Aceh’s community fishers struggle to preserve tradition amid blooms of plastic pollution

In Banda Aceh, Indonesia, seven fishers still practice tarek pukat, a centuries-old communal net-fishing tradition overseen by a customary sea commander, hauling a half-mile net from the Indian Ocean under rules dating to the Aceh Sultanate.

The 2004 tsunami killed over 90% of Gampong Jawa's population, and now plastic waste chokes the nearshore waters, tearing nets and costing up to 7 million rupiah to repair. Banda Aceh's landfill, sited by the same beach, took in over 90,000 metric tons of waste last year while operating well past its intended capacity since 2019.

President Prabowo Subianto has declared a 2029-deadline 'war on waste' after a landfill collapse near Jakarta killed seven workers, while Indonesia generates roughly 3.2 million metric tons of plastic annually and global treaty talks remain deadlocked. Meanwhile fishers report earning as little as $2.25 a day when catches are thin, and some are abandoning the tradition for construction work.

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