A fistful of shrimps

Indonesia, 2012-2016

If mangrove trees had blood, the 54,000 km of Indonesian coastline would be indelibly stained in red.
In the last 25 years, this massacre has reduced this complex amphibious ecosystem by more than 50%. Among many other unique qualities, mangroves are capable of storing four times more carbon than any other inland tropical forest and are home to a biodiversity that has few equals on the face of the earth.
Java island has already lost at least 70% of original mangroves forests. Until a century ago, coastlines of Indonesia were crowned by 4.2 million hectares of mangroves. Today they are about 3 million hectares. 40% of this loss is due to the blue revolution: the booming of aquaculture. But economic growth may come at expenses of the poorest who are exposed to loss of local resources, climate and environmental hazards increase.
Particularly in the coastal valley of Sawah Luhur, on West Java Island in Indonesia, the soil has been burned up, fishing nets are empty like barren wombs and the water has become a massive grave. Everywhere you look, strange signs of a sick Earth are appearing and fishermen no longer know how to decipher them. In short, everything is upside down: the night sky shines golden from the perpetual dawn of villages lit and above, the stars have all but disappeared. Below them, the tree(s) of life is dying under a fierce blood moon. The vital yet invisible network that inextricably links the life of every being on Earth has been torn apart. We all have lost.

