3. Project HIU
This project was launched by Madison Steward (Youth Conservationist of the Year 2017 in Australia). She's called "Sharkgirl" because she has gone diving with sharks since she was a teenager. Each year over 100 million sharks are slaughtered for their fins or their meat, are trapped in fishers' nets and die. Madison started this project in Indonesia to promote tourism in a fishing village, in which the people there could earn more than they do killing sharks and in the process also protect the oceans. She is involving the entire population and raising awareness of these issues among children.
Madison’s goal is to stop all the boats in this small fishing village in Indonesia from setting out to hunt sharks, by investing $100 a day - for seven (7) days a month, that is, a total of $700 per month. The number of sharks killed in each hunting trip is very high. With this money Madison manages to carry out various projects: she brings diving tourists to the village, from where they can go out to sea on the shark-fishing boats to watch sharks (instead of killing them), which leads even the fishermen to love these animals. Furthermore, Madison is also working with the local children to teach them to understand these animals and to explain how important they are for the sea and for all of us.