Campaign manager: Saleh Hanan
Partner: The Nature Conservancy

Every day fishers secretly enter the waters of Wakatobi Island National Marine Park and collect at least two canoes full of coral reef matter. Sold as building materials in local and regional markets, the amount earned from this catch is equivalent to a day’s wages. 

Extracting the Park’s coral, which provides homes and food for the 500 species of fish found in Indonesia’s largest Marine Protected Area, adds a serious threat to waters already suffering from the effects of destructive fishing practices, such as cyanide poisoning and the use of dynamite. The sheer size of Wakatobi Park, which covers 1.4M hectares (5,400 sq. miles) and contains over 400 coral species, makes enforcing protective laws an extreme conservation challenge. 

Rare and The Nature Conservancy-Indonesia launched a Pride campaign in Wakatobi, led by campaign manager La Ode Saleh M. Hanan, who recently graduated from the program. The goals were to end destructive fishing practices by strengthening traditional marine resource management practices and empowering local administrative and traditional institutions to better manage the Park. 

The challenges facing Saleh were great. While 66% of community survey respondents believed that the reefs were damaged, only 22% knew the status of the area as protected. Another survey showed that over 60% believed it too hard to stop outsiders from collecting coral reefs, but 51% also stated willingness to get involved in reef conservation. These findings suggested to Saleh that with the right messaging and the right motivation, a Pride campaign could inspire communities within the Park to take action.

Saleh conducted over 120 community workshops and made over 150 visits to local farmers and fishers. He distributed t-shirts, posters and fact-sheets at local festivals and worship sermons in several villages, informing fishers and community members about the importance of the Park and how they could report illegal practices such as coral mining to local authorities. He also worked closely with village leaders to educate them on the existence of the Park, the biological and economic importance of protecting its marine resources, and the destructive consequences of coral mining on the health of the coral reefs. 

Progress on the campaign…

  • • A tripling in local awareness of the status and importance of the National Park 
  • • An independently declared moratorium on coral mining by local political and religious leaders of nine coral mining villages along the Kapota coasts 
  • • Coral mining restricted to major sailing passage routes, where coral causes severe damage to boats accessing the island
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To further explore this campaign, please visit our conservation community at RarePlanet.org.