No tourism income, but this Philippine community still guards its environment

Ecotourism provides an economic alternative to fishing for coastal communities. On the Island Garden City of Samal, in the Philippines, residents have embraced a giant clam nursery and sanctuary, which attracts mariculture tourists. The giant clam sanctuary is a project of the Decor United Fisherfolk Organization (AdUFOr) and Davao del Norte State College. It offers livelihood for residents of the community, especially to seniors who give tours, and also assists in the conservation of giant clam populations.

Residents of Apoteri Village, an Indigenous community in the rainforests of Guyana, are finding Giant Arapaima in ponds they were trapped in as the river receded, corralling them, and moving them back to the river by hand to save their lives.

After high demands for arapaima fish led to near extinction, a co-management system in the Amazon rainforest has resulted in the recovery of the fish as well as the economic empowerment of local women. The work includes counting, catching, protecting, harvesting, and bringing fish to market. When more workers were needed, women stepped in and gained respect in the community as being essential members of the fishery. The women collecting an income from the program previously fished for subsistence and now receive payment for their work.

Lobster is a crucial economic resource in New England, but entanglements with the fishing line from lobster traps are a major cause of death for endangered North Atlantic right whales. Scientists and lobstermen are testing ropeless, on-demand gear that minimizes the risk for whales and allows fishing to continue in areas that would otherwise be closed for months as the whales pass through.

Seeking to protect the endangered vaquita, a charity in San Felipe, Mexico, is encouraging fishers who poach totoaba, another endangered species, to swap their gillnets for cimbra. The hook-and-line style fishing equipment allows them to target totoaba that are worth more, meaning they can catch less while making the same or more income and keep other species out of the often harmful nets.

Scientists and environmentalists are working to keep several fish species native to the Colorado River basin from going extinct. Through interventions like fish hatcheries and wetland management, some fish numbers like the ponytail and razorback sucker have rebounded. They’re now looking toward implementing their success at other parts of the river system.

The Japanese government is embracing the idea of "workation" trips for employees across industries as a means to "help the travel industry and keep the economy ticking" as the country moves forward in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Discounts for various travel resources have encouraged 4.2 million people to try out the idea which has been made even more feasible due to the widespread adoption of remote teleworking.

Fish conservation, in the rural streams of the Western United States, requires a remarkable amount of ongoing human intervention. Take the greenback cutthroat trout, Colorado's state fish. The greenback is bred in labs as part of a delicate effort to restore it to its native habitat. But in the wake of a 30 year conservation misstep, due to mistaken identity, scientists are undecided on the best path forward.

Through a co-management system, which has successfully rehabilitated degraded watersheds, the 2015 Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes-Montana Water Rights Compact has restored tribal sovereignty over their waters. This has brought bull trout back to their native streams and reconnected tribal members to traditional lifeways while maintaining water access for existing agricultural users.

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation worked to restore extinct Chinook salmon populations by building their own fish hatchery, establishing legislation, and creating a consensus-based advisory committee that brings government, agriculture, business, and conservation groups together to coordinate water management. Salmon returns have dramatically increased from about 60 fish in 2023 to over 900 in 2025.