Our Project

Our mission is to support local fishing communities to protect Burma’s (Myanmar) critically endangered Irrawaddy Dolphins and the unique heritage of cooperative fishing by helping them to market and promote community-based tourism.

Objectives

• To create an mutually beneficial experience for visitors and communities.
• To spread public awareness about the need to protect Irrawaddy dolphins and cooperative fishing and reduce impacts from tourism.
• To increase household income of cooperative fishing villages in order to provide incentives to protect dolphins and the tradition of cooperative fishing

We support with all seven communities that practice the tradition of cooperative fishing and who are committed to helping protect dolphins. Villages provide most of the services on our tours, including food, fishing boats, handicrafts and activities.

Sustainability Commitment

We strive to create positive and beneficial experiences for our hosts, guests and staff while supporting dolphin conservation and reducing negative impacts on the environment during our trips and in our daily operations.

Sustainability Policy

ENVIRONMENT

Solid Waste Reduction

Policy: Eliminate packaging and solid waste  by finding alternatives that do not require disposable packaging or reduce the overall amount of packaging necessary.

Actions

• No plastic water bottles on tours or in purchased in villages (use reusable water bottles and offer free refill on the boat)
• Reduce plastic bags by shopping with reusable bags
• Purchase food from villages and order mainly local food that is naturally available
• Do not use instant coffee on trips (to reduce wrappers and provide better coffee)
• Use cotton napkins at village and on the boat in place of paper
• Don’t use small soap packets. Use soap bars or refillable liquid soap to reduce soap packaging.
• Do not print or use paper when not necessary.
• Print on recycled paper when it is an available option. Print double-sided and design forms to use less paper.
• Do not own a printer to reduce the possibility of using paper.
• Provide a briefing to visitors at the start of the tour regarding waste management.

Recycling

Policy: Recycle all things possible including cans, bottles, paper, cardboard and plastic bags. Use recycling money to pay for transport to the recycling shop or as tips for boat staff.

Actions:

• Have separate bins for recycling on the tour boat and brief tourists on their use.
• Separate recyclables at the office (paper, cardboard, bottles, plastic bags). Include recyclables from the tour if the boatman doesn’t collect and sell himself.
• Count/weigh recyclables Recycle bottles
• Recycle at local recycling shop, using money from recycling sales to pay for transport and from the shop 

Waste Disposal

Policy: Dispose waste in appropriately where it will not pollute or harm people or the environment.

Actions

• Keep food scraps at the office separate and feed to the pigs at the jetty.
• No throwing non-biodegradable trash in the river
• Bring back to the office all non-recyclable/non-biodegradable waste
• Weigh waste before throwing out and record in the Sustainability Monitoring database
• Throw out non-biodegradable and non-recyclable waste at the government waste bin or with the regular waste collection.
• Help keep the village and the temples visited clean by asking tourists to volunteer to pick up trash along the trails. Encourage villagers to help if they are interested.

Water Pollution Minimization

Policy: Reduce water pollution from soaps and engine oil.

Actions

• Use biodegradable soap for bathing, washing hands, washing dishes, and doing laundry. Have biodegradable soaps on the boat, in the villages, and in the office
• Check that the boat engine is not leaking oil.

Energy & Carbon Emissions

Policy: Reduce any unnecessary travel or use of electronic appliances at the office or during the tour.

• Use fans instead of aircon in the office.
• Use solar energy to power electronics on the boat. Do not use generators except in emergencies.
• Record energy use in the office and fuel use by the boats in the Sustainability Monitoring Form.
• Record flights and other travel in the Sustainability Monitoring Form. Minimize flights.
• Use bicycle or motorbikes to get around town.
• Use one vehicle for picking up all tourists (small tuk tuk-like truck with 6 person bench seating in the back)
• Look for options to offset fuel used in travel and boats.

Conservation

Policy: Support village dolphin conservation efforts and make funds available from tour revenue and voluntary donations from visitors to augment village dolphin conservation.

