has a strong interest in conservation, specifically of sharks and rays. Previously, he had an internship with MantaWatch, working on manta ray conservation related to tourism in Komodo National Park. In 2020 Silalahi won the Future Conservationist Award from the Conservation Leadership Programme to pursue higher learning in conservation, and to develop and manage his project, Sawfish Indonesia. The first sawfish conservation project in Indonesia, it combines social and scientific approaches, including fishery surveys, citizen science, eDNA and satellite tagging, to attract the attention of both the Indonesian government and global stakeholders in sawfish conservation.