Indonesia's Aceh Community Fishers Struggle to Preserve Tradition Amid Blooms of Plastic Pollution

Indonesia's Aceh community fishers struggle to preserve tradition amid blooms of plastic pollution

Today, only a small number of fishers still work together handling vast traditional nets to catch fish, following unwritten customary rules to protect threatened marine species including sea turtles and their eggs.

Aceh’s community fishers struggle to preserve tradition amid blooms of plastic pollution

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Seven fishers moved in concert along the shore of Gampong Jawa Beach in Banda Aceh, Indonesia's westernmost city, hauling in a blue net nearly half a mile long from the Indian Ocean. "Forward . . . Keep it going . . . Now, move back!" instructed Surya Abid, the panglima laot, or "sea commander," of the Gampong Jawa community. The practice known as tarek pukat is a form of community fishing dating to the Aceh Sultanate, wh…