Actions

• Use the services of village dolphin and ecotourism groups, supporting fishermen and their families who follow rules regarding fishing practices to protect dolphins.
• Work with communities on village patrolling and monitoring of dolphins and illegal fishing.
• Educate visitors about how their tour helps conservation and about threats to dolphins.
• Brief tourists on appropriate behaviour before dolphin watching, such as not using loud noises.
• Do not follow or chase dolphins with the tour boat or fishing boats. Do dolphin watching with fishermen at normal cooperative fishing hours (morning).
• Collect information on dolphins sightings and threats using the monitoring form on every trip. Relay the information to the Department of Fisheries.
• Use a portion of revenue ($5 per day per person) to support village dolphin conservation activities.

CULTURE

Informing Tourists about Cultural Appropriateness

Policy: Inform guests in written information on the website, during the tour briefing and when entering villages and monasteries about culturally appropriate behaviour.

• Make sure tourists wear appropriate clothes (no short shorts or bikini for women, no bare chest). Provide information on the website, in booking information, and before entering villages and monasteries. Provide a loungyi wearing activity in one of the first villages. Keep loungyis on hand if tourists need to borrow them before entering monasteries, especially the Sacred Forest.
• Be sure that local people aren’t photographed without consent. Tell tourists during the briefing and remind them before each village visit. Be mindful and asks tourists when if they need your help to ask villagers.
• Don’t give money or candy or gifts directly to the children. Inform tourists before we enter the village. Give any gifts to the village leader or monk.
• Don’t point feet at Buddha or monk
• Inform tourists before entering the Sacred Forest Monastery that there should be no loud voices, swearing or smoking at the monastery
• Inform tourists that there is no smoking while walking in the village before we start the village walk
• Be sure that there is no kissing or other inappropriate displays of affection in public in villages. Inform tourists before the tour and before entering the villages.

Discussing the Norms of Cultural Appropriate Behaviour for Tourists with Villagers & Monks

Policy: Get information directly from villagers and monks and what is and what is not appropriate behaviour in their village and regularly ask them if tour groups and guides and following the norms correctly.

• Work with villagers on how to make an activity of teaching them how to wear a loungyi.
• Discuss with villagers before the tour where tourists are allowed to take photos and how they feel about photography.
• Discuss with the village and monks about gift giving, what is needed (if anything) and what is the appropriate way to give.
• Discuss with the head monk of the Sacred Forest Monastery about bringing visitors and train the local guide on how to lead tourists through the forest and monastery.
• Discuss with the community about any other things that may be taboo in the village.
• During meetings and trainings, ask villagers how things are going and if there is anything that they would like change about tourist behaviour in the village.

Culturally Appropriate Design

Policy: Use local designs, materials and ingredients.

• Use local materials and products for use in the tour.
• Use traditional designs for small infrastructure

SOCIAL

Employment

Policy: Support ethical employment practices that follow the law and village rules.

• Employees must have contracts that follow the law. Contracts should address living wages, health insurance, maternity leave, and vacation.
• Villagers working part-time should be employed according to community rules and practices. Favouritism should be avoided so that jealousy in the village is not created.
• Equal opportunity should be given to females and people from disadvantaged backgrounds to be hired by the project.

Health & Safety

Policy: Implement safety and health measures

• Be sure all staff can swim and know what to do in emergencies
• Have safety equipment on the boat (life jackets, first aid kit, life savers) and train all staff how to use them
• Give a safety briefing before every tour and remind visitors about safety throughout the trip
• Train villagers on safety issues on fishing boats and help them to communicate with visitors about safe boat travel (getting on and off the boat and staying seated).
• Draft a safety protocol with input from all staff and villagers.
• Train staff and villagers to dry plates, glasses and utensils (using a drying rack) before serving food or drinks.
• Serve organic food and drinks (fruit, coffee, tea, fresh fish, free range chicken, etc.) whenever possible and limit the use of foods with dangerous chemicals (packaged foods with preservatives bought in the super market)

ECONOMIC

Policy: Support fair wages and ethical employment practices that follow the law and village rules.

• Pay according to prices agreed to in the communities with the village dolphin conservation and ecotourism groups.
• Provide competitive wages.
• Adequately compensate people participating in project activities for their time and efforts.
• Purchase all meals from villages.
• Hire fishermen and their boats on all tours for dolphin watching.
• Include handicraft gifts in the tour price to ensure benefits to local producers. Assist handicraft producers to display and sell their crafts.
• Use local materials, designs and builders for building small infrastructure.
• Employ local people in the project as managers and give employees a chance to improve themselves through training and promotions
• Encourage visitors to support village conservation activities through donations