Gili Eco Trust

About us

Gili Eco Trust, or Yayasan Ekosistem Gili Indah, is an NGO based on Gili Trawangan. It was founded in 2002 to protect coral reefs around the Gili islands from destructive fishing. In 1999 local fishermen founded the SATGAS to patrol the waters around the three Gili islands. Back then, the reefs were frequently fished with dynamite and cyanide, destroying all the coral and killing the aquatic life inhabiting the reefs. Coral reefs had been left in a disastrous state after the intense El Niño in 1997-1998. The local population reacted and organized patrols to eliminate and educate against the bad fishing practices. An agreement was created between the fishermen, defining the legal techniques of fishing, limited to certain authorized zones, in an attempt to eradicate destructive fishing methods for good. To support the SATGAS, the main dive shops on Trawangan established the NGO Gili Eco Trust in 2002. The idea was to encourage a reef donation of 50,000IDR (€4, US$5) per diver, to financially assist the initiative of SATGAS. This donation was chiefly used to pay the SATGAS employees, to place buoys to limit anchoring, to restore the reefs, and to organize many other environmental projects to protect and restore the natural environment around the islands whilst boosting sustainable tourism.