How fishermen almost destroyed their own island (6 photos)

Many coastal villages in Asia are often slowly dying - from dirt and waste, from industrial fishing. In order to compete with large trawlers and industrial fishing, traditional fishermen have to resort to poaching. But, suddenly, poachers ALSO have a hard time competing with big business and have to resort to big crimes.





Modern world, if you have a traditional boat, it is more profitable to take a tourist than to fish on it, like your father

Criminals of Siargao Island

The Philippine island of Siargao used to be entirely a "pirate" island, that is, a poaching island. All the adults here were engaged in illegal fishing, and at the same time in cutting down mangrove thickets for firewood (which is prohibited, but you want to eat). The thing is that mangroves are a natural barrier from strong sea waves, which protected the islanders from bad weather. Otherwise, the first major typhoon would have washed away their houses and shacks. But as the thickets were cut down, nature became increasingly cruel to the residents on the shore.



These are the kind of water groves that protect the island from the evil elements

That is, they themselves were cutting off the branch they were sitting on. Incredibly stupid, but they did not know how else to earn a living, they did not know life outside the island. But the government could not cope with all the criminals, you can’t put the whole island in prison. Then they did one small detail in Siargao - in the 2010s they opened a surfing center and nothing more.





View from above, gorgeous waves

They didn't put any large tourist centers here, so tourists who came to the sea to surf had to ask the locals for help. And gradually, one by one, the poachers themselves retrained as guides and instructors. The funniest thing is that now they themselves sign up for patrols to monitor whether the mangrove forest, which is visited by a good half of the rich foreign tourists, is being cut down somewhere.



There is excellent and inexpensive surfing

And the scheme works, since 2012 the mangrove forest has grown from 4,200 hectares to 4,800 hectares. It took only 10 years, even less than a generation, to “reforge” all the poachers into environmentalists and tour guides. At the same time, the financial investments were small and paid off quite quickly. The first trips of tourists to the island were organized by the local government, but every year more and more local fishermen participate in the full cycle of servicing visitors. On average, they receive 400 pesos per trip. And the town sells about 100 eco-tours per day.



Children and a dog carry a surfboard. The house was destroyed by a typhoon

A sudden record

In 2023, Siargao Island was visited by 500 thousand tourists. This is a record number in history, exceeding the figures before the pandemic. But it must be admitted that without the growth in popularity of surfing, nothing would have changed; the mangroves alone would not have fed everyone on the island.



Women carry water to a tourist kiosk

Of course, it is clear that if the tourist center is demolished, the locals will start poaching again. But there is a useful lesson to be learned from this - people can be good, they can just be given a chance, and not constantly forced to choose between crime and hunger.