Hammer(h)e(a)d

I don't think there are many places where you can be driving along and spot a juvenile hammerhead shark for sale at a roadside stall. And fewer places where its vendor would enthusiastically encourage you to take photographs and make stupid poses (not captured).

Three hammerhead species were CITES Appendix II listed in 2013, which means that although they are not immediately threatened with extinction, international trade in them should be strictly regulated to avoid over-exploitation that could lead to extinction. It is wise for countries to focus attention on the domestic use of CITES listed species but the status of hammerheads in Indonesian law is unclear, and even if clear at a national level, it would be incredibly difficult across a huge archipelago for laws to penetrate and law enforcement to be successful. If we have the capacity it would be good to support information gathering about the catching and selling of these threatened species in remote places as it slowly helps to build up a body of knowledge. Simeulue and its waters are incredibly under-studied.

On the last night in Simeulue we were given a free bed at an ex-colleague’s surf resort, which was an insight into a bubble-like existence where everything was described as ‘sick’ and where it’s pretty much the only place on the island where the resort managers have entered into a tentative agreement with the local administration to allow blond Westerners to sink tinnies. In some ways we felt more comfortable in the basic wisma in Sinabang.