BAJAU LAUT: LAST OF THE SEA NOMADS

The Bajau Laut have lived almost entirely at sea for centuries. They are some of the last true sea nomads. But modern political and environmental pressures are bringing an end to their way of life.

The coral triangle is home to 75% of the world's coral species and thousands of species of whales, sharks, turtles, tuna and other reef fish, many of which are critically endangered. West Papua, Indonesia.

Kids diving off the jetty at Ayello Village, an hour from Misool Eco Resort

Ramdan plucks a lobster from the seabed. The shallows are as great a source of creatures for food and trade as the deeper waters. Torosiaje, Indonesia.

Traditional Bajau lepa-lepa boats off the coast of Pulau Bangko. More and more Bajau are settling into permanent homes in stilt villages, but a dwindling few still choose to live the majority of their lives at sea. Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Ibu Ani looks on as her son, Ramdan, forages the reef for clams. Since Ani's husband died of the bends whilst compressor and cyanide diving, she has relied on her son to support her during the months they spend at sea together. Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Moen Lanke wrenching clams from the reef with a tyre iron. He holds his breath for long minutes underwater while the work is done. Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Ramdan hunting with his handmade pana speargun. Since his father died compressor diving, Ramdan now forages the reefs in order to support himself and his mother. Torosiaje, Indonesia.

Moen Lanke, seconds after freediving for clams with a tyre iron. It is common amongst the Bajau to intentionally burst their ear drums at an early age, sidestepping the need to equalise whilst diving. Sulawesi, Indonesia.

As Moen Lanke retrieves clams from the reef, his wife shucks them and lays them out on a wire mesh to begin preparing his dinner, which she will cook at the back of their traditional Bajau Lepa Lepa, Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Bajau catch stingrays with nets and spears, using the tail section to make a yellow sting ray curry. Torosiaje, Indonesia.

A young Bajau girl wades out from Torosiaje village to look for sea cucumbers and shell fish. The path to self-sufficiency begins at an early age, as children learn the vital skills of foraging in the shallows. Sulawesi, Indonesia.

For the children that are born in Torosiaje, it may be several years before they set foot on dry land. The stilt village has a junior school but older children commute to the mainland. Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Two children from families who took residence on one of the uninhabited islands lining the Sulawesi coast. Unable to make a living ashore, they have returned to the sea for a self-sufficient lifestyle based around 'cari laut': searching the ocean.

Amja Kasim Derise cooking dinner at home on his traditional lepa lepa boat. The back of the boat is used for cooking, the middle for sleeping and the front for fishing. Sulawesi, Indonesia.

In Torosiaje, many Bajau have abandoned government-provided homes, deciding instead to build this stilt village 1km out to sea. Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Prayers at a mosque on stilts over the ocean. As well as the widely practised mainland faith, the Bajau follow their own 'Pamali': a set of taboos and ritual observances that govern their interaction with the sea. Wangi Wangi, Wakatobi, Indonesia.

Jatmin surfacing with an octopus. The spearguns the Bajau often carry are handy for rooting the creatures from the holes in which they hide. Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Jatmin, an octopus specialist, carries his freshly speared catch back to his boat in the shallow waters off the coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Whilst few Bajau are now born on boats, the ocean is still very much their playground. Here, Enal plays with his pet shark. Wangi Wangi, Indonesia.

Ibu Hanisa lost her hands and the sight in one eye when a homemade fertiliser bomb went off in her house. There are human, as well as environmental, costs to destructive fishing practices.

If the fish have been caught using cyanide they are also injected with tetracycline in order to reduce the mortality rate. The antibiotic can stay in a fish's system for up to a week. Wakatobi, Indonesia.

Catching a grouper with hook and line, as opposed to cyanide, yields a smaller catch and radically decreased profits. But efforts are being made amongst fishermen and export companies to promote a more sustainable fish industry. Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Compressor diving remains a common practice amongst young Bajau Laut despite being unsustainable, illegal and highly dangerous. It is one of the main causes of unnatural death in the Bajau communities I have visited.

Pak Lapoli demonstrates using cyanide to catch grouper for the live reef fish trade. Potassium Cyanide devastates whole reef colonies. The deadly mixture dispersed widely by currents. It is thought to be more destructive long term than bomb fishing.

Tadadak with a grouper at the cages off Tomian Island. Grouper is one of the most in-demand species for the live fish trade, unfortunately it is also one of the most vital to the preservation of the coral ecosystems. Wakatobi, Indonesia.

A Bajau fisherman takes his catch that day to the 'cages' - large underwater nets used by the export companies to store grouper and other live reef fish. This is a significant source of income for the Bajau. Tomian Island, Wakatobi, Indonesia.

Pak Usrin demonstrates how to make a fertiliser bomb. He assures me, however, that he stopped bombing reefs back in 2005. Today he gets paid through Reef Check Indonesia to protect his local coral environment. Wakatobi, Indonesia.

A shipment of live reef fish from Sulawesi is unloaded in Bali - a stop over on en route to Hong Kong and mainland China. Bali, Indonesia.

The grouper are transported to a holding facility in Bali, where they are kept in live fish tanks and wait to be flown to Hong Kong and mainland China.

A grouper, newly arrived in Hong Kong, for sale at a seafront restaurant in Sai Kung town. Sai Kung, Hong Kong.

The live reef fish market in Hong Kong is estimated to be worth US $400 million a year. The Chinese appetite for live reef fish is so voracious that it is effecting lifestyles and fishing practices throughout the Coral Triangle. Wan Chai, Hong Kong.

The red spotted grouper eventually ends up on a plate in Hong Kong's renowned Jumbo restaurant where it sells for 1000 HK dollars (130 USD) per lb. And there is no way for restaurateurs, or consumers, to know how the fish has been caught. Hong Kong.

Destructive fishing techniques are common practice among the coastal populations of the Coral Triangle. The favoured methods are homemade fertiliser bombs and potassium cyanide, which have not only decimated reefs in the largest and most diverse marine bio-region in the world, but have destroyed countless human lives as well.

Of all these communities, the Bajau Laut have perhaps suffered the most. The Bajau Laut are some of the last true marine nomads. An ethnic group of Malay origin, they have for centuries lived out their lives almost entirely at sea, plying a tract of ocean between Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. In the last few decades many have been forced to settle permanently on land, but a dwindling number still call the ocean home, living on long boats known as lepa lepa. Traditionally, they fish with nets and lines and are expert free divers, going to improbable depths in search of pearls and sea cucumbers or to hunt with handmade spear guns.

But these traditional techniques have been largely replaced by cyanide and dynamite fishing, practices that are being driven predominantly by the live fish trade – an industry whose global worth is estimated at US $1 billion. The trade’s epicentre is Hong Kong, while Indonesia supplies most of the fish, accounting for nearly 50% of all imports. Target species are grouper and Napoleon wrasse, reef species that are key to the preservation of coral ecosystems.

Traditional Bajau cosmology – a syncretism of animism and Islam – reveals a complex relationship with the ocean, which for them is a multifarious and living entity. There are spirits in currents and tides, in coral reefs and mangroves. My point of interest is the potential for dovetailing the Bajau’s uniquely intimate understanding of the ocean with wider marine conservation strategies, in order to facilitate them in conserving, rather than destroying, their culture and the spectacular marine environments they have called home for centuries.

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