It is nearly a decade since we started helping the community of Les village in North Bali to restore their damaged reefs. Since January this year, we are offering opportunity for Indonesian students to conduct research on our reef restoration site in front of the LATC. To date, we have had two students who conducted their research at this site for their undergraduate thesis. They are Ali from Jakarta and Chevien from Purwokerto, Central Java. Both of them are now writing their thesis on coral growth and mortality on the artificial structures. Iqbal from Jendral Soedirman University – Purwokerto, is currently looking at fish biomass on different types of artificial reef structures.
Our reef restoration program has also attracted much interest from international students. In July 2019, two students from Sussex University in UK, came to volunteer and learn in our reef restoration monitoring program. The students were Aimee, who learned to identify the coral species that colonized the artificial reef structures, while Tash was learning to observe fish biomass in the Fish Dome clusters.Both National and International students were provided with guidance from our experts, and they also learned to scuba dive for scientific purposes, and about safety diving. The students have had the opportunities to meet and network with our partners during their stay with us.
We encourage students to contact LINI if they are interested in our program, because they will not only learn about reef conservation, but also connect with various stakeholders who come to our Centre. We believe that every little effort we make to find solutions to help to preserve the marine ecosystem requires strong connections among all the people involved.
By Eveline Kurniati and Gayatri Reksodihardjo-Lilley
