The Fishermen of Atauro

The people of Atauro Island have fished these waters for centuries, long before scientists confirmed what they knew: that the reefs here hold the highest recorded fish biodiversity on the planet. In 2016, Conservation International documented an average of 253 reef fish species per dive site, a world record. Today, Atauro's fishing communities are at the forefront of marine conservation, establishing tara bandu (traditional marine protected areas) to safeguard their extraordinary inheritance.

Atauro Island sits in the Ombai Strait, one of the major channels of the Indonesian Throughflow, the massive current system that carries warm water from the Pacific into the Indian Ocean. This creates a biological superhighway. Nutrients, larvae, and warm water funnel through the strait, and Atauro's reefs capture the bounty.

The fishermen of Atauro have always known their reefs were special. For generations, they managed access through tara bandu, a traditional Timorese system of sacred prohibitions that can be applied to land, water, or resources. A village elder declares a section of reef tara bandu, and fishing there becomes forbidden for a set period, allowing stocks to recover.

In 2016, Conservation International conducted a Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) survey of Atauro's reefs. The results stunned the scientific community: an average of 253 reef fish species per dive site, with the richest single site yielding 315 species. This surpassed the previous world record of 216 species per site, held by Raja Ampat in Indonesia. A total of 642 species were catalogued across the survey.

The discovery put Atauro on the global conservation map, but it also raised the stakes for its fishing communities. More visitors mean more income but also more pressure on the reefs. The response has been to expand and formalise the tara bandu system, with communities working alongside conservation organisations to establish marine protected areas that balance fishing rights with reef protection.

Today, community-based tourism on Atauro offers visitors a chance to snorkel the world-record reefs, stay in locally owned guesthouses, and eat meals prepared by women's cooperatives. The fishermen still go out at dawn in their wooden canoes, but they also guide diving trips and lead reef walks. The reef is still theirs; they're just sharing it more carefully.