Protecting the Sea, Saving Turtles: A Day Amid Ocean Waste

     The sun had barely risen over Kepah when the entire 4ocean Jembrana team gathered at the dock. With boots laced and equipment checked, they were ready. April’s tide had brought in a surge of plastic waste, and the crew knew the day would demand everything they had.

     At Pengambengan Harbor, Wahyudi, the head of the cleanup operation and captain for the day, delivered a rallying briefing. “Let’s fill every boat,” he told the team—Units 02, 03, 04, and 09 (Dugong)—before they set off toward the waters of Tanjung Pasir.

Each unit sprang into action. In just a few hours, every vessel was loaded to the brim. The total haul reached a staggering 7,090.91 pounds, with Unit 09 leading at 2,703 pounds. As sacks filled with tangled bottles, straws, and fishing lines were hoisted onboard, something else surfaced—two trapped sea turtles in desperate need of help.

Unit 09’s crew found the first: a large green sea turtle gasping for air. Fani immediately got to work, monitoring the turtle’s recovery for three hours before it was released. Meanwhile, Zidan and Rony from Unit 03 discovered a second turtle ensnared by rope. They carefully freed its flipper, let it rest, and sent it back into the sea. Both turtles swam off—weak but alive.

Among the floating waste were plastic bags, styrofoam, bottles, sacks, even dolls—a brutal mosaic of human neglect. But the most heart-wrenching sight wasn’t the trash. It was what was caught inside it.

For the crew, these encounters are both heartbreaking and motivating. “There’s a strange joy when you find waste—you know you can do something about it,” one team member reflected. “But when the sea looks clean, and you can’t find anything, that’s when the worry sets in.”