 participants from local schools, local government and other groups who joined, successfully collected over 250 kg of trash. According to Samuda, a local resident, the trash mostly comes from households and the fishing industry, while some washes up from the ocean. “The trash that comes from the ocean has to be cleaned up through this kind of activity as we did today” said Samuda.

To spread the message of marine conservation to the younger generations of Kusamba, a Wayang Samudra performance was held, telling the story of marine animals such as sharks, sea turtles and manta rays, to spread the “message from the sea”. The puppets delivered the story in a fun and engaging way so that the children could enjoy and understand the message to protect our ocean and the animals that depend on it. “After watching the performance of Wayang Samudra, I learned how to protect our marine animals. Let’s work together to protect our ocean” said Awi, a student from SDN 2 Kusamba.