After travelling thousands of miles, the red spotted grouper eventually ends up on a plate in Hong Kong's renowned Jumbo restaurant where at just under a pound it
sells for 1000 HK dollars (130 USD). It may well have been caught using destructive and dangerous fishing practices, at the moment there is no way for restaurateurs
or consumers to really know where the fish is coming from and, more importantly, how it's been caught, Hong Kong. Nikon D3S 320mm F/6.3 1/80s ISO2000
BAJAU LAUT: Last Of The Sea Nomads
An ethnic group of Malay origin, the Bajau Laut have lived almost entirely at sea for centuries.
They are some of the last true nomads of the ocean.
By James Morgan
J
ames Morgan is an award-winning film
director, an environmental activist and
a photographer with a vision. His in depth
photographic features and documentary
films explore our changing relationship with
the natural world, often featuring individuals
who walk the borderline between wilderness
and civilisation. His ongoing work on climate
change in the Arctic, Indonesian sea nomads,
Siberia’s bounty wolf hunters and on the role
of religious leaders in the Himalayas has won
numerous accolades and been published and
exhibited internationally. PRIYASHI NEGI
from Chiiz gets in conversation with him
about his journey so far and what’s in store
for us in the future.
What inspired you to be a photojournalist?
I always wanted to travel and originally
photojournalism was a good way to see the
world and expose myself to new things.
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How did your journey of environmental
activism start?
I’ve always lived near the ocean and been
drawn particularly to marine conservation.
Through my work with the Bajau I started
working a lot with WWF and then became
more and more involved with other
environmental issues. Particularly wildlife
crime.
Can you tell us about one of those moments
when you felt overwhelmed by the stories
that you covered?
There was one moment when I was visiting a
remote community in West Papua. They had
sold their land to a palm oil company and the
leader of the community was describing the
forest that used to be where we were standing.
What do you look for or seek out when you
are covering a story?
I like to cover stories that have a strong
relevance to people outside of the story. I like
for them to focus on important local issues
but to be accessible enough that they also
comment on human nature more generally.
You have won various awards. Is there an
award that means the world to you ?
Not especially, the awards help the stories to
travel further and that enables me to cover
more stories.
Has there ever been a point in your life
when you wanted to move away or just take
a break?
I’m actually looking to move away from
photojournalism now in favor of doing
longer film projects. Exploring similar issues
but through fiction and narrative film.
Tell us about your upcoming projects.