Rafid Shidqi
Who I am
An early-career conservationist from the city of South Tangerang, Indonesia, I was a Fellow at the University of Oxford‘s Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science in Oxford, UK, and the winner of the Future Conservationist Award from the Conservation Leadership Programme. After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree, I moved to the coral triangle region of Indonesia, an epicentre of marine biodiversity. There my passion for sharks and rays was nurtured by voluntary work in Lamakera, East Nusa Tenggara, where the most manta rays in the world have been killed. I earned a Master’s degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and have subsequently been leading the Thresher Shark Project Indonesia, an initiative to transition communities from traditional shark hunting to sustainable alternative livelihoods using research, stakeholder engagement and education.
Where I work
Our goal is to protect Indonesia’s declining and endangered thresher shark population. Our mission is to conserve thresher sharks at Alor, East Nusa Tenggara, by conducting research by means of satellite and acoustic tagging technology and underwater surveys. Our findings will lead to policy recommendations and alternative livelihood solutions for shark-dependent communities in Indonesia.
What I do
Over the past few years I have been leading and developing the Thresher Shark Project, which focuses specifically on the Endangered pelagic thresher shark. We combine interdisciplinary research methods to investigate habitat preferences and introduce fundamental policy to protect both sharks and the rights of coastal communities to pursue their livelihoods. From experience, I have found that the greatest challenge is often the distance between a community and the supporting environment. For example, communities that depend on catching endangered sharks and rays are located in the remote eastern areas of Indonesia, where they are disconnected from mainstream activities and lack options to shift to alternative means of earning a livelihood.