Ketut De Sujana Mahartana – Founder / Local Coordinator
Ketut is also the founder of Yayasan Widya Sari –Volunteer in Bali, an NGO that provides free education and improves the lives of children in many villages across Bali. Since his childhood growing up in Tianyar, Ketut has noticed a significant decline in fish biodiversity and reef health along the Tianyar coast. Ketut’s family has deep roots in the fishing community and co-founded this project to provide a sustainable livelihood to the people of the village. For the past 10 years, Ketut has been working to resolve the plastic pollution problem in Tianyar by teaching children about the issues, aiming to change the mindset they develop at home. There have been significant improvements with the amount of pollution along the coastline, but he understands there is still more work to be done. Ketut has developed a keen interest in scuba diving, specifically underwater photography.
Yowana Bhakti Segara (YBS) fishermen group
Yowana Bhakti Segara roughly translates to ‘youth who protect their oceans’. This is a local fishermen community initiative aiming to improve fishing practices sustainably and ensure that all families in the community receive the help they need. Specifically with our project, the YBS fishermen mainly help with the construction of artificial reef structures and the deployment of structures. The most hard working and dedicated members of the YBS group who help us are now employed by us. We hope that in the future we can employ all the members of this group and expand our conservation efforts with their help.