Guardians of Maratua Island and Their Fight to Preserve Ecosystems

TheIndonesia.id - Maratua Island is known for its unique shape. Resembling the letter U, it lies in the outermost region of Indonesia, bordering southern Philippines and Sabah, East Malaysia.

As the northern gateway to Indonesia, located in the Derawan Islands cluster, Berau Regency, East Kalimantan, Maratua is an island that captivates with its expanse of blue sea.

Besides the beauty of the panorama, the diversity of marine life in Maratua makes the waters of this island an underwater paradise.

However, this paradise is not free from the threat of damage. And local youngsters, including Rico, 33, are aware of this threat.

Along with his friends, Rico founded Maratua Peduli Lingkungan (MPL), a community group dominated by young people, which is striving to preserve the beauty of Maratua Island and prevent it from being marred by environmental damage.

"We are sad to see the condition of our underwater world that is starting to be destroyed," Rico said while relating how the community group came to be formed.

Sadly, he noted, the indigenous people of Maratua are also contributing to this damage, including their own families who catch fish in destructive ways.

His concerns are valid. Based on research conducted by Airlangga University, in the last 50 years, damage to the aquatic ecosystem in Maratua has increased by 50 percent.

Among the causes behind the damage to resources in the area are environmentally unfriendly fishing activities, such as the use of explosives for fishing.

Driven by his concern for the environmental damage in Maratua, Rico returned to serve his hometown after studying fisheries at Mulawarman University, Samarinda, East Kalimantan.

He and the youth in Maratua district began their initiative by independently restoring coral reefs in 2014. They even found out for themselves how to transplant coral reefs and managed to create a coral reef station to monitor and research the condition of the coral reefs.

Unfortunately, the first coral reef station was damaged by the south wind. Their methodology also proved to be incorrect.

Over time, they learned how to properly transplant coral reefs. Luckily, training and assistance were at hand from the Coastal and Marine Resources Management Center and other community institutions.

Now, the group has nine coral reef stations, two of which have recovered.

Continuing the fight

"At first, people laughed at us. After about one to two years, they started seeing the progress. We also continued to invite fishermen to discussions. Finally, they started to abandon illegal fishing," Rico, who also received threats at the beginning of his struggle, recalled.

Currently, the MPL has 28 members, dominated by youth from four villages in Maratua: Teluk Harapan, Payung-Payung, Teluk Alulu, and Bohe Silian.

Their activities have also expanded. They not only focus on coral reef restoration, but also on cleaning up trash in the sea and on land through trash pick-up programs. They also carry out planting and mangrove forest conservation activities.

The group consistently involves the community in these efforts so that residents' awareness about maintaining natural resources and ecosystems on Maratua Island continues to be sustained.

On account of this, the island has grown into a mainstay tourist destination with its natural beauty preserved.

One of the efforts made by the group has been to buy fish from fishermen at a higher price than the one offered by the market—under the condition that the fishermen catch the fish using a method that does not damage the underwater ecosystem.

The fish are stored in four freezers before being sold to a number of lodgings in Maratua.

These efforts have paid off. The fishermen have started using the capture method or traditional fishing and the passive method of cultivating fish using floating net cages.

There are even points in the waters that were previously abandoned which have now become places for fishermen to fish again.

"If not us, who else?" said Rico, who has also served as the head of Payung-Payung village for three years.

Dreams for Maratua

While Rico is seeking to preserve Maratua's underwater ecosystem, Eri Setiawan has a vision to explore the tourism potential in Maratua and encourage local people to be the main actors in the endeavor.

Over the past few years, Maratua has become a favorite destination for domestic and foreign tourists.

As per the local government, the number of tourist visits to the island reached more than 20 thousand per year before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

In 2021, the number of tourist arrivals was recorded at around 4,900 tourists. The figure increased to more than 6 thousand in 2022. In 2023, the number of visits jumped sharply to cross 19,700 tourists.

Eri decided to study tourism at Pancasila University, Depok, which is far from his hometown.

After earning a bachelor's degree in tourism, he did not immediately return home. Instead, he worked as a waiter in a restaurant in Jakarta to gain some work experience.

After almost a year of wandering, he finally returned to Maratua.

"I want to develop tourist destinations here and also develop the culinary (sector) and culture so they will be better known," the 24-year-old said.

According to him, there are many attractions in Maratua that have not been explored yet, but need to be supported by various facilities.

He has joined the Maratua Tourism Awareness Group and is actively participating in providing information and education to the local community.

The goal is to make the local community members the main actors in driving the economy through tourism.

Public figure and nature activist Ramon Y. Tungka, said that he has visited Maratua Island several times. For him, the island has a magical feel.

"What interests me most about Maratua is the enthusiasm of the local community here. Because they themselves are the ones who drive the potential that exists here," Ramon added.

On a faraway island in the far north, there are strong people who wish to continue to grow and play a role in their homeland.

They are ready to welcome travelers with their respective capacities. Like Eri's dream, Maratua Island will advance its tourism and empower its people.

"With the potential possessed by Maratua, we hope that the local community can be empowered, both economically and in terms of their ability to manage the potential of natural resources so the Maratua community can become players in their own region," the coordinator of the Berau Blue Economy of the Nusantara Nature Conservation Foundation (YKAN), Andi Trisnawati, said.

He also assisted the Maratua community group with the blue economy program. [Antara]