Not Fish, but Trash: The Reality Behind the Beauty

Ucik, 4ocean Indonesia Content Correspondent

This stretch of coast is a dream for professional surfers, known for its powerful waves and the brackish river mouth where local fishers still cast nets in the early morning hours. It’s a place where nature and culture breathe in rhythm — where joggers, yogis, and beachgoers gather under the rising sun. But step just a few meters off the postcard view, and a harsher truth reveals itself.

Beneath the nearby bridge, waste collects like clockwork. Carried in from upstream and trapped by tidal surges, it festers along the riverbanks before washing into the ocean. For tourists chasing clean waves, it’s a jarring contrast — and for the locals who fish and surf here, it’s a daily heartbreak. Sometimes, instead of fish, nets come up filled with trash. Sometimes, it’s not the sea that stings your eyes, but the plastic that hits you mid-surf.

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Despite regular cleanups — often joined by volunteers and coordinated by the crew — the trash returns, especially during the rainy season when river flow surges. Still, the team presses on.

“Every time we clean, it feels like swimming against the current,” one crew member shared. “But we know — if not us, then who?”

The crew collected a total of 528.15 pounds of debris from the site. This included 194.9 pounds of plastic waste, such as bottles and wrappers; 12.45 pounds of non-plastic waste, including items like tires and fabric; and 320.8 pounds of mixed debris, much of it tangled between rocks or buried along the tide line.

Common items included plastic bottles, used tires, food wrappers, and various household waste — much of it buried between the rocks or caught in the tide.

The cleanup wasn’t easy. Unpredictable waves during crossing made every movement risky, especially near the river mouth. Steep, slippery rocks along the shoreline demanded caution, as full sacks had to be hauled out one by one without injury. But the crew, used to these conditions, relied on coordination and careful footing to get the job done.

There’s a quiet resolve in this crew’s work. They don’t do it for praise or visibility — they do it because they live here. Because they’ve seen what happens when no one else steps up.

“Imagine paddling out, chasing the perfect wave — and seeing a piece of plastic tangled in your leash,” one surfer shared. “It’s heartbreaking.”