The Dorsal Effect

The Dorsal Effect Book with us - http://thedorsaleffect.com/
Shark conservation & sustainable income for shark fisherm

Love sharks and want to to walk the talk in making a difference in ensuring sharks are kept alive? Come on a boat excursion with us on once shark catching boats and allow ecotourism to make a difference in the lives of the shark fishermen.

Let's go snorkelling (and climb breathtaking cliffs along the way!)
10/09/2024

Let's go snorkelling (and climb breathtaking cliffs along the way!)

Visiting the fishermen island close to Tanjung Luar and getting their family to prepare yummy and hearty homecooked vege...
03/09/2024

Visiting the fishermen island close to Tanjung Luar and getting their family to prepare yummy and hearty homecooked vegetarian lunch for the guests. Trying to find more ways to provide them with channels for livelihoods.

The sweetest thing when we have repeat boat trippers who come back 8 years later and the kid is all grown up😍🥹. We super...
19/07/2024

The sweetest thing when we have repeat boat trippers who come back 8 years later and the kid is all grown up😍🥹. We super appreciate the trust and support in what we do!

Good work by the Mataram University students who made this sign on fishermen's island, to reflect how long each type o...
14/06/2024

Good work by the Mataram University students who made this sign on fishermen's island, to reflect how long each type of trash in the ocean takes to break down.

Great work by the Mataram University students, in fishermen's island, to highlight how long each piece of trash takes t...
14/06/2024

Great work by the Mataram University students, in fishermen's island, to highlight how long each piece of trash takes to break down in the ocean.

We don't usually like posting pictures of the shark processing plant where the sharks landed in Lombok are sent to for p...
11/06/2024

We don't usually like posting pictures of the shark processing plant where the sharks landed in Lombok are sent to for processing and export. But eleven years of having run The Dorsal Effect's snorkelling trips as a form of alternative livelihood for the ex shark fishermen also means that we learn to understand the shark fishing industry on a deeper level, along with its complexities.

A gunny sack bag full of processed shark fins yields about SGD40,000, to this day. Honestly that's not the kind of money we can and will pay the ex shark fishermen for taking tourists out snorkelling instead.

Conservation, welfare and alternative livelihoods are all good starting points for wanting to run something with good intentions. But the many years of knowing the locals in Lombok and feeling for them, of learning the layers and complexities of the shark fishing industry, of appreciating the science-backed policies that the good work of shark data collection at the Tanjung Luar fish market's shark landing site, brings bittersweet thoughts and perhaps even a deeper disgrunt towards capitalism.

We can't take humans out of the equation in any conservation issue. I still very much am constantly torn over how economics has to drive what we do, while decrying capitalism in the same breath.

Is there ever truly a balance between animal conservation and supporting local communities well and wholesomely without exploitation, if capitalism remains the existing system in the background?
Is human greed inherent such that no other systems can triumph capitalism?
Is sustainability purely a human-centric dirty word?
What needs to stop? But can it ever be stopped?

In a recent shark workshop for kids at that we ran, we got the children to colour 5 different species of sharks and t...
27/05/2024

In a recent shark workshop for kids at that we ran, we got the children to colour 5 different species of sharks and told them to help repopulate the oceans with their coloured sharks.

I didn't have time to paste all their beautifully coloured sharks on the world map, on the day itself but promised each and every kid who showed me their sharks proudly, that we would add their shark to the world map and that I'd post the resharked world map on our socials.

So here you go, as promised! Can you find your shark that you coloured and which ocean it's swimming in now? :)

When we have a bigger group coming on the snorkelling boat trip with us, we can engage more shark fishermen and give the...
23/04/2024

When we have a bigger group coming on the snorkelling boat trip with us, we can engage more shark fishermen and give them extra tips too. Thank you to the amazing lovely bunch that came with us recently so we could engage 3 boats and 6 ex shark fishermen.

