My first real conversation with Rose Huizenga took place, fittingly, onboard a dive boat. As we bumped across the teal waters of Indonesia’s Gili Matra Marine Park, it quickly became apparent that Rose is no regular business owner or marine conservationist.
Every once in a while, you meet someone who possesses the unique ability to draw others in and inspire them to be their best selves. Rose Huizenga is undeniably one of those rare individuals.
While charisma is a word normally reserved for qualities that are inexplicable in others, I would argue that Rose’s charisma can be explained and is, in fact, well-nurtured.
It is rooted in her innate curiosity, in her warmth, her stubborn optimism, and her distinctive talent to inspire loyalty. Rose’s welcoming intensity not only makes people feel seen but, more importantly, makes them feel capable—a crucial attribute in her line of work.
In addition to running Villa Nangka, a boutique hotel, Rose is the Co-Founder and Director of Gili Shark Conservation, a marine research initiative dedicated to preserving the Gili Matra Marine Park and establishing Indonesia’s first recognized white-tip shark nursery. In 2021, she founded Coral Catch, the country’s first all-female coral restoration scholarship and training program. Both organizations operate simultaneously out of Gili Air.
I was fortunate enough to spend a month alongside the Gili Shark and Coral Catch conservation teams, during which I had the opportunity to experience their impact firsthand — as well as witness the leadership of Rose Huizenga. You can explore my previous article on Coral Catch's impact on women in marine science at the following link.
The following piece is from one of my several sit-downs with Rose, in which she candidly discusses the behind-the-scenes aspects of managing a full-time conservation organization and scholarship program. Rose’s dedication undeniably shines through as she reflects on the highs and lows of being a leader in a field rapidly altered by climate change. I hope you enjoy.
Annie: Rose, to start, could you tell me a little bit about your background and how you came to Gili Air?
Rose: I’m from Holland. I’m 40 years old… It still sounds a bit weird when I say that. I don’t feel 40. I came to Gili Air 11 years ago as a backpacker, planning to stay for just two days, and then I ended up staying for three months.
Annie: From what I understand, you launched your marine conservation career largely based on your knowledge as a dive instructor…
Rose: I started diving here, which I really enjoyed. Being a dive instructor is the best job in the world—taking people diving for the first time and showing them the underwater world.
I learned so much. I really enjoyed taking people diving who were really nervous or maybe had a bad experience in the past. Getting them past that point was very rewarding.
Annie: And from there, you eventually were able to crowd-fund the purchase of some property, Villa Nangka, which became the seed for both some awesome citizen science work and Gili Shark Conservation. Could you talk more about that?
Rose: Yeah. One night, we [Rose and her husband Andreas] were sitting with a friend who was a marine biologist.
Global FinPrint was conducting this extensive shark research for the first time, studying shark populations in 400 places around the world, all using the same method, BRUV [Baited Remote Underwater Video].
Our friend knew one of these professors, and he said to her, “Okay, drop it [the BRUV] in the Gilis because we don’t have anyone in that area.” She wasn’t paid for it; she was just doing it to be a part of it.
Then my husband said, “What if we ask people to help you?”
Annie: So, Global FinPrint is what sparked Gili Shark Conservation — a citizen science travel experience. And it has grown a lot from when you first started. It’s evolved into a leading research group in the Gili Islands and a successful business. You’ve even won The International SeaKeepers Society Asia Achievement Award for your work.
Rose: And it’s worked pretty well from the beginning, I have to say!
Annie: That should be the model everywhere, right? We don’t need more companies solely focused on profit margins and expansion. We also don’t need more NGOs that struggle so much financially that they can’t bring about the change they initially aimed for at their founding. There’s a happy medium there.
Rose: Yeah, I mean, we were one of the few projects that could afford three full-time staff members all year round. Now we have five full-time people on our research team.
Annie: Let’s talk about the work you’re doing right now. You work every day in the Gili Matra Marine Park. How rapidly would you say the reef is deteriorating?
Rose: Too fast. Way too fast.
Andreas, our friends, and I saw the marine environment changing. I don’t have a marine science background, but if you go diving every day, you just see the change.
