The undocumented tragedy
June 7, 2026
Congratulations to Francesco Saverio Marzano and the team working on this absolutely massive coral reef restoration project in North Bali!
Coral reefs are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet, but also some of the most threatened. Between warming oceans, destructive fishing practices, coral extraction, and climate change, many reefs are hanging on by a thread. Which is precisely why projects like this matter so much.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, local fishing communities in North Bali deployed artificial reef structures across more than 100 kilometers of coastline as part of a 7 million dollar Coral Restoration Programme supported by the Indonesian government. That sentence alone already sounded epic enough for us!
Now, researchers from the University of Sussex and the Creative Action Tank (CAT), together with local dive and fisher communities, are heading back to these restoration sites for the first large-scale post-deployment assessment. Their mission? To determine whether these artificial reefs are actually working and helping coral and fish communities recover.
The project will combine high-resolution imagery, 3D reef modeling, underwater cameras, ecoacoustics, fish diversity surveys, and community-based monitoring techniques to compare restored reefs with nearby natural systems. In simpler terms: lots of science, lots of diving, and hopefully lots of happy fish.
What we especially loved about this proposal was the strong focus on local community involvement. Training local dive and fisher groups to monitor reef recovery creates long-term conservation capacity that remains in place long after the researchers leave. That’s exactly the kind of impact we enjoy supporting.
Needless to say, we couldn’t possibly say no to this beautiful combination of coral reefs, community conservation, underwater technology, and good old-fashioned marine biology enthusiasm, so we happily transferred 250 euros to help support the project.
Best of luck to everyone involved and please send photos… preferably with colorful corals and giant fish schools!
🙂
