Benevolent bright sunlight, crystal clear waters, and coral reefs surround Bali’s three, nearby sister islands Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Ceningan, and Nusa Penida: these conditions create a spectacular, natural marine and sea life aquarium bursting with tropical life forms. Sea cucumbers (trepang), giant clams, reef sharks, thresher sharks, hammerhead sharks, sea turtles, manta rays, eagle rays, mola mola (ocean sunfish), starfish, anemone fish, sponges, and blue marlin are all spotted or netted in these warm, tropical, Badung Straits waters bracketing Bali. Fishing is a new occupation in Nusa Lembongan, financially feasible only since the mid-1990s when the introduction of the seaweed farming industry infused money into the previously very poor local economy. Seaweed dollars enabled local fishermen to purchase boats capable of travelling far enough offshore to net viable numbers of fish and make seafood an integral part of the island diet for the first time. Nusa Lembongan fishermen sail out in their jukung at 5:30 AM every morning, flying the primary colors of the gods: yellow and white cloth is wrapped around each mast (crowned with palm leaf offerings) to pray for safety and success. Some boats go along the coast up the island heading towards Nusa Dua and Balinese waters, while others go down the coast and round the island to the waters south of Dream Beach off Nusa Lembongan. Each jukung (owned by one man with four or five helpers) carries three to four green, kilometer-long nets bordered in blue lined with a series of elongated oval weights. The nets are unravelled in the ocean, marked by sticks at either end weighed down with white styrofoam to anchor the boats in one area: each fisherman has his own stick color denoting his specific fishing area (which can vary daily). If the current is strong, the net will float in a rounded arc, or remain in a straight taut line if the current is weak. The boats return to shore 1 ½ hours later at 7:00 AM (if lucky) with a cache of very plentiful, small tunas (tongkol).
Female chefs and hotel staff come out on the sand from 7:00 to 8:00 A.M.to buy fistfulls of tuna and carry them back to their commercial kitchens by the bouquet-tails. The boat fishermen unceremoniously toss tunas to the modest, scared hotel girls waiting on the sand (or set them down on the shore in front of them). The girls shyly (malu malu) walk back up to the boat and hand the men folded-up-lengthwise Rupiah notes (tens and fifties pass back and forth in a silent, ancient selling duet). The girls try not to wet their hotel sarong uniforms in the cool waves as they carry their fish trophies back to the Mushroom, Waka, Tanis Villas, Bali Hai, and Nusa Lembongan resorts. The girls also buy fish for their own families now and carry them back home to their villages at the end of the day. Once the boats pull up on shore, easy-to-access tunas are thrown into round tubs for wives to transport inland and for instant sale to local women. Tunas right off the boat cost Rp.4,000 per piece. Prices instantly escalate to a higher Rp.7,000 off the sands due to cartage costs: unsold tunas have to be carried over to the villages by local women balanced in heavy plastic tubs on their heads. By 8:00 A.M. all beachside vending is done and the catch of the day has disappeared. The fishermen and their crews spend another hour carefully and deftly removing and disentangling individual tunas stuck in the precious, tear-susceptible nets by the tail or mouth. They fold the nets up and store them in special, large green plastic bags (in small concrete sheds near the landed boats blessed with and protected by offering trays to the gods).
Only small tuna are caught close offshore Tanjung Sanghyang Beach, but Nusa Lembongan fishermen provide a large variety of fresh-caught fish—quickly sold and eaten (bakar, or grilled) in the local villages or vended to beachfront hotels. Straight from the fleet (blood dripping out of mouth) onto the plate, the fish are usually consumed the same day (some hotels buy fish when the catch is plentiful and freeze them until needed to guarantee a steady menu supply). Species include two types of tunas (big cakalan and small tuklir), mackerel, expensive red snapper (kokak), white snapper (jangki), and snapper with tail (tribang). Snappers (red and yellow, black, and kopi-susu) are found on the coral reef near Nusa Lembongan but only in the evening usually under a full moon (fishermen reckon correct fishing hours according to the Balinese calendar). Lobsters are only apprehended in the afternoon. The Balinese on Nusa Lembongan eat decorative anemone (clownfish) but regret their small size; they dislike the taste of plentiful sea urchin (buntok) and omit it from their seafood diet. Other locally consumed fish include crabs, octopus, shrimp, catfish (ikan kucing in Bahasa Indonesia), lada, long-nosed jackfish (a large family of fish including tabasan cocor, tabasan buluh (bamboo), and tabasan tabu (gray), pasuh (like a snake), striped pelok-pelok, pogot, madah, sadar, sansit, mogong, kacang-kacang, muduk, trinjang (small fish running in big schools), and mang (moray eel). Villagers go out and catch ketepo on the shoreline at low tide—they dig it up out of the sand with a small, pen-size stick. The foot-long, jellyfish-like ketepo is small and either red or white in color: the yellow interior (filled with sand and water) must be cleaned, and it is then cut and either fried or grilled.
