Tukang Besi/WAkatobi diving centres

[squaltigre]

I am planning to stay 3 weeks in Sulawesi next August and plan to spend a week in Wakatobi (in addition to Bunaken). I would like not to stay at Wakatobi Resort due to costs and some negative feedbacks on the value for money grounds. I was told there are other dive centres possibilities at Pulau Hoga, Has anyone tried them?

 

[Stijn]

I am planning to stay 3 weeks in Sulawesi next August and plan to spend a week in Wakatobi (in addition to Bunaken). I would like not to stay at Wakatobi Resort due to costs and some negative feedbacks on the value for money grounds. I was told there are other dive centres possibilities at Pulau Hoga, Has anyone tried them?

You are right, the Wakatobi resort is rather expensive but you get value for your money. The diving is superb. I have nowhere seen such good corals all around the islands. THey reached this by buying the fishing zones from the fishermen. So since about 8 years there hasn't been any fishing on the divesites. Because it is so remote there is not really any other dive operator who dives around wakatobi. And if they would like to they would need official papers from the government to be allowed to dive on the protected reefs. I know a few people who have been diving there and heard nothing else then good comments

 

[Stijn]

I am planning to stay 3 weeks in Sulawesi next August and plan to spend a week in Wakatobi (in addition to Bunaken). I would like not to stay at Wakatobi Resort due to costs and some negative feedbacks on the value for money grounds. I was told there are other dive centres possibilities at Pulau Hoga, Has anyone tried them?

You are right, the Wakatobi resort is rather expensive but you get value for your money. The diving is superb. I have nowhere seen such good corals all around the islands. THey reached this by buying the fishing zones from the fishermen. So since about 8 years there hasn't been any fishing on the divesites. Because it is so remote there is not really any other dive operator who dives around wakatobi. And if they would like to they would need official papers from the government to be allowed to dive on the protected reefs. I know a few people who have been diving there and heard nothing else then good comments

 

[rgo]

I'm actually a bit uneasy about the way Wakatobi has kept its reefs in good condition. Buying off the locals, instead of involving them more instrinsically in a dive outfit's operation--especially one that's located in a developing setup like Indonesia, is a bit questionable as a practice, imho. That "rent" amount, if I'm not mistaken, is about US$40,000 per year. Given the prices the resort charges divers who visit, that's a comparatively small amount to devolve to the local community. Instead of getting the bulk of the proceeds from having their turf turned into a dive resort, the locals now take handouts and have to find other means of making a living.
Having the area declared as "protected" also benefits the single land-based operator there, as it basically gets a MONOPOLY and can charge whatever astronomical price it wants.
And I thought the age of colonialism is over and done with...
Ranting over...
There are liveaboards who operate in that area. A quick google got:
http://www.bodeweb.de/wakatobi2004engl.htm for m/v Ciska in September through November
and http://www.diving4images.com/Temukira_wakatobi.html. I'm sure google will get you more.

 

[Stijn]

Well, I don't know how much per year they actually give to the locals but it is sure helping. The locals have almost completely stopped fishing in the no fishing zones and are now fishing in the designated fishing zones. There is only a small population at the local village so there is still plenty of space left for fishing. There are actually locals from other villages coming to the Wakatobi management asking if they can be included in the deal as well and recieve money as well. In return they give one part of their reef as a no fishing zone. They don't loose any money or any income, they actually have a new job; reefmanager. They are responsible to keep the reefs fishing free and will actually go tell and explain other fisherman who are fishing in the diving zone that they are fishing in the wrong place.

By the way, money is not the only thing they get. Wakatobi resorts has sponsered for repairing the school, they have build a proper harbour for the locals, they made small roads in the village and every house gets free electricity from 6pm till 6 am. So they have a good motivation to keep the reefs fishing free.
All staff that are working at Wakatobi resorts are local people. I think Wakatobi resorts creates about 60 jobs. They have actually chosen their employees very carefull as there are a lot of woman working there who are widows and other people who deserve to get a job. They all get a good salary and can improve their way of living.
So a lot of money coming in is going straight back to the indonesian people who are living here. Not like the liveaboards who come here for a few days and leave nothing else than rubbish.

It is also not true that nobody else is allowed to dive at Wakatobi area. Wakatobi resorts welcomes other operators as well as long as they are prepared to help sharing the cost of keeping the reefs fishing free. Wakatobi resort diving guests who go diving pay a lot of money to see healthy corals so anybody else who dives there should help paying as well. I think that's only fair.

Yes, it is a strange way to keep the reefs healthy. I have been working since a while in Indonesia and love Indonesian people. Way much nicer and joyfull then european people. But to explain a fisherman who has never been to school that throwing bombs on the reef is not good is quite a challenge.

And by paying the money straight to the locals where the money is well spend they avoid situations a la Manado. Where the money is not going to the right persons. The local people over there get almost nothing back from the diving community and are not very pleased.

 

[Stijn]

... That "rent" amount, if I'm not mistaken, is about US$40,000 per year....