Even now, we’ve been here for over 11 years, and we see a dramatic difference.
Annie: I think a lot of coral and marine conservationists are saying this right now.
Rose: Sometimes you wonder, "Why are you still doing it?" But what’s the other option? Not doing it? No.
You know, I had an interview recently with someone, and I realized something. [Rose pauses] Maybe the success of Gili Shark Conservation is that I didn’t study marine science and that I’m just a very curious person.
I think if you are maybe a scientist, you see a lot of obstacles. You say, "We can’t do this because we don't have x, y, z."
And I think, "Well, we have a lot of turtles in the Gilis. How many turtles are there in this area? No one knows. Why don’t we start counting them?" And then I Google or ask the people who work for me, "How do you identify a turtle? Okay, that’s super easy. And we’re diving anyway all the time. So let’s start taking pictures."
And then I saw Chasing Coral in 2019. I went back to my team and said, "Why are we not doing anything with corals? We can’t be a conservation project and leave the corals out!"
People say, "Rose, we know that."
"Then why aren’t we doing it?"
"Because we don’t know anything about corals."
"But we do know people who know things about corals"
I said, "You guys are going to go to Bali. You’re going to spend two weeks with this coral team, and then we’re going to come back and we’re going to work on corals." A lot of these projects come from my curiosity.
Annie: A very "can do, why not us" mentality… That’s actually a perfect segue into Coral Catch. In your own words, can you describe the Coral Catch scholarship?
Rose: Coral Catch gives local women the skills and the confidence to have a career in marine conservation.
Annie: Since you started your Coral Catch work in 2021, have you seen attitudes change? Has the island become more receptive to women divers and marine conservationists?
Rose: Absolutely, yes. Having our female program manager and five girls suddenly walk into our dive shop, at least two of them in hijabs, seeing these girls set up their equipment, carry their tanks, and then start making hex stones and welding, people just thought "Wow."
Annie: And I think you’ve hinted about this in our other conversations, but did you have any reservations before starting a program like this?
Rose: Oh yeah, everyone said that it wasn’t possible. "Where would I get the money? Why would I do this? How’s it going to help me? Can the girls even carry their tanks? Are they even going to work in marine conservation after the program or will they get married? Why would you invest in them and then let them go again?"
There were a number of reasons not to do it.
Annie: And yet, you’ve proven all those people wrong. You have nearly a 100 percent retention rate of keeping Coral Catch alumni in the marine science industry. I also know that you intend to have 100 women come through this program in the next 5 years, but is the ultimate goal to keep expanding Coral Catch?
Rose: I never thought about it until one of our ambassadors, Dr. Siti Nurtahira Jaafar from the Terengganu University of Malaysia, said, “I take my hat off for you.”
To hear this from someone well-established in the marine science world was amazing. She said something like, "It [Coral Catch] is so practical, and I have a university, and we do coral restoration."
As a joke, I just said, "Yeah, why don’t we just do Coral Catch Malaysia?"
She was there with her colleague from Thailand. Then I said to her, "You should do Coral Catch in Thailand."
And they said, "Yeah, let’s talk about it!"
I was on my bicycle home, and Andreas [Rose’s husband] called and said, "How did the meeting go?"
I said, "Great! We’re going to do Coral Catch Thailand and Coral Catch Malaysia!"
I think they don’t really know how serious I am, you know, why not?
Annie: Well, the world certainly needs more champions of the environment. And I may be partial, but I tend to think women make fantastic leaders. Rose, What has been the best part about running this experience?
Rose: The girls. To see their transformation. I just got a message yesterday where one of them wrote to me. [Rose takes out her phone and reads the message]
"Hey ibu, [ibu is mom in Bahasa Indonesian] I want to let you know that today’s my first day on my scuba instructor course. Being an instructor was not even my dream because I knew the way to get there was almost impossible for me. But with the help of Blue Corner and PADI, I got a scholarship to be one. In my scholarship letter, I mentioned Coral Catch again and again, because I wouldn’t be here if it’s not because of you. And all my love for diving existed in the middle of batch four. Wish me luck."
