In Pictures
Tanjung Luar: A village renowned for shark trading
In this Indonesian village, hundreds of fishermen make a living out of hunting sharks.
Tanjung Luar village, Indonesia – There are around 200 species of shark in Indonesia but only one of them, the Whale shark, gets full protection from the government.
Shark trading brings export revenue of more than $100m. Skin, bones and meat are all part of the trade but the highest demand is for the fins which are mainly exported to China where fin soup is believed to be a secret to long life.
In a small fishing village of Tanjung Luar in Lombok, hundreds of fishermen make a living out of hunting sharks.
In 2014, the government put a ban on export of Hammerhead sharks and Oceanic white tip sharks and fishermen complained it impacted their income.
However, environmentalists believe the regulations for sharks’ protection are not enough as they are known to have slow reproduction rate – It could take 15 years for a shark to give birth.
Muchlis, from Wildlife Conservation Society, has been monitoring the situation in Tanjung Luar since 2015 and according to them, the numbers and the size of the catch are going down every year.