Supported by Melissa & Bill Gates Foundation through Journalism Grants.
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The traditional Indonesian throwing net for catching fish and shrimps, called "jala", hangs down a mangrove tree of the species Rizhophora Stylosa, on the coast of Sawah Luhur village. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2014.
Just before dawn, Mr. Babay, 30 years-old shrimps farmer, checks his bamboo trap, called "bubu," that he has pulled out of his pond's main canal, in Sawah Luhur village. This trap, used to catch shrimps, has a slot inside so, once shrimps enter, they can't escape. The development of intensive and extensive shrimps aquaculture is the main reason for the loss of mangroves forests in Indonesia. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2014.
The catch of shrimps and fish, from a mangroves-restored farming pond in front of Sawah Luhur village, is poor during the first years of restoration because the ecosystem has not completely recovered. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2014.
A worker of an extensive farming pond walks in the water up to his hips, while distributing "Samponen", in front of Sawah Luhur village. "Samponen" is a molluscicide sometimes used by farmers in great quantities in order to kill fish in the pond. It is distributed at midnight, left to act for a couple of hours, then dead fish float to the surface, making the catch faster, on time for the fish to be sold "fresh" at the morning market. After this treatment, the pond becomes a sterile environment, taking at least four months before being able to host life again. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2016.
The wooden hut of Mr. Omiyadi, 27, under the full moon light, stands among the mangroves bordering his "tambak". Mr. Omiyadi is the youngest fisherman who joined the project of mangroves restoration developed by NGO "Wetlands International Indonesia Program" in Sawah Luhur village. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2016
The shore in front of Sawah Luhur village is lighted by a red light torch. If mangroves had blood, the 54000 km of Indonesian coastline would be indelible stained with red as a result of the massive land reclamation taken place in the last thirty years. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2014.
A child is bathing in the highly polluted waters of the main river running across Sawah Luhur village. Garbage, industrial waste and sewage, coming along with the rivers from inland settlements, end up at the farming ponds. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2014.
A water snake, likely killed by a shrimps farmer, lays on the sun-cracked bank of an extensive farming pond, in front of Sawah Luhur village. Since the clear cut of mangroves has begun in the late 80's, wildlife has decreased because of the loss of the ecosystem. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2013.
Two farmers smoke in front of their fishing hut, under a full moon night in Sawah Luhur village. Fishermen have to look after their traps all night long in order to avoid the theft of shrimps by other villagers. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2016.
Mr. Kaspudin, 54 years-old shrimps farmer, enters his pond surrounded by young mangroves trees that he started to plant six years ago, when he decided to join a project of ecosystem's restoration and changed from intensive aquaculture to sustainable ponds farming. Sawah Luhur village, Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2014.
A pair of a farmer's working pants lays to dry on the sluice of one of the main canals that bring sea water to the extensive shrimps ponds in front of Sawah Luhur village. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2015.
A bag of nutrients for shrimps emerges between the sun-cracked mud on the bank of a farming pond in Sawah Luhur village. The clear cut of mangroves destroys the ecosystem so farmers are forced to buy nutrients, feed, additives, molluscicides and other chemicals to grow shrimps and fish. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2016.
Hasan Abdullah, a young shrimps farmer who cares of 7 extensive farming ponds over 2 hectares. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2016
Supiro, 32 years-old shrimps farmer, picks up the shrimps trap from his pond, at sunrise, in Sawah Luhur village. He is one of the youngest fishermen to join a project of mangroves restoration, run by NGO "Wetlands International", focused on helping farmers changing from extensive aquaculture to sustainable pond farming. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2014
Mr. Timan, 51, shrimps farmer, stands up with his legs covered in mud on his pond's bank in Sawah Luhur village. He holds a bamboo scoop with which he dredges by hands the canals bringing sea water to his ponds. Since this coastal valley has been reclaimed for extensive shrimps farming, the land has been deeply modified by man's handiwork. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2014
Under the reddish moonlight of a "blood moon", a lonely mangrove tree can be seen standing as the last bastion of the pristine mangroves forest once covering the coastal valley of Sawah Luhur village. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2014.
Mrs. Nur Chayati, 50, poses in front of the batik she has made in the coastal village of Mangunharjo. After observing that mangroves bark gives a permanent brown dye, Nur formed a group of 13 women to produce artisanal batik with natural coloring. Their patterns draw inspiration from the nature around their village: birds, fish, trees. Not only fishermen benefit from mangroves restoration but also women, whose economic independence can be fostered by the several uses of mangroves products such as natural dye, food ingredients, medicines. Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia, 2016.
Women in Mangunharjo village work together at the production of handmade batik with natural dyes. In the first phase of the process, women draw with liquid wax on the canvas. Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia, 2016
Nur Chayati, 50, holds some mangrove's fruits (sp. Avicennia Marina) with which she's going to prepare a cake. The community of Mangunharjo village has learned how to use mangrove's goods in a variety of fields: friuts for cooking, dried seeds of Rhizophora species for dyeing traditional batik, lymph of Avicennia Marina for traditional medicines, soap from Xilocarpus Moluccensis sp. Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia, 2014.
Romdana, 48 years-old, poses in his pond full of mangroves trees, in Sawah Luhur village. He joined a project of mangroves restoration, run by NGO "Wetlands International", focused on helping farmers changing from extensive aquaculture to sustainable farming. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2016
The mangroves nursery run by "Prenjak" Community is located on the coastline of Tapak village. Young plants are partly for sale and partly used to reinforce the coastal protection of the village against sea currents erosion. "Prenjak" Community promotes maintaining of the local tradition called "wanamina", that means running farming ponds based on mangroves ecosystems, which border every pond, thus providing fish and shrimps with food, oxygen, shelter, spawning ground. Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia, 2016
Arifin, 29, in the foreground, is the president of "Prenjak" Community, for protecting the mangroves of Tapak village. Behind him, Aris, 20, is the responsible for relations with foreign media and Nur, 21, the treasurer. The association's aim is to protect mangroves according to the traditional wisdom passed on by the elderly. Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia, 2016.
Some flooded farming ponds, in Kendal Regency, few kilometers west of Mangunharjo village. Without the protection of mangroves, coastal areas are more prone to frequent marine erosion and flooding due to rising sea level. Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia, 2016.
Some pictures taken by Mr. Sururi, 58, during the huge flood event in 1996 occurred in the ponds area of Manguharjo village, during which sea currents eroded 150 hectares of land, not protected anymore by mangroves. Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia, 2013.
Inside the wooden house of Kasrudin, 38, the wall is covered in family pictures. Thanks to the stable income coming from restoring mangroves on his farming ponds, Kasrudin has been able to build his own house in bricks, in Sawah Luhur village, a year later than this picture has been taken. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2014
Mrs. Pasijah is the only resident remained in the flooded village of Bedono. Demak, Central Java, Indonesia, 2016.
Mangroves of Avicennia species have colonized the coastal village of Bedono. About 10 years ago, the village has been abandoned because completely flooded by sea water. All the wooden houses decomposed forming the substrate on which mangroves have grown up again. Demak, Central Java, Indonesia, 2016
A flooded portico of a former mosque is one of the few ruins remaining in the coastal village of Bedono. About 10 years ago, the village has been abandoned because completely flooded. Demak, Central Java, Indonesia, 2016.
Mr. Haji, 65, for over 40 years has been head of the forestry police in the coastal village of Sawah Luhur, with the task of protecting the last remaining area of primary mangroves forest, a nesting site for various species of migratory birds. In 2014, Haji retired and joined a group of families participating in a mangroves restoration project on farming ponds, supported by the NGO "Wetlands International Indonesia Program". Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2013
An aerial view of the remaining primary mangroves forest on the coast of Sawah Luhur village. These ancient mangroves are vestiges of the coastal forest that once covered the island of Java. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2016
Mr. Supiro, 32, shrimps farmer, plants mangroves propagules in his pond in Sawah Luhur village. He is one of the youngest fishermen to join a project of mangroves restoration, run by NGO "Wetlands International Indonesia Program", focused on helping farmers changing from extensive aquaculture to sustainable farming. Banten, Java, Indonesia, 2016
The fist of Kasrudin, 38, holds some white legs shrimps (Penaeus Vannamei), freshly caught in front of Sawah Luhur village. Banten Java, Indonesia, 2016
A handful of boiled tropical shrimps "Penaeus Vannamei". While, until about twenty years ago, shrimps were a niche product, today the huge availability of cheap tropical shrimps from aquaculture has prompted consumption. Italy, 2016.