I get these messages all the time like this. That's the most rewarding thing.
Annie: What is the hardest part about running this program?
Rose: I think what I completely underestimated is the process of transforming an idea into a project… into a running project… into a running funded project.
I had no idea how much it would all be. You have to make it, program it. Then you need to find someone to run it, which means writing a job description, doing interviews, figuring out salaries…
We did the first batch, and it worked well. We thought, "We have something good here!" But then you have to raise more money. But you can’t raise money if you don’t build a website. So, you start building websites…
It’s a long process once you start writing. Then you need to have images. So you need a photo shoot. Then it’s time to start planning the next batch…
Annie: And this is largely you doing this, with two kids under two as well?
Rose: Yeah. While breastfeeding. Running Gili Shark Conservation from behind the scenes. Running Villa Nangka…
Annie: When do you sleep, Rose? When do you rest?
Rose: [laughing] Not much.
Annie: I’ve been watching the Coral Catch Superwomen for about four weeks now. What’s really apparent is that this program contains a lot of mixed media skills—whether it’s social media, technical expertise, welding—that's so cool, by the way—diving, etc. You’re really building this holistic program. Could you speak about the desire to have so many different skill sets in this program?
Rose: I think it was just coming from my own experience. To run projects like this, you just need to have a lot of skills, and a lot of times there is no money. You can’t hire a welder, an accountant, or someone to do your social media, so you need to be able to do it all.
Annie: I'm also really curious; you have this awesome curriculum in place. These women are learning incredible skills. I know you have your ambassador network, but is there any kind of support or check-ins after the program?
Rose: Yeah, so we have a group on WhatsApp with all the girls. I stay connected with all of them. [Rose pauses] I wonder how it’s going to be now that we’re getting bigger and bigger. We already have 24 girls. What if there are 100 girls?
Annie: There could be some really cool opportunities in the future to host Superwoman conferences. [Superwomen refers to how Coral Catch describes their cohort of diving women.]
Rose: I want to do a Superwoman reunion, host them here, and do one week of super cool coral restoration work. It comes back to funding.
Annie: Something I am really curious about because you’ve been in the marine industry for so long now, is that after all my travels working in the broader blue economy—whether that’s fishing, shipbuilding, or shipping in general—there are not very many women. However, marine science seems to have a higher representation of women in comparison to the other sectors of the blue economy. In your opinion, why do you think that is?
Rose: I think when people say there’s not a lot of women working in marine conservation, I think they’re talking about leadership. Is it because of the field, or is it because of the role of women in general? How many people are going back to work after they have a kid? There’s a gap there.
Annie: Right. What systems are in place to help people get back into the field? One final question: As a leader in marine conservation yourself, what is the importance of having more women in leadership positions within this field?
Rose: Well, if you don’t have anyone to look up to, who’s going to spark that thing inside you that makes you think, “Hey, that could be me in a few years?”
Annie: Well put. That was it, Rose. Those were all my questions. Thank you.
Rose: Thank you.
Annie Means is a marine journalist covering global stories. Working across multiple mediums—including writing, film, and videography—she is passionate about sharing narratives that bridge nature and culture, the sea and society. She spent 2023 and 2024 traveling the world as part of her Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, during which she explored and reported on women's leadership in the international blue economy and maritime sector. From surfers and oyster farmers to shipwrights and scuba divers, she covers a variety of nautical niches. In 2024, she was honored as the runner-up for the prestigious Yachting Journalists' Association's Young Journalist of the Year Award. When she's not traveling, you'll likely find her immersed in the water or penning stories about it.
Stay up to date with Annie Means’ coverage on her Substack (linked here), Instagram @means.maritime, LinkedIn, or LinkTree.
Since this interview, Rose Huizenga won first place in the prestigious Blue Water Heroes award. In November 2024, renowned marine biologist, oceanographer, and explorer Dr. Sylvia Earle presented her with the award for her work in ocean conservation and for elevating the profile of women in marine science.
Learn more or contribute to Coral Catch’s mission on their website: coralcatch.org.
Photos courtesy of Rose Huizenga, Coral Catch and Annie Means
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