CITIZEN’S WATCH/PROMASTER and the History Channel, recently launched a worldwide campaign, “Save the BEYOND”, which profiles adventurers and explorers with front-line experience of the impact of climate change.

Episode 1: “Oceans are Dying-Marine Scientists Fight Back” profiles the work of 3 marine scientists;  Nathan “the Reef Restorer” Cook, an Australian marine scientist working on the Great Barrier Reef, the esteemed Charlie “Godfather of Coral” Veron, also an Australian who works on the Big Picture of global marine issues, and (our own) Abam “the Manta Whisperer” Sianipar, Protector of Might Megafauna, for Conservation International-Indonesia.

Abraham or as he prefers to be called “Abam” studied ecology and biosystematics at Indonesia’s Bandung Institute of Technology and wrote his undergraduate thesis on reef sharks in Raja Ampat. He became Conservation International’s first employee fully dedicated to its Elasmobranch (i.e. sharks, rays and skates) Programme. The current Indonesian laws protecting manta rays and banning the export of certain sharks depend heavily on Abam’s work. Abam established an Indonesia-wide manta ray satellite tagging project in 2014 and performed the world’s first wild whale shark health assessment in collaboration with Georgia Aquarium. Abam works closely with local communities to find out what they need and to create sustainable plans for protecting marine nature and the magnificent local megafauna. He is one of Indonesia’s homegrown “Eco Heros”!

Abam approaches one of his beloved mantas

We profiled Abam earlier this year, Abam’s Profile.

To watch the entire program click here, however, if you want to share or view only Abam’s segment click here, Abam’s movie.

Abam surveys the manta sanctuary in Raja Ampat’s Wayag Islands

Save the BEYOND series promises to be a good one so bookmark it to view future episodes.