When passion leads.
All else follows
From the ocean to the city
and back again
Field+Fin was built on a simple idea:
“Can we create a business in the city that funds the protection of remote wilderness, partnered with traditional communities, if we designed the loop properly?”
In Sydney, we create and activate food gardens and partnered farms, growing mushrooms and produce, cooking over fire and hosting dinners, events and community gatherings.
Every dollar we generate here is designed to support our work in Papua New Guinea, where we partner with traditional landowners to protect reefs, lagoons and island ecosystems through practical, on-ground conservation and low-impact tourism.
It's a working circular economy between the bush and the city.
Real revenue, funding real conservation.
Who we are
Field & Fin is not just one person.
We are a small, committed team of:
Urban farmers and chefs
Rural property owners
Conservation practitioners and dive professionals
Local landowners and community leaders in Papua New Guinea
Creatives, storytellers, and collaborators
Our strength comes from working across cultures, disciplines, and environments and staying accountable to the communities and ecosystems we operate in.
Where it began
Daryl (Daz) Byrne is an urban farmer, conservationist and photographer who has for the past 25 years been creating sustainable green spaces in Sydney and conservation projects in the remote wilderness of Papua New Guinea.
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Daryl Byrne — Founder, Field & Fin
“25 years ago, I was wandering around, adventuring and exploring with my best mates and a camera.
One of the adventures I organised and undertook was to paddle a single kayak up the east coast of Australia and across to Papua New Guinea and around the coast to Milne bay.
A journey which took around 5 months.
What started as an adventure with mates became a defining moment, a deep connection to Papua, its people, and the ocean systems that sustain them.For me, that journey has shaped everything that followed.”
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Field+Fin exists in Sydney because I wanted to explore the way we gather around a fire, to share stories and food, whilst also developing alternatives to our food supply in the city.
It was this drive to share the joy of what I experience in remote communities, where we grow, cook and share our food as a collective that led me to the mission of bringing the ethos of the bush to the city.
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At the same time, I needed to continue my passion for conservation, on the ground, in real time, which meant that Field+Fin also needed to exist in the bush.
What I know firsthand is that some of the more remote and untouched places left on earth don't have the luxury of government funding and a thriving local economy to support conservation.
All of this work relies on the local community to undertake the task, which is almost impossible when these communities are living hand to mouth.
So I decided I needed to do what I could to return the love by supporting my PNG family to set up a series of marine sanctuaries to create community conservation projects.
Take the city to the bush.
My goal has been to connect our remote communities in the bush to our thriving communities in the city, sharing experiences from both extremes to enrich all of our lives.
Papua New Guinea
where the work matters most
In Milne Bay Province, we work alongside local families and clans to manage and protect large marine ecosystems, including coral reefs, seagrass meadows, mangroves and turtle nesting areas.
Our work focuses on:
Community-led marine sanctuaries
Reef, seagrass and clam restoration
Sustainable livelihoods through eco-tourism
Training and education for local custodians
We invest in these places — financially, practically and culturally.
Why this model works
Most conservation projects struggle because they rely on grants, donations or short-term funding.
Field+Fin is different. We deliberately built a revenue generating engine in the city that:
Funds conservation work directly
Employs people locally and overseas
Creates long-term partnerships instead of one-off campaigns
When you support Field+Fin, whether by buying food, attending an event, becoming a sponsor or joining as a partner, you are entering a system that is already operating, already delivering and built to scale.
Culture, Conservation and Restoration?
How do your purchases, donations and memberships help support
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Your contribution provides conservation income to our local partners proving the case to the larger community as a whole that adopting community based conservation practices can create an income stream away from more common and destructive fishing practises.
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Your contribution supports on the ground eduction projects that significantly enhance conservation efforts empowering locals to protect their local ecosystems.
This also allows us to develop long term income streams such as carbon sequestration and ecotourism, fostering long-term stewardship and jobs, boosting local economies and promoting resilient and self sustaining communities. -
Your contribution helps us to develop seagrass meadow replanting projects which are highly efficient carbon sinks, capable of sequestering carbon dioxide (CO₂) up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests.
Our project is located in coral sea of PNG, which hosts the highest diversity of seagrass species in the Pacific. With your ongoing support we plan to continue to expand seagrass meadows in to the surrounding region helping to boost marine biodiversity, providing habitat for fish, shellfish and larger marine animals like turtles and dugong.
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Sea turtles are keystone species, maintaining the balance of marine ecosystems.
Our region of the coral Sea of PNG is the critical habitat for six of the world’s seven sea turtle species.
Through your involvement we will be able to implement ongoing turtle conservation projects, including egg relocation, hatchlings monitoring and the protection of nesting mothers, all crucial for supporting endangered turtle populations. -
Our marine sanctauries are located within the Coral Triangle, a global biodiversity hotspot hosting over 600 coral species and 2,000 fish species.
Maintaining and restoring coral growth increases carbon storage and supports adjacent blue carbon ecosystems like seagrass meadows, which turtles and fish rely on.
Through your support we will be able to continue to protect our two existing sanctuaries with that hope that we can continue to increase the number of areas under our wing. -
Implementing marine sanctuaries and encouraging eco-tourism are critical for marine conservation, cultural resilience and the supporting of carbon sequestration.
Through your help, we plan to build a legacy of community based, culturally relevant marine sanctuaries that will not only be wonderful places for tourists to visit but will also act as significant carbon sinks and restoration and conservation projects.