Shout out to Suhardi, Beni, Hamjayadi, Rodi, Deni and Habil for being such responsible boat captains who are so good with handling the boats and doubling up as enthusiastic snorkel guides!

Learnt from one of the boat trippers with this recent amazing group, , that mushroom corals need to be the right side u...
20/04/2024

Learnt from one of the boat trippers with this recent amazing group, , that mushroom corals need to be the right side up in order to survive. Although mushroom corals can move on their own, they do it very slowly. So when I saw duck diving to help flip them over at one of our snorkel sites, we decided to chip in and do the same too!

Was really touched when one of our ex fishermen, Rodi, saw us doing it and without being told, started doing the same as well, flipping up to 3 mushroom corals on each duck dive.

Always learning something new to make a difference, thanks to the expertise of the boat trippers on the trip with us!

We really love having our guests at Mana Eco Retreat and wanted to give a special shout out to them! Their ethos and val...
16/04/2024

We really love having our guests at Mana Eco Retreat and wanted to give a special shout out to them! Their ethos and values are very aligned with The Dorsal Effect's, because they are:
1. a vegan resort and
2. because they rescue and care for the street cats and dogs.

Had a really lovely group on the trip with us this time who stayed at the villa and didn't mind sharing the villa space with the rescue street dog, Malu, whom the resort was feeding and caring for, and who liked staying in the villa.

While Malu was scared of humans, the sweet bunch on our trip were careful not to scare her or make her feel threatened in her space. So much wholesomeness on this trip!!

We'll continue to use the lovely Mana Eco Retreat as our official accommodation! Thank you for your heart for the animals!

Here's some pictures of Mana's amazing vegan breakfast options to entice you!

Enjoyed doing a pre Lombok trip briefing for this group despite feeling under the weather actually! Grinning through the...
25/03/2024

Enjoyed doing a pre Lombok trip briefing for this group despite feeling under the weather actually! Grinning through the shameless slide on why we are cool as an ecotourism outfit but super excited about the upcoming trip with this amazing bunch of animal and nature loving nerds and beautiful people!! Thank you dear for your lovely space to host us and for making this trip even possible!!!

Giving the students on the school trips with us, to get to speak with and interview the shark fishermen and ex shark fis...
19/03/2024

Giving the students on the school trips with us, to get to speak with and interview the shark fishermen and ex shark fishermen directly is a way of getting the students to delve into the issue of shark fishing, more deeply and intimately, without any filters. It's also a way for them to understand the complexities behind the shark conservation issue and how there are human faces that layer it too.

Super touched to receive this from one of the talented young social entrepreneurs at SIF YSE Sabah 🥹🥹 Keep at it and don...
25/02/2024

Super touched to receive this from one of the talented young social entrepreneurs at SIF YSE Sabah 🥹🥹 Keep at it and don't give up on your dream of expanding the Borneo Arts Hub, Vy!!! The world definitely needs art and I think art really helps invoke compassion for wildlife!!! You are a sweetheart and an inspiration too and your passion fuels me on for the difficult times when The Dorsal Effect is at a lull.

Happy lunar new year, y'all! Please have a kind and seafood-free reunion dinner tonight, for those celebrating! 🎉
09/02/2024

Happy lunar new year, y'all! Please have a kind and seafood-free reunion dinner tonight, for those celebrating! 🎉

Remembering when we got our first seed funding for The Dorsal Effect, thank you for believing in us, for the continued ...
09/01/2024

Remembering when we got our first seed funding for The Dorsal Effect, thank you for believing in us, for the continued support all these years, and for this lovely customized badge of honour unique to each of us alumni members of the Young Social Entrepreneurs Award. Can't believe it's been more than ten years since I was on stage in shocked tears receiving the award from Jean! :')

Had a lot of fun and heartening conversations at the recent wild conversations at downtown core branch, last week, wi...
01/11/2023

Had a lot of fun and heartening conversations at the recent wild conversations at downtown core branch, last week, with Daphne moderating.

