HEART OF THE OCEAN, SAVING THE EARTH ONE CORAL AT A TIME

Marine conservation company Livingseas Asia, in collaboration with Water WorxX dive centre, will host a Coral Reef Awareness Day event on 1 June 2022 at BWork in Canggu, Bali to share relevant knowledge and activities in order to support coral reef conservation. Occupying less than one percent of the ocean floor around the world, coral reefs are home to more than 25 percent of all marine life. Unfortunately, there are factors that are threatening the survival of coral reefs, including global warming, overfishing, pollution, coral mining, and the aquarium trade.

With the aforementioned cause in mind, in conjunction with the World Reef Awareness Day that falls on 1 June, Livingseas and Water WorxX aim to raise awareness about the issue to the public in general, as well as key opinion leaders to create active change through education and engagement. The event held at BWork Bali has one main goal, that is also to evoke a sense of urgency, and in extension, action from consumers, businesses, and organisations on the delicate condition of the ocean’s coral reefs, and their roles in the preservation efforts.

Many people are not aware that corals actually fall in the fauna category, not flora. A reef is established by secretions of coral polyps over many generations, so the growth of corals creates reef, which in time provides a habitat for not only the coral but also a wider scope of marine life. At the speed that humankind is living now, all coral reefs in the world are threatened to become extinct in the next 50 years. More facts about coral reefs like the aforementioned one will be shared during the event.

Dive 1 Give 1

The main conservation programme that will be launched at the event is the Dive 1 Give 1 campaign, in which for every Open Water course or above, or any day of leisure diving booked with Livingseas Asia, a participant will get a reef star planted on their behalf in the following month. A reef star is a 3D hexagonal structure made from metal that has been coated with a mixture of resin and sand – replicating coral’s natural substrate in the ocean – to stimulate more coral growth. Running from June 2022 to December 2022, the campaign offers participants a diving experience, as well as the opportunity to support coral reef conservation efforts. However, if you are interested to actually partake and plant the reef star yourself, Livingseas Asia has another programme that allows you to do so. For this programme, an advance booking of two weeks is required.

What we can do next

The conservation efforts will not stop at the event, but will continue through three main outputs. Anyone who wants to support the cause can donate on a monthly subscription through Livingseas Asia’s website (conservation.livingseas.asia), come dive or learn how to dive and give back a reef star, or even collaborate with Livingseas Asