The Nusa Islands Restoration Project was started in 2018 as an attempt to reverse the degradation of reef areas within the Nusa Islands Marine Park in Bali, Indonesia. This coral reef is located within the coral triangle playing an important role in preserving biodiversity, and is also an important source of income from tourism and local fishing activities. Unfortunately over the years the reef has been subjected to a variety of impacts resulting in unstable, dead coral rubble. Initial causes of dead coral rubble were from a host of reasons including:

• Anchors dragged from fishing boats, and tourism pontoons & boats;

• Clearing of coral from the reef flat for seaweed farming and building material, which removed the natural structure of the reef;

• Clearing and shading areas of coral reef for tourism pontoons and sea-walking;

• Historical dragging of fish traps and nets across reef flat.

Impacted areas are not recovering naturally, so are in need of coral restoration efforts in order to become living reefs again. Therefore Blue Corner Marine Research began work a few years ago to restore these reefs. The goal of the Nusa Islands Restoration project is to take the site from its current state almost completely dead coral and no habitat structure into a healthy state of high coral cover and diversity. This is done through a two-step approach:

1. Recreate the physical structure of the reef in order to provide habitat, and stabilize the rubble from erosion.

2. Re-establish the primary habitat forming organisms in an attempt to attract key marine species and re-instate the fundamental roles of the ecosystem.