The IPB University on Indonesia’s main Island of Java is preparing a survey that monitors the health and restoration of coral reefs. According to that study the country of Indonesia is doing more to restore and support coral reefs than any other nation in the world. The rapidly developing island nation of indonesia has some reputation as environmental offenders with issues of deforestation, pollution and wide spread wildfires that frequently affect neighboring countries with clouds of smoke. But according to the University team there are enormous efforts under way to create artificial reefs. Indonesia has as much as 500 coral reef restoration projects under way or completed. Southeast Asia is home to about a third of all coral reefs worldwide so the Indonesian island nation has a responsibility and opportunity to be a catalyst for such preservation efforts. One of those projects is the $ 7.5 Million Bali Coral Reef Garden (ICRG) which was designed to counter effect the damage from River pollution and Tourism development in the last decades. The department of Maritime Affairs and the Ministry of Fishery fund the project which is also will bring relief to the hard hit tourism industry with an estimated number of 10,000 Jobs to the area. Not only in construction, the project is also expected to bring new jobs in a marine based eco-tourism in the future. The tourism officials in Bali are looking for a new way to open Bali up to a more environmentally sensitive type of tourism and the Bali Coral Reef Garden might just fit that bill. This project represents that largest undertaking of its kind where one million structural elements are submerged to form the basis of the new reef. In the beginning of the year in Lovina Beach on Bali’s north coast a few hundred local workers started to set up one thousand bio rocks made our of concrete, that are the foundation to attach hard coral to. A few month ago about a thousand workers in Nusa Dua on the south side of the island installed 8,000 steel pipes each about 2 meters (6.6 feet) long to form the substructure for coral gardens. Researchers at the IPB University attest that this project is a lifeline for many of the people out of work because of the lack of tourism, but the benefits to Bali’s reef system are expected to be long lasting and impactful.

Our Team at Bali Blue Star Coral Farm is proud to be part of a variety of such restoration projects. We are actively supplying our coral to environmental reef protection projects for quite a number of years. We applaud our leaders for the foresight to invest into our diverse and beautiful underwater habitat. We are sure that future generations will enjoy and appreciate the fruits of those efforts. We sure are convinced that it is a worthwhile enterprise and we will continue to support it with expert advice and our beautiful farm raised coral.