We are very pleased to know that our reef restoration program continues receiving technical support from various institutions. In September 2019, M. Abrar, a coral scientist from Research Centre for Oceanography – the Indonesian Institute of Science, and Prof. Dr. Bert Hoeksema from the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, Leyden visited and dived at the sites. M Abrar assisted us in identifying natural coral recruitment on our coral restoration sites.
Since January 2019, with support from the CORAL Alliance, we have been monitoring natural recruitment of hard corals on the surfaces of the fishdomes and rotibuaya, and survivability of coral fragments tied to the ‘hexaframes’ (metal frames coated in sand, originally called “spiders”). We will continue to study and monitor our reef restoration with support from our interns and community conservation groups from the Tejakula sub-District area.
In January 2020, our long-term supporters, Colin Christian and Louisa from Fishkeeper Scotland, came to visit and helped in deploying new artificial reef structures. Since June 2019, Colin has developed an “Adopt a coral” program to support our reef restoration efforts. Their support has contributed towards our monitoring and expansion of the program.
We continue seeking help from others who would like to support our program. We also 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 effort we make to find solutions to help to preserve the marine ecosystem requires strong connections among all the people involved.
By Gayatri Reksodihardjo-Lilley