Suara Pulau educates local communities about the importance of coral reefs and restores coral reefs around Bangka Island. They organised a fundraising event to raise money for the Marine Protected Area on Bangka Island, and Kaka was present for three days to generate more awareness.

The first evening there was a meet and greet diner with Kaka Slank at the Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue Center in Bitung. The whole fundraising dinner was vegan and really delicious. Afterwards Kaka gave an intimate acoustic performance.

The city of Bitung wants to build an artificial reef together to attract more divers. Kaka Slank and the Suara Pulau team went diving to the place where they think a new reef can be build. There was a lot of Indonesian press with us on this trip. We found the dive a lot more quiet.

The same evening there was a talkshow about the importance of a healthy ocean and what action Suara Pulau and Bitung’s government are taking. Kaka gave a concert and here we noticed how popular he is in Indonesia. Everyone wants to make a selfie with him!

The next morning we had breakfast at the house of the mayor of Bitung, to talk more about the artificial reef. Afterwards some fans were allowed to go diving with Kaka Slank on the house reef of Mimpi Indah on Bangka Island.

The fundraising event was a great success. Thank you Ulva, Owen and Kaka that we could be part of this event. For those who want to know, Kaka is a very humble and friendly person. And a question to the real Marco Borsato: do you want to be the ambassador of CoralGardening?

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With dozens of promoters of, state of the art diving gear, underwater photography, mermaid swimming lessons, ocean artists, providers of live-a-boards and much more, it was the place to be for anyone interested in diving or being professionally involved. So for CoralGardening it was the perfect opportunity to catch up with our committed partners, colleagues and of course (potential) volunteers. With our decorated kidscorner, we educated the youngest generation about the beauty of our oceans, it’s beautiful coral reefs and numerous species of fish. Because the sad fact is that if people continue to exploit the ocean in this way, their children will probably see more plastic than fish in the ocean.

It is good to see that there are more and more people who understand the importance of healthy oceans and that this theme is also more topical in Asia than ever.

Next to coloring the ocean and admiring how amazing marine life can be and deciding which (single-use) items don’t belong in the ocean we also played several games, kids could design their own new reef and make their own reusable bags. Thanks to mainly Singaporean based volunteers the presence of CoralGardening on ADEX was a huge success!

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We will host activities in the Kids Zone and advice parents, consumers and business on preventing more plastic soup ending up in our ocean which harm our beautiful coral reefs.

You can find CoralGardening at booth KZ02, between the stage with photo and video zone and the swimming pool.

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With a trusty team of enthusiastic volunteers, we managed to educate countless visitors about the CoralGardening vision, and the three pillars thereof; Educate, Protect, and Restore. There was once gain a well attended workshop about CoralGardening, where in addition to children, many parents were creating artificial reefs out of clay! We received multiple entries for a new slogan in addition to ideas for a new t-shirt, and, most importantly, we welcomed more than 60 new members into our CoralCommunity!

The project on Bangka Island attracted a great deal of interest (more about this in the coming newsletter), both from possible volunteers and from divers who would like to take a course on coral reefs (particularly regarding restoration). And as if that was not enough, Veran gave a well attended presentation highlighting the work of CoralGardening during both days!

As a result of the many enthusiastic meetings, a goodly number of people have decided to support CoralGardening on a monthly basis. You can also contribute: be our Buddy and donate a monthly amount for a healthy ocean, for all of us, and especially for future generations!

It was an exceptionally successful installment in the history of CoralGardening, Thanks to all who made it possible, and

See you next year!!

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Would you like to see us in person? Then come along, attend the Duikvaker on the 2nd and 3rd of February in Houten, Holland. Hear Willem’s first-hand experiences of placing an artificial reef underwater, and meet marine ecologist Ingrid.

There is, of course, the possibility for children to participate in the workshop “Design a New House For Fishing.” In this way they can not only learn about, but contribute to the protection and restoration of coral reefs. The workshop Coral Gardening is organized by Inge Aarden. We also have special games and activities that teach the kids about the cooperative ecosystem that is a coral reef, how all the animals work together. In addition, we also have the Coral Experience, with…..