By the way, I checked and the 40 000 $ is old information. Wakatobi resorts is currently paying around 100 000 $ per year. They had a lot af villages (and non fishing reefs) joining the agreement.

 

[rgo]

US$100,000 a year, huh?
I find it unfortunate that you think such a practice is acceptable or even worse laudable. This isn't just a discussion about diving or fishing rights, but in my opinion this just smacks of the kind of neo-colonialist thinking that ends up getting the local communities resentful (in the long term view) of foreigners in the kind of context as Indonesia's.
You can explain away US$100,000 a year, new roads, schools etc as the benevolent resort's way of helping the (as you say, small) local communities. Perhaps those initiatives do indeed help the local people.
But the bottomline is the same. We are talking about the locals' land, their reef, their fishing rights, and ultimately their lives that we are changing. And THEY are now simply being told and then PAID OFF to stay off their land, their reef and their fish, and yes, to change the ways in which they live. And all so that a bunch of tourists could come in and dive.
Perhaps the way this should be done is to actually help the local communities develop real ownership of what's essentially, traditionally and inherently THEIRS anyway?
I'm paraphrasing: Give them fish, and they'll be dependent on you for the rest of their lives. Teach them to fish, and they'll come away with a lifetime skill.
I love diving and get happy when I see a healthy fish-filled reef. But I don't think the locals should be given cash and told to stay away, and not given anything else that's more basic in terms of furthering the common goal of keeping the reef and fish healthy.
And yes, I don't blame the locals for taking cash, as I do understand that given their previous lives, there would be some benefits they are seeing now. My point is that their benefits would ultimately be far greater had they been given the opportunity to actually DIRECTLY benefit, as opposed to now where they are completely dependent on handouts from the resort operators.
What if the resort closes down due to bankruptcy or other reasons? What are the villagers going to do then? Would the resort people care that perhaps the locals are going to bomb the reef and go back to overfish the area? How sustainable is that?
This model is NOT just a STRANGE way of keeping the reef healthy. Ultimately, this is a short-sighted measure designed to maximise returns for the resort operators and tourists who visit, at the expense of the people who should have ultimate rights over the area, who under this scheme get shooed away to do damage elsewhere. It amounts to "It's OK if you don't take care of the environment, just as long as you don't do it in the areas that we've bribed you off from." If you think that's great, and if you want to support such efforts, then yeah, cheers to you and happy diving.

 

[scubashooter]

Also look at the evening star... does Komodo then Tukang Besi on a few special trips. I do have to warn you that a lot of sites are bombed in Taka Bone Rate atoll and this was even in 96!
As for the models for conservation, well often the easiest way out is not the most constructive.

 

[Stijn]

Wow, I had a nice answer ready but I got disconnected just as I wanted to post it, bad luck.

The first thing you should know is that the first reason Wakatobi resorts exists is to keep the reefs healthy and not to get rich.

I really think you should go there and have a look, it is not true that the fishing zones are taken away from the local people; they give them up themselves.

They are still fishers and go fishing every day, with improved fishing methods. The money they receive is not used by individuals but used by the community. Now they have a better school which is great for the children, they have a proper harbor which boasts their trading ( they actually have boattraffic between Singapore and Onemobaa now, the resort island).

If you have any experience with living in Indonesia (and with this I don't mean living in a big city but in a small kampung) you would know that it is almost impossible to explain or educate local fisherman that it is not good if they use bombs, maurani fishing or cyanide fishing. They only think in short term profit and have no idea what is happening under the surface or what the underwater eco system exists of.


It is subjective to tell which method is best and which method is the worst but I can tell you that I have seen different ways of reef conservation in Indonesia (Bunaken, The Gili islands) and I have seen different reef conservation organisations coming and leaving within one week time, I can tell you that the Wakatobi way is the first one who really works and where everybody is happy.

Well, I guess it is time somebody kicked me of my soapbox,

 

[rgo]

If you have any experience with living in Indonesia (and with this I don't mean living in a big city but in a small kampung) you would know that it is almost impossible to explain or educate local fisherman that it is not good if they use bombs, maurani fishing or cyanide fishing. They only think in short term profit and have no idea what is happening under the surface or what the underwater eco system exists of.

Other models of ecotourism around Indonesia have demonstrated that it is indeed VERY possible to get local communities on board. Given alternatives that are economically viable, local communities often embrace initiatives that support the environment, tourism and at bottom line, their own living standards. The local people are NOT stupid, they are NOT lazy, and they are NOT likely to miss an obvious situation. Foreign groups that are truly interested in helping Indonesia and Indonesians change know this, and actually work WITH the local populations, instead of shooing them away and paying them off to not bother with what the foreigners are doing.

This is not a subjective issue. There is good and bad, and in my book, paying off the people who actually own the land to move off somewhere else is NOT a good approach.

Do you by any chance work for Wakatobi or have any financial interest in that group's operation? It doesn't matter if you do, or don't, by the way. I'm asking because you sound like an apologist for something that most people would clearly recognise as a horrible way of engaging with the local folks in that area.