Guess which anti-globalist, green-tinged, populist institution is supporting a tourism project that saves an ecosystem, helps impoverished nomads, and respects local religious traditions.
Surely not the World Bank. But it's true: That oft-maligned organization, via its International Finance Corporation, is funding over half of a 1.9-million-dollar (U.S.) project led by Sweetwater Travel of Montana (+1 406 222 0624) and their Mongolian partners to protect the world's largest salmon, the taimen, which can top 200 pounds (90 kilograms). Taimen swim in Mongolia's Eg and Uur Rivers. Under the project, fly-fishing tours will pay fees to local nomadic communities who in turn protect the watershed. Using barbless hooks, anglers will practice catch-and-release, which preserves the taimen and observes local Buddhist prohibitions on eating or selling fish.
Geo-savvy tip: Avoid Mongolian fly-fishing outfitters whose brochures show dead or mishandled fish.
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