We would be delighted to talk with you, to discuss coral conservation, and to see what the chances of recovery are and how you can contribute. We will also give a lecture about the exiting new developments in the rehabilitation of coral reefs.

Visit Duikvaker for a captivating trip underwater! Or register at www.coralgardening.org for more information about coral reefs, and our restoration methods.

Do you want to be part of a new reef yourself? It is possible to sponsor your own reef, or to take part in our next statues on Bangka Island.

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The festival is organized by Suara Pulau in order to increase awareness of the importance of coral reefs. Every year a new section of artificial reef is placed. This year the reef is the “The Domus Hippocampi,” it is designed by Teguh Ostenrik, a famous Indonesian artist. It is built by Yaysan Terumbu Rupa (YTR) with the help of donations from many sponsors. When we arrived on Banka Island, The Domus stands prominently on land, ready and waiting. A few days prior to Coral Day a team from YTR arrives to do the final preparations to deploy The Domus on Coral Day itself.

The YTR team consists of volunteers, who may or may not have experience with the installation of artificial reefs. This makes it very important to create a solid and effective plan to sink The Domus before we proceed. Because we also have broad experience and input, the meetings are conducted in three languages: Indonesian, English, and Sign Language. It is funny and interesting to see how all of the knowledge of the various volunteers is integrated and used. Ultimately a belay method is chosen to lower the reef onto the ocean floor. Belaying is the same technique climbers use to go up and down on a rope.

The Domus consists of 3 parts, and is 23 meters long. It will be anchored using 12 blocks made of concrete and stone. The blocks were specially made using ideas and methods we devised in order to make them a more attractive and hospitable habitat to new coral recruits. The blocks are placed on their locations before Coral Day, so that we get gain experience using the belay method. This is not as easy as it looks! The blocks are small, but rather heavy. The first blocks go down uncontrolled, luckily we are able to learn from our mistakes, and with some revised techniques the following blocks go down smoothly.

There are about 200 guests on Coral Day. The various sponsors are present, and so is the head of the district of North Minahasa, Vonny Panambunan. There are speeches and a ceremony where The Domus Hippocampi is blessed. This consists of a traditional dance and throwing coloured powders and water into the air. This is great fun, and all the children are splashed with colour and they look painted afterward.

When all the ceremonies are over, it is time to place the first of the 3 Domus sections into the water. First it is made to float with the aid of air-filled jerry cans, then it is towed to the location over the seabed with the unified strength of a team of divers. Finally it is slowly lowered into position. We have learned much from the lowering of the anchor blocks, and the first Domus section goes down in a graceful and controlled manner. We coordinate underwater operations and place the structure on exactly on the spot we chose. When the section is in place, it is time to add the coral to the artificial reef. Veran gave the volunteers a crash course in attaching corals to the structure, and assists Teguh in placing the first piece of coral. The other two sections of The Domus Hippocampi are placed on the next day.

It has been a beautiful day! We want to thank everyone who has contributed to making this day possible! Especially Ulva Takke, from Suara Pulau, for organizing the event. Mimpi Indah Resort for the accomondation and the great food. Also the entire team of the Yayasan Terumbu Rupa foundation (YTR) for the construction of the artificial reef and their great teamwork during the installation of the reef. All of the sponsors and of course Teguh Ostenrik for the design of The Domus Hippocampi. Thank you all so very much!

An impression of Coral Day made by Virginia Veronica Gerungan

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A volunteer will tell you all the ins and outs of the work CoralGardening is doing and why this is necessary.

The Lush is a store only selling animal friendly and environmental friendly products, which are mostly free of packaging. We are very much in support of this and are happy to tell our story of contributing to a better world. We will be present from 10.30 until 17 o’clock, will we see you there?

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GBCC is the Global Biodiversity Conservation Conference organised by the University of Life Sciences in Prague. It was held for the 5th time, previous conferences were besides in Prague also at collaborating universities in Mexico (2016) and Indonesia (2014).

