Shark fishermen in East Lombok have traded harpoons for snorkeling gear, and loggers now guard limestone cliffs in the Philippines, as new tourism projects repurpose former poachers into environmental guardians. The eco-tourism projects turning fishermen and poachers into environmental guardians are reshaping conservation efforts across Southeast Asia by offering locals economic alternatives to illegal hunting.
Project Hiu: Hiring Hunters to Save Sharks
Australian filmmaker Madison Stewart founded Project Hiu in 2018 after documenting the shark fishing industry in Indonesia. The nonprofit, named for the Bahasa Indonesia word for shark, employs local fishermen and their boats for tourist activities like snorkeling with blacktip reef sharks and sailing day trips around East Lombok.
The project now includes about 80 fishermen manning 15 boats who also support the tagging and research of their erstwhile prey. Their work has led to the recent world-first tagging of 10 tiger sharks in Indonesian waters.
Stewart says the goal is to address why people fish in the first place. “I hope this work inspires others to look beyond simply telling people to stop fishing,” she said.
According to the documentary project, Indonesia catches more sharks than any other country, accounting for over 12% of the global supply. Fishermen from communities in Tanjung Luar and Gili Maringkik often spend weeks away from their families to hunt fish, including endangered species, when faced with a lack of alternative income options.
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From Loggers to Rangers
In the Philippines, veteran ranger Ruben Gianan uses his knowledge of the terrain to handle Masungi Georeserve. Gianan once worked as a logger in the Rizal province before joining the global network of nature-positive lodges known as The Long Run.
In Raja Ampat, Indonesia, the Misool Foundation manages ranger patrols staffed largely by locals who once worked alongside dynamite-blasters. Shark numbers inside this reserve have doubled since 2012, and the beach where hunters used to kill their catch is now a terrace where divers sip their morning coffee.
Rehabilitating the Environment
In Cambodia, Shinta Mani Wild, in collaboration with the conservation non-profit Wildlife Alliance, trains and employs former snare-setters. These individuals now intercept illegal logging and the poaching of Malayan sun bears, pangolins, clouded leopards, and pileated gibbons in a critical wildlife corridor.
The Wildlife Alliance in this region has removed about 350,000 traps, contributing to an uptick in the numbers of these vulnerable and endangered animals.
In Tanzania, guide Anderson Mgesi grew up in a village where bushmeat fed his family. When the government expanded the park in the late 1990s and early 2000s, hundreds of villagers were forcibly evicted from their ancestral lands. Hunting wildlife became one of the few dependable ways to make ends meet.
