Bali’s traditional boats embody centuries of maritime tradition – but they’re quickly disappearing

For generations, Bali's fishing villages were anchored by jukung pelasan—timber double-outrigger sailing canoes with carved gajah mina prows, the mythical elephant-fish believed to protect seafaring crews and embody the unity between land and ocean. Research published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology found only six intact examples remain on the island's surveyed beaches. The transformation began in the nineteen-seventies, when Bali's tourism boom reshaped its coastline. Resorts replaced fishing villages; fishers left the sea for hotel work; and the timber and bamboo needed to build and repair traditional boats either vanished or became prohibitively expensive. A retired boat builder told researchers the old-growth trees that once formed the hulls were felled decades ago to make room for beach resorts. Some jukung were sold to overseas collectors and museums in Darwin, Seattle, and Ningbo; others were replaced with fiberglass replicas used for tourist sunrise sails. Bali now generates fifty-five percent of Indonesia's tourism revenue, with tourism accounting for roughly sixty percent of the island's own gross domestic product. Yet preserving these boats, researchers say, is about safeguarding the maritime knowledge, techniques, and stories that connected Balinese communities to the sea for centuries—knowledge that can only be passed down through living communities, not museum cases.

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