Marine resource stewardship in Bali

For most Australians, the word “Bali” conjures up images of a cheap holiday amongst tropical flowers, world class waves and touts selling “Rolex” watches on Kuta Beach. But beyond the rice paddies of Ubud, the concealing gloss of tourism dissipates to reveal the reality of everyday life in the fishing villages of the Buleleleng district, North Bali.

Here, exploiting coastal resources provides people with a meagre entrance to the cash economy. The trouble is, the neediness of past generations drove the use of destructive fishing and mining practices along the coast, leaving today’s population with damaged coral reefs, declining fish harvests and a receding, eroding coastline. Worsening conditions are prompting communities to seek ways to repair and protect the ecosystems that support their livelihoods.

AYAD Anya Lam is an ecologist working with Reef Check Foundation Indonesia. Reef Check conducts training workshops in these villages, providing people with the knowledge, techniques and skills to improve coastal management at a village level. Anya has been working alongside Reef Check’s Indonesian staff, sharing her knowledge in Marine Protected Area management with Balinese villagers.

Reef Check's main project is working in collaboration with two other non-government organisations to improve the sustainability of the marine aquarium trade. Since the late 1970s, aquarium fishers have been using cyanide to collect fish. The cyanide is squirted into the nooks and crannies of coral reefs, and dazed fish emerge for capture. But the coral is killed too, and with it, the capacity of the reef to support the fish that provide such an important income for fishers. The health of the collectors themselves, diving using compressors amongst the poison, is also compromised.

The training is a mix of theory and practice. Trainees learn to recognise living and dead coral and record observations on the health of their reefs by doing coral health surveys. The villagers and the Reef Check team take to the water in a traditional outrigger which tows a trainer and trainee using mask and snorkel. Anya has trained several local fishermen.

“The villagers are at first daunted about making percentage estimates of living and dead coral cover. But after a couple of turns, it all makes sense. Adapting to the snorkel gear can also be difficult - sometimes the participant puts the snorkel on backwards and can’t breathe properly, which always get a big laugh from their mates on the boat,” says Anya.

The participants are eager to learn about the biology of their reefs and how to protect them, but concerns about how management changes will impact upon their livelihoods are high on the agenda.

“The Reef Check team is able to convey that a change towards sustainable management is the only way that livelihoods can be maintained in the longer-term. The result is inspiring - seeing the villagers’ enthusiasm to reclaim stewardship of their marine environment”.

Cross-cultural communication has been at the heart of Anya’s work both in the villages and at Reef Check.

“In the villages, the structured approach to work that I use in Australia gets me nowhere. Instead, I am learning a more fluid style that follows the natural progression of villagers’ discussions. In Bali, we have to focus on politeness and good relationships rather than being outcome-driven. That’s sometimes hard to balance, because we have to produce tangible results to report to our donors and partner organisations,” said Anya.

The project has attracted funding from the International Finance Corporation - a donor which requires a specific standard in results delivery and reporting. To help Reef Check meet these expectations, Anya has been assisting local staff to improve their capacity in project planning, publication planning, report writing and database management.

“My experience here has shown me that writing styles are shaped by culture. What sounds good in an official Indonesian language document is not necessarily appropriate when translated into English. So part of my work has been an exchange of knowledge on what is appropriate and what is not in each language.”

An ability to communicate in Bahasa Indonesia has been fundamental to Anya’s work and it has certainly made her more accessible for local community members.

“Queries are just as often personal as professionally-related. The standard response to my unmarried status is, ‘how about marrying a Balinese!’” says Anya.

After nine months, Anya is preparing to leave Bali and return home to Australia.

“Adapting to life in Bali has required some changes in outlook that will be hard for me to maintain in Australia, and it's going to be painful saying goodbye to friends, and a culture filled with incense, flowers and a laissez faire way of looking at the world. I’ll take back to Australia with me a new perspective of conservation in a different cultural and economic context and I think that through working alongside Reef Check staff, I have left them with a clearer perspective of the project expectations of western donors and partner organisations, which should help them in future.”