Loved the sincere and thoughtful questions posed from the cosy crowd, and the conversational nature of the session allowed for flow of deeper and more genuine sharings and exchanges. One of my favourite questions which actually came right at the start was "how has your skills of having been a teacher before, helped you in the running of The Dorsal Effect?"

Thank you, Wildspace, for the opportunity to share and everyone for showing up and engaging with me about The Dorsal Effect! :)

Super super happy to see these favourite beautiful people of ours, at ! The bestest ever ocean-loving trip-facilitators...
20/06/2023

Super super happy to see these favourite beautiful people of ours, at ! The bestest ever ocean-loving trip-facilitators we could ever ask for, for The Dorsal Effect school trips before; with strong work ethics and inspiring passions for the oceans!💙 Love you guys!

The best kinda one could ask for. Such an honour to spend it on a super fun boat trip with 4 amazing and compassionate...
09/06/2023

The best kinda one could ask for. Such an honour to spend it on a super fun boat trip with 4 amazing and compassionate vegetarian women we love so so much. For the uber cool work y'all do for the oceans, thank you for inspiring us immensely. But more importantly, thank you for the great company and for the cherished friendships!

shark and shark fishery expert
shark and ray expert
ghost nets researcher and cephalopods expertshukhova beloved conservation and animal welfare artist

Address

The Dorsal Effect Pte Ltd, 22 Sin Ming Lane #06-76 Midview City
Singapore
573969

Opening Hours

Monday 06:00 - 18:00
Tuesday 06:00 - 18:00
Wednesday 06:00 - 18:00
Thursday 06:00 - 18:00
Friday 06:00 - 18:00
Saturday 06:00 - 18:00
Sunday 06:00 - 18:00

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Videos

A great day out on the boat trip with a fantastic bunch! #boattrip #snorkeling #exsharkfishermen #lombok #lomboktimur

Throwback to the World is Ours campaign by Discovery Channel for The Dorsal Effect in 2019. Grateful for the feature and the pandemic has since been interesting times for us as we struggle through finances, while also appreciating the breather that the planet and wildlife got as a result. The world is ours and the "ours" include all other terrestrial and oceanic living beings, not just humans. Our website has been down for a while but we finally managed to pick ourselves back up and we'll be relaunching it again tomorrow so watch this space and thank you everyone for sticking with us and believing in us 🥹🥹

Love snorkelling and love shark sightings while snorkelling? Come on a full day boat trip with us and allow ex shark fishermen to scout out the best snorkel sites for you. We can't guarantee that you'll get to see black tip reef sharks always, it's nature and wildlife after all, but we can guarantee that we'll pay the ex shark fishermen better than if they were out shark hunting. And hey maybe we can even dare guarantee you'll have a fun time with us? 😉 #snorkelling #boattrip #ecotourism #alternativelihood #exsharkfishermen #blacktipreefshark #lombok #lombokholidaytrip #marinelife #oceanlove #responsiblesnorkelling #responsibletravel #responsibletourism

Love snorkelling and love shark sightings while snorkelling? Come on a full day boat trip with us and allow ex shark fishermen to scout out the best snorkel sites for your trip to Lombok. We can't guarantee shark sightings, it's nature and the wild after all, but hey we can guarantee that ex shark fishermen are paid better when you book a trip with us, than when they are out shark hunting, and hey maybe we can guarantee you'll have fun too? 😉 #snorkelling #boattrip #ecotourism #alternativelihood #exsharkfishermen #blacktipreefshark #lombok #lombokholidaytrip #marinelife #oceanlove #responsiblesnorkelling #responsibletravel #responsibletourism

We were really grateful to have the support of @mission_erde_ev and have you guys come on the boat trip with us for a shoot. Agus and Suhardi were interviewed and more will be posted soon! #ecotourism #boattrip #snorkelling #responsibletravel #responsiblesnorkelling #alternativelihood #exsharkfishermen #videoshoot

It was a privilege to host @mission_erde_ev for a boat trip shoot where Agus and Suhardi were interviewed about the work.

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