Underwater life: The Serangan Marine Garden, a newly opened facility, hosts an array of small to medium size aquariums filled with diverse collections of marine creatures, colorful fishes and beautiful coral reefs. JP/Zul Trio Anggono
Visitors can now revel at the beauty of Bali’s underwater world without having to step into a glass-bottom boat or take a diving trip. All they have to do is drive to Serangan Island, 15 kilometers south of Denpasar, and visit the Serangan Marine Garden.
The newly opened facility hosts an array of small to medium size aquariums filled with diverse collections of marine creatures, colorful fishes and beautiful coral reefs.
The garden’s staff I Wayan Budiartha said a local foundation, Yayasan Bali Alami, owned and managed the marine garden. Both were established by a Japanese businessman as part of his company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program.
“The garden has been opened to the public since Aug. 2009 and we have improved its operations ever since,” Budiartha said.
The garden lies at Melasti beach on the coast of Serangan. Once a tiny island known to locals as the turtle island, Serangan underwent a massive makeover when Bali Turtle Island Development (BTID) began the construction of a sprawling tourism resort. The company reclaimed the land, which literally changed the island’s size and landscape, and built a concrete causeway connecting the island to the mainland. The global financial meltdown put a stop to that project but did not stop the environmental damages it had already inflicted.
In recent years, the Denpasar administration and locals have launched several initiatives to reinvent the island as an eco-friendly tourism destination. The local customary village succeeded in establishing the Turtle Conservation and Education Center in an apparent move to rid the island of its reputation as a haven for illegal trade of sea turtles. Local youths also succeeded in launching a community-based coral conservation and rehabilitation project. The marine garden will obviously add to the island’s go-green initiative.
The garden opens from Friday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., is free of charge, although the management has placed a donation box for those visitors who would like to contribute to operational costs.
“The facility requires a thorough cleansing and meticulous maintenance work. We carry out this maintenance from Monday until Thursday,” he added.
The garden displays more than 100 species of fishes and coral reefs, from lionfish, cardinal fish from Sulawesi to epaulette shark.
“Here we have saltwater as well as freshwater fishes and creatures. All the displayed creatures have been cleared by government agencies tasked with protecting endangered species,” he stressed.
In a small pool in the corner of the garden, a visitor can touch sea creatures, such as sea turtles.
In a separated, dark room with specially designed light and temperature regulators, visitors can view 10 species of coral reefs and one species of rare fish. Usually, people would have to dive to a depth of 30 meters to get catch a glance of those creatures.
“The number of visitors, domestic and international, is still quite small, probably because it is a new facility,” he said.
A local, Ketut Astri, said she warmly welcomed the garden.
“It will inspire our kids to love the ocean and to protect our environment,” she said.
