The Dorsal Effect, a shark conversation project led by visionary Kathy Xu, has taken to the seas, thanks to its win at last year's Young Social Entrepreneurs programme.
Xu is currently working towards reducing shark kills in Indonesia and all you need to do to contribute, is to go on vacation in Lombok.
There, Xu is working with local fishermen to turn away from catching sharks and to lead tourism trips around remote spots of the island instead. Bali may be super built up with tourists running amok but its sister island to the east still has that local charm that hasn't been spoilt by Lonely Planet and McD's quite yet.
In this video made by Our Better World, you can see the former teacher realising her vision, made possible with direction and funding from the Singapore International Foundation.
"Over time I saw that the fishermen were getting happier doing this, and they started taking ownership over the boat trips," Xu told The Huffington Post.
Xu's project is a part of a larger movement to protect the ever increasingly-endangered sharks. Millions of sharks are hunted solely for their fins, a major delicacy in countries like Hong Kong and China. In Lombok, local fishermen have been dependent on sharks for their bread and butter.
Not only does The Dorsal Effect shift fishermen’s attention from hunting sharks to sustainable tourism, it also negotiated best practices like picking up trash (god only knows there are islands of it around Bali) and anchoring boats on sand instead of coral.
So take a trip to Lombok, revel in its beauty and charm, and help save a shark.
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Singapore crowned Lonely Planet's top travel destination in 2015
The Dorsal Effect, a shark conversation project led by visionary Kathy Xu, has taken to the seas, thanks to its win at last year's Young Social Entrepreneurs programme.
Xu is currently working towards reducing shark kills in Indonesia and all you need to do to contribute, is to go on vacation in Lombok.
There, Xu is working with local fishermen to turn away from catching sharks and to lead tourism trips around remote spots of the island instead. Bali may be super built up with tourists running amok but its sister island to the east still has that local charm that hasn't been spoilt by Lonely Planet and McD's quite yet.
In this video made by Our Better World, you can see the former teacher realising her vision, made possible with direction and funding from the Singapore International Foundation.
"Over time I saw that the fishermen were getting happier doing this, and they started taking ownership over the boat trips," Xu told The Huffington Post.
Xu's project is a part of a larger movement to protect the ever increasingly-endangered sharks. Millions of sharks are hunted solely for their fins, a major delicacy in countries like Hong Kong and China. In Lombok, local fishermen have been dependent on sharks for their bread and butter.
Not only does The Dorsal Effect shift fishermen’s attention from hunting sharks to sustainable tourism, it also negotiated best practices like picking up trash (god only knows there are islands of it around Bali) and anchoring boats on sand instead of coral.
So take a trip to Lombok, revel in its beauty and charm, and help save a shark.
Read Also:
Singapore crowned Lonely Planet's top travel destination in 2015