Locals get hands dirty in great Kuta beach clean-up

Indah Setiawati ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Sat, 12/13/2008 11:15 AM  |  Bali

Vendors along Kuta beach, Badung regency, took up rakes and hoes Friday at the summons of an activist who called on people in the area via a loudspeaker to clean the beach of rubbish and dead fish -- a tradition marking the end of the tourist season.

Earlier in the morning, hundreds of people, including vendors and employees of nearby hotels and restaurants, teamed up to clear away the garbage, which typically increases in volume at the end of the tourist season.

Officers of the Badung Sanitation Agency sprayed disinfectant on two trucks to rid them of a putrid fishy smell.

"We did not manage to inform all hotels and restaurants about the clean-up activity today because we just decided to hold it Wednesday. But I am glad to see that they participated," Kuta district chief Weda Dharmaja told The Jakarta Post.

He had called on hotels and restaurants to send at least five employees each to join the clean-up.

Weda said he hoped the employees would spend at least an hour every day picking up the detritus during the period he referred to as "garbage season".

Head of the Kuta order management unit I Gusti Ngurah Tresna said the volume of garbage and fish scattered along the beach was so big that 100 trucks provided by the sanitation agency had worked over the past seven days to remove it.

Although the water is rather dirty nowadays, it does not hinder tourists from flocking to the beach everyday -- thanks to the clean-up effort.

Head of the Badung Tourism Agency Made Subawa said the fish on the beach had died from eating poisonous plankton, which he said was prevalent during the transitional period from the dry to wet seasons.

However, Made Badra, the head of the Farm, Fishery and Marine Resources Agency, said he suspected fishermen were also to blame for the dead fish.

"The west wind drives large numbers of fish to some coastal areas and when the fishermen get large catches, they simply throw some of them into the sea, thereby causing them to land here," he said.

Badra asked groups of fishermen in Kuta, Kedonganan and Jimbaran areas to temper the sizes of their catches.

At Badra's request, the Water Police on Friday dispatched two officers on a jet ski to inform 10 fishing boats operating off the coast to keep well clear of the beach.

"We asked them to stay at least a half mile from the beach so they won't disturb surfers," he said.

Gim Douglas, an Australian tourist staying in Kuta on Friday, said the boats had not bothered him in the least, but added that he hoped the rotting fish would be removed.

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