On July 15-16, CTC organized a two-day Program Orientation to introduce out latest interns to Nusa Penida’s Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and familiarize them with ongoing activities in the area. Prior to embarking on the orientation trip the interns were briefed on the schedule and what to expect in Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Penida. Following a short ferry trip from Sanur, the orientation began in Nusa Lembongan’s Mangrove Forest.

One of the interns, Catherine Moerler, a Biology student from Occidental College USA, said that she enjoyed the mangrove tour. During her internship, Ms. Moerler worked in the communication division. Her role involved producing a variety of communications products such as social media content, posters, and newsletter articles. “During the tour, I learned about mangrove identification as well as mangrove rehabilitation. I used this trip to create content for CTC’s social media,’ she said.

The activities continued by visiting a seaweed farming site. The participants were shown the process of planting and harvesting seaweed. They were amazed at how the community set up the “place” for planting seaweed seeds. Each planting “place” is box-shaped, with rows of wooden supports and ropes. These rows have seaweed seedlings tied up on them.

The first day’s activities were completed with a visit to the Nuansa Pulau Community Group, where CTC interns were able to see the coral transplanting process using the MARSS method. They also had the chance to snorkel and see our coral nursery site. On the second day, the seven interns continued their activities to join the community surveillance in Nusa Penida MPA together with government and community representatives. They enjoyed the surveillance activities and learned a lot about community-based surveillance in MPA. 

Ayla Huisman, majoring in International Tourism Management at Breda University in the Netherlands, said that she enjoyed the fun learning activities. As an intern who worked in the communications division, Ayla used this tour to collect information that was later used for the CTC infosheet. She enjoyed being involved in the surveillance program.

“I enjoyed the field trip very much. It was interesting to see where we work and what we actually do to help. I am new to the whole field of marine conservation. I especially liked accompanying the local people during the surveillance.” said Ayla. 

Through this activity, we hope that our field activities provide our interns with fresh experiences and perspectives. Besides that, we also hope that our activities will inspire them to join us in protecting the ocean. 

Photos by Adam Putra/CTC & Cathy Moerler