Like most scuba divers, we’re big shark lovers. And living in Indonesia, the center of the Coral Triangle, we should be seeing one of the most diverse collections of sharks found in the world on a daily basis. Yet we don’t. Indonesia is unfortunately the largest shark fishing nation in the world. The IUCN states that out of the 1000+ assessed species of cardiligenous fish (sharks, rays, skates, chimearas), 30% are threatened with extinction. The time to act is now!
About Gili Shark Conservation
We are an international marine research center that host researchers, scientists, and oceans lovers from all over the world. A place in the heart of our community where we provide education in solving oceans-related issues. A home to people that want to make the world a little bit more beautiful.
We educate, train, and empower local talent to become leaders of the Gili Island's growing tourism industry and guardians of its natural environment. And we provide scholarships to Indonesian women who want to pursue a career in marine conservation but don’t have the financial or emotional support to make it happen.
Every day our research team goes out to collect abundance data within the zones of the Gili Matra Marine Recreational Reserve to assess the health of the environment and act to enhance marine protection and health where necessary.
Our Mission
Our mission is to protect and restore the coral reef environment within the Gili Matra Marine Recreational Reserve and to help to create the first recognized shark nursery ground in Indonesia by 2025.
To achieve our goal we conduct research using multiple research methods including; underwater roving video surveillance, roving survey dives, photographic identification, coral health index surveys, coral restoration, manta tow survey's, and land & marine based time-lapse projects. Through our weekly conservation classes at the local school and our Plastic Free Paradise Campaign we educate the local community and visitors of the Gili Islands about the importance of our ocean and what we can do to protect it.
Working Together To Protect The Ocean
We share our data sets with the Indonesian government; providing critical data of our assessment of the zones within the Gili Matra Marine Recreational reserve to stimulate positive changes where necessary. We also source our data out to multiple local and international organizations and researchers to help combat data deficiency. Scientists still do not know a lot about the population dynamics and health of many species of sharks.
Our data is helping to inform organizations like e-Oceans to have an impact on shark conservation globally. We are creating an open-access abundance database available free to anyone who asks. Getting this information to more people will help us in our fight to save the sharks of Indonesia. Because we believe a strong community of different individuals can make a bigger impact on marine protection than a single organization.
