"The barren womb". An empty fishing net is hanging down a mangrove tree on the coastline in front of Sawah Luhur village in West Java Island, Indonesia. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"Puzzling". Pak Pudin, a 53 year old fisherman of Sawah Luhur, has been woken up, in his fishing hut by strange sounds coming from the fishery ponds. Fishermen no longer know how to decipher the signs of decay coming from the environment. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"Blood stained". Coastline in front of Sawah Luhur village in West Java Island. If mangrove trees had blood, the 54000 km of Indonesian coastline would be indelible stained with red as a result of the massive land reclamation project in the last twenty five years. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"Deadly waters". The son of a fisherman is bathing in the highly polluted waters of one of the rivers running across Sawah Luhur village in West Java Island, Indonesia. All the garbage, industrial waste and sewage coming along the rivers from inland ends up here. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"The cut". No more wilderness is left in Sawah Luhur; the massive presence of human activities has dramatically reduced the number of wild animal species. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"The predator". Pak Udin, 38 year old fisherman of Sawah Luhur. Man is the most fearsome predator on Earth. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"Universe". The beautiful starry sky, as seen in a moonless night above Sawah Luhur. This view reminds us that Earth is just a tiny point in the endless Universe and that we have only this amazing place which can support our lives. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"The trap". Just before dawn, Pak Babay, 30 year old fisherman of Sawah Luhur, checks his bamboo trap, called "bubu," that he has just pulled out of the canal. This trap, used to catch shrimps, has a slot inside so, once shrimps enter, they can't escape. The development of intensive shrimps aquaculture is the main reason for the loss of mangrove forests in Indonesia. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"The catch". The catch (shrimps and fish) from intensive fishery ponds, in front of Sawah Luhur village, has declined significantly in recent years. This is due to the lack of natural support from the mangroves ecosystem. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"Sentinels in the night". Two fishermen are going to spend the night at their pond in order to avoid the theft of shrimps. Since the daily catch is so poor, fishermen are forced to look after their traps all night long. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"Another world". Pak Pudin, 53 year old fisherman of Sawah Luhur, enters his pond surrounded by young mangrove trees that he started to plant six years ago. This was when he decided to join an ecosystem restoration project focused on changing from intensive aquaculture to extensive pond farming. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"Enigma". The weird pattern left by an amphibious species living in the polluted mud of the coastal land. Fishermen use to spend many hours per day stuck in the mud, up to their waists, in order to fish, dredge the canals or work on strengthening the embankments. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"Too late?". Pak Pudin is lost in thought. Many fishermen families got into debt in order to buy chemicals and food to cultivate artificial ponds. Now the whole system is collapsing around them. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"Moonlight catch". Under the moonlight, a couple of fishermen catch fish with a throwing net called "jala". Almost all the fishing activities at the intensive farming ponds are done during nights or in the first hours of the morning. During the day, fishermen work in managing the land. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"The Tree of Life". A lonely mangrove tree stands on a barren coastal valley during a night of the Blood Moon. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"The ghost". A fisherman smokes outside. The sky shines gold from the perpetual dawn of the village and no longer has visible stars. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"Pixelated". In order to let the tide flow in and out of the pond, while not letting shrimps go out, fishermen put a plastic net upstream from the main canal. Every evening, fishermen take out the net and put the shrimp traps in the nets place. The net is full of mud drops. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"In the cycle again". Pak Romdana, 48 years old, poses in his pond full of mangrove trees. He joined a restoration project which tries to teach fishermen how to make a sustainable living. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"The murder weapon". Pak Timan, 50 year old fisherman is standing up with his legs covered in mud. He holds a bamboo scoop with which he has just dredged by hands one of the canals bringing sea water to his ponds. Since the reclamation of this coastal valley, the land has been deeply modified by man's handiwork. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"The sluice". A pair of working pants lays on a sluice to block water from flowing freely. They stand as a sign of the impact man has had on this coastal ecosystem. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"Still hope". Pak Supiro, 32 years old, plants young mangroves in his fishery pond. He is one of the youngest fishermen in the area to join the restoration project. © Elisabetta Zavoli
"Eye in the sky". A pale sun is shining, weakly reflected from the greenish, polluted waters of a fishery pond. In order to catch fish more easily, fishermen use to throw toxic products in the water so to kill all the living beings of the pond. Dead fish floated to the surface, making the catch faster. Quickly, the pond became a sterile place, taking at least four month before being able to host life again. © Elisabetta Zavoli
