Saving ocean reefs - it's as easy as picking up shoes

Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Under the blue sky and scorching sun on one of Kepulauan Seribu's islands, a boy dipped his feet to the water and recovered a discarded potato chip packet.

"Look what I've found," Jason Tamsil, 13, said to fellow members of the beach clean-up team.

He disposed of it in a black plastic bag carried by one of his fellow team members.

Not too far away, another team member collected various shoes ranging from flip-flops, sneakers -- even ladies shoes.

In another part of the beach, a second group found underwear and a broken toilet seat.

The clean-up groups are part of a team of 46 people, including 11 divers, who had traveled from Jakarta to Pramuka Island, 45 kilometers north of Jakarta, for a weekend of cleaning up beaches.

The teams are part the Everyday is Earth Day event put together by a non-profit local diving community called Forum Selam, in conjunction with Earth Day on April 22.

While children combed the beach for rubbish, divers participating in the event plunged into waters scattered with sea porcupine.

Amid the hazardous underwater mines, they collected huge amounts of garbage with the potential to seriously damage coral reefs.

Forum Selam member and organizer of the event Meliana Salim told The Jakarta Post she had been inspired by an organization in San Fransisco called The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) and their Dive in to Earth Day.

"The alliance organizes events for people who enjoy diving to help clean up the ocean -- and I think that's a brilliant idea," she said.

In the lead up to Earth Day, the non-profit organization dedicated to keeping coral reefs alive, promoted the event widely.

Volunteers from more than 70 countries and territories participated in protecting local aquatic environments by planning beach clean ups, underwater clean ups, educational workshops and fish and reef surveys.

On its website, www.coralreefalliance.org, the group said, "In their modern form, coral reefs have thrived on earth for more than 50 million years. In recent years, however, more than 20 per cent of the world's reefs have been lost and 50 percent of remaining reefs are in jeopardy of collapsing if we do not take action now."

Coral reefs in Indonesian waters are in an alarming state because of potential threats from coastal developments, marine pollution, over-exploitation of marine resources and inland pollution, said the World Resource Institute via their website (www.pubs.wri.org).

The weekend beach and sea clean-up program, although not exactly in line with Earth Day, was linked with a worldwide commemoration of the day.

"After all, it doesn't need a particular time of year to clean up our beach and sea," Meliana said.

Tadjus Taslim, a road contractor, brought two of his children to participate in the event.

"I think it's important to educate children at an early age about the importance of taking care of nature," he said.

"Indonesia has lots of beautiful natural tourist sites.

"But the downside is they're usually dirty.

"It's good to bring children here to learn to love nature in an entertaining way," he said.

Pramuka Island is one of 110 islands in Kepulauan Seribu.

Some 20,000 people live on 11 of the islands, including Pramuka Island.

According to Marudin Boko, head of a community-based conservation area, 75 percent of inhabitants make their living from fishing.

More than 40 islands in Kepulauan Seribu have been declared part of Kepulauan Seribu National Sea Park.

Diver Eva Sobartini said she found lots of garbage under water.

"Most of the rubbish is made up of plastic bottles, noodles wraps, plastic bags, tin cans and sandals," she said.

Forum Selam member and leader of the dive Ronald Soefajin said they collected seven sacks of garbage in a one hour dive.

Eva was so enthusiastic in her search for underwater trash, she brushed her thigh on sea porcupine thorns and was stung by jellyfish.

"These are souvenirs to bring home," she said pointing the scars.

According to most divers, the condition of the coral reefs are in bad shape.

Prastowo of The Indonesian Coral Reef Foundation (TERANGI) said Indonesia has the most diverse species of coral reefs in the world, but that 70 percent of Indonesia's reefs were in bad shape.

"Mostly the coral reefs in the western part of Indonesia are in bad shape," he said.

In Kepulauan Seribu, fishermen would fish using bombs and potassium cyanide.

In the last five years, however, and after being exposed to educational campaigns, fishermen have shifted their destructive ways toward more eco-friendly practices.

Prastowo also said coral transplantation had been carried out on the Islands.

"However, there's still a long way to go before we can improve the condition of coral reefs."

Prastowo also said the presence of garbage was endangering the coral reefs.

"Especially any garbage made of plastic," he said.

"If plastic covers the coral reefs then it can't grow or develop and it will die."

After the dive, Prastowo gave a presentation on how to save the ocean's ecosystem.

"It takes around 250 years for plastic wraps to degrade," he said.

"For sandals and shoes it takes around 450 years.

"So for those of you who collected plastic and shoes from underwater -- you have done a great deal for the ocean," he said.

A knowing smile flicked on all the participants' faces, making way for them to start the barbecue party.