Guardian of the reef recalls his pivot from poison

So much of the news is about what's happening at the moment. But after a major event, people pick up the pieces, and life goes on. In this new series, The Straits Times talks to the everyday heroes who have reinvented themselves, turned their lives around, and serve as an inspiration to us all.

- Audrey Tan

BALI, Indonesia — The year he learnt to cast poison into the sea, Gombal found himself at its mercy.

It was 1988, and the cyanide fisherman was en route to catch ornamental fish at a reef near Les, his village in north-eastern Bali, when a storm caused his vessel to capsize.

With just a tyre-sized jerrycan keeping him afloat, Gombal — whose real name is Nyoman Teriada — drifted in the Lombok Strait for over 24 hours, squeezing sweat from his clothes to quench his thirst, before he was carried to shore.

But the trade brought in so much money that Gombal, as everyone in Les calls him, chose to put the near-death encounter behind him.

It was only in the 2000s, when he realised the cyanide was killing the reefs that were the livelihood of the village, that he knew things could not go on as they had.

Today, the yellowing jerrycan still takes pride of place on the family altar during Balinese ceremonies.

And Gombal, now 53, no longer catches fish with poison.

He fills his days instead by helping with reef restoration efforts in the village, leading tourists on dives, and spending time with his son, fishing in the deep sea with a hook and line.

The pivot from poison was a challenging one, Gombal said, speaking to The Straits Times from his home in Les, a village of about 8,000 people.

Catching colourful reef fish for the aquarium trade was more lucrative than his previous job as a salt farmer, until it wasn't, he said.

As the cyanide caused the reefs to waste away, ornamental fish became harder and harder to come by.

Moving on from cyanide fishing was more a necessity, than choice.

POISONING REEFS Cyanide stuns fish, making them easier to capture.

Fishermen prepare for their hunt by first mixing solid blocks of potassium cyanide with seawater, and then taking small bottles of the mixture underwater.