Official Name: | Gerokgak |
Settlement Type: | Village and district |
Pushpin Map: | Indonesia Bali |
Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | Indonesia |
Subdivision Type1: | Province |
Subdivision Name1: | Bali |
Subdivision Type2: | Regency |
Subdivision Name2: | Buleleng Regency |
Unit Pref: | Imperial |
Coordinates: | -8.1855°N 114.791°W |
Gerokgak is a village[1] and a district[2] (kecamatan) in the Buleleng Regency, on the north-west coast of Bali, Indonesia.
The district extends along the north-west coast of Bali, from the westernmost point of the island to Tegallengah (not included).[3] To the south is Jembrana Regency, and to the east is Seririt district in Buleleng Regency.
It includes most of West Bali national park.[4]
The district counts 14 villages (desa):[2]
This project started with Australian Chris Brown, who first came to Permuteran in 1991. The following year he started the Reef Seen Divers’ Resort - which started restoration work on the coral reefs, badly damaged by fishing with poison and explosives. Gathering the local population, friends and diver colleagues around the project,[5] his "Reef Gardeners" showed the local fishermen how to catch crown-of-thorns starfish (over 75,000 crown-of-thorns removed between 1996 and 1998) and horn drupe (Drupella cornus), which also threaten the reefs; and how to repair broken corals, thus saving hundreds of years of coral growth. They also installed structures on the ocean floor to create artificial reefs.[6] In 2005, with funding from AusAid, they began to install statues of Buddha off the coast; this Temple garden soon became an attraction for scuba diving tourists. This success was followed from 2014 on with the undertaking of the Garden of the gods half a kilometer away, another offcoast assemblage of statues at 28 meters deep,[7] complete with split gate and 25 beautifully carved statues sitting beside a damaged coral reef and covering 2,500 square meters of sandy seabed[8] at a depth from 5 to 30 metres. All this work is tightly linked with the local community.[6]
Meanwhile, Reef Seen also started in 1994 the Turtle Project of Pemuteran,[7] which aims at protecting the wild turtle population. It rewards people who bring in or signal newly-laid sea turtle’s eggs, which encourages villagers not to kill or capture mature turtles who can then return and lay more eggs. Reef Seen's hatchery takes care of the collected eggs and the hatchlings are released at sea when they are big enough to get a fair chance at survival. Different seasons see three different species in the hatchery: Green, Olive Ridley, and Hawksbill.[9] On top of its educational work, over the years its hatchery has allowed the release of several thousands of turtles (juveniles and adults) into the ocean.[5]
A collaboration started in 2000 between the Karang Lestari Foundation (chairman in 2012: I Gusti Agung Prana) and the Global Coral Reef Alliance, leading to the installation of about 70 underwater 'bio-rocks'[7] over half a kilometer.[10] Many awards have been received by the project:[11]
These are only some of the shallows that lay near Pemuteran.