Shark Conservation
why is it important?
Consider this. Sharks have been around for 400 million years and have survived five mass extinction events. Yet in the last few decades, some shark populations have declined by more than 90 percent thanks to overfishing – and some species are teetering on the edge of extinction.
The reality is that in an ocean without sharks, the ocean dies. If the ocean dies, we die – because the ocean provides all those things which make it possible for us to live on the planet.
In a world without sharks,
the entire ecosystem falls out of balance
Let's talk numbers
(sadness stats)
Our shark conservation Goals
Unlike the majority of the world, we are big shark lovers. 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.
For over six years we have been consistently surveying our waters studying the changing shark populations of whitetip- and blacktip reef sharks. One of our main goals is to assist our local partner, NGO Gili Matra Bersama, with creating the first official shark nursery in Indonesia.
The goals that we’ve set related to shark conservation are:
Research Methods
Meet the Sharks
Effective marine conservation for threatened species relies heavily on information about that species and its population. Since 2016 we’ve been studying the shark population in the Gili Matra Marine Park. So far we’ve been able to identify more than 45 whitetip and blacktip reef sharks. Below you find some of our favorites.
MEG
Jacks
Doris
Fraser
Dingo
Musa
Henrika
Toni
Support our mission
- Join our project
- Donate to our research
- Report your shark sighting to Unite Gili
- Talk about how fin-tastic we are!
Support sharks in your daily life
- Avoid shark products
- Eat only sustainable seafood (ex. MSc certified)
- Become a citizen scientist (try Shark Trust, Elasmobranch Project Indonesia, or PADI Aware)
- Reduce, reuse, recycle, and do this again! (& again)
- Talk about how jaw-some sharks are