There were 225 participants, mainly Czech students and university staff, as well as several Czech Conservation Organizations. The international participants where mainly from Mexico and 11 of the 24 speakers were from abroad. One speaker from Slovakia was likely to be the oldest and most opinionated participant, he was not shy and challenged speakers after each presentation, in Slovak… luckily, he did not have any questions for me

The presentation of CoralGardening was remarkable in the sense that it was one of the few about marine conservation. A lot of topics were about forest conservation and terrestrial wildlife. The themes of this year’s GBCC were really interesting: day 1 was about human transformation of ecosystems and its effect on biodiversity (in temperate and tropical regions); day 2 was about wildlife crime; and modern technologies in biodiversity conservation (remote sensing, drones, telemetry, night vision camera’s). Although the 3D printing of an artificial coral reef would have well fitted the latter theme, CoralGardening was invited to give a presentation in the afternoon at the 1st day, as part of the theme human transformation of tropical ecosystems. The invitation came from a network contact of Veran, and I was asked to go in her place.

For me an honour and very nice to do, as I have some experience in speaking and attending conferences with my background in applied science and tropical marine ecology. Besides representing the work of CoralGardening I included a summary of scientific knowledge on coral restoration techniques based on lessons learnt of other projects worldwide. My aim was to get in touch and share knowledge with other participants of GBCC, by addressing our own research projects and the research questions and needs we have. As mentioned there were few marine conservationists, one speaker was working with turtles in Cape Verde. I did establish contacts with Czech people who apply genetics in their work, which is definitely a hot topic and more and more applied in conservation projects to give insight in the DNA of an individual, which provides information about population structure or species evolution. In coral restoration it is promoted as a means to establish a resilient artificial reef which has genetic variability. This makes a coral reef more resilient to threats than a monoculture, as one genotype will be more resistant to for example disease than another. The DNA of the photosynthetic algae (zooxanthellae) living in the tissue of coral polyps is also important, as it determines their resilience to the major global threat: coral bleaching. Although it is not at all easy nor cheap to establish genetic research, it is worthwhile to investigate and consider incorporating genetic sampling in the mobile lab project of CoralGardening.

For me it was inspiring to attend this conference and to dive into scientific papers. If you are interested to learn more, please have a look at the program and presentations at the GBCC website.

Ingrid van Beek

Photo’s GBCC

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Mankind is facing many global threats these days, those can not be solved neither by governments, scientists, businessman nor public society, if working independently. Only together working side-by-side we can make a change. The aim of the conference is to raise efective dialogue among academics, non-profit organizations, government agencies, private sector and public from all around the world to come out with sustainable solution for biodiversity conservation. GBCC, with its fourth year existence, become respected conference held on three continents, presented by Czech republic, Mexico and Indonesia. Many respected universities, government and non-governement agencies are already partners of the conference all around the globe, it gives us a unique opportunity to talk about the most alarming issues and to strike various potential solutions.

GBCC connects people with different backgrounds and conceptions to come out with sustainable solution for biodiversity conservation. Let´s talk to find the best solution to solve biodiversity issues together.

Ingrid van Beek from CoralGardening will talk at September 25 about Coral Reef Restoration.

The conference is on September 25 and 26 in Prague.

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Veran and Frank are engaged in gardening with coral under water.
Thanks to their efforts, a new piece of artificial coral reef is being constructed. On World Ocean Day there was information at their booth about the work they do in Thailand. Since the youth has the future, there were clay workshops. The children were invited to think about (practical) solutions, so that the coral can continue to exist. The children could make an underwater house for the fish and other animals. There were beautiful creation. A real ceramicist bakes everything in a huge oven and the artworks end up at the home of the young makers.

The sports hall was full of stalls, including vegan food and I finally bought a toothbrush made of bamboo (sustainable).
It was a lot of fun outside of the sports hall. There were a number of food trucks and stalls with delicious vegan food and there were friendly ladies with delicious fresh smoothies (drinking cups and straws made of corn). And not to be overlooked at all, there was a tank where you could dive in.

In the hall of the sports complex were mermaids with which you could take a picture of. Various lectures were given in different rooms, raising awareness about the importance of the sea and especially the underwater life for us, as humanity. In a separate section you could experience what impact pollution, especially plastic, has on marine life. There was also a space focused on coral, with an aquarium with live corals. It was a visual experiance.

A visual impression:

It was a beautiful day; with friendly encounters, lots of information and interaction.

Marieke

A visual impression:

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