News

As many of you already know, Misool Eco Resort created a 200 sq km Marine Protected Area (MPA) in 2006. With the cooperation of the local villages and government, it is now strictly forbidden to remove anything from this area of sea.  This includes hook and line fishing, long-lining, netting, shark finning, harvesting turtle eggs, dynamite fishing, and cyanide fishing.

These fishing boats are violating our no-take zone, but they're also violating local fishing regulations. In order to fish in this area, all boats must get permission from a district office and pay a tax. When massive commercial enterprises exploit these waters without permission and without paying local taxes, they are essentially stealing the resources of the local people.

Sadly, this wasn't an isolated event. While the SouthWest monsoon is blowing, we see the lights of long-liners on the horizon every night. We've intercepted and expelled long-liners as well as shark-finners, baiting their hooks with turtles carved up on the beach. We've pulled up kilometres upon kilometres of line with thousands upon thousands of hooks from foreign vessels. In a few nights, an outfit this size can catch more than a local fisherman will catch in an entire lifetime. And they're here because their home waters already been emptied of fish. 

Together with Precious Planet, our French sister charity, we are now raising funds to sponsor a team of local Rangers with their own speedboat. We're looking for 20,000 Euros to initiate the project and cover operating costs for four months.

So far, Andrew and Cherry have pledged to put in 1,000 USD. Boulder Misool Partners, one of Misool Eco Resort's investors, has pledged to donate 5,000 USD to our Misool Ranger Project, and they challenge any other investors to match them. In order to inspire your generosity and sense of urgency, we're holding a raffle, open to anyone who hasn't already invested in Misool Eco Resort. And the prize is a free stay for one person at Misool Eco Resort, valued at 1250 Euros! (See fine print below) For every 50 Euros you donate to our Misool Ranger Project, you will be entered once into the raffle. That means if you donate 50 Euros you'll be entered once, and if you donate 200 Euros you'll be entered four times. The drawing will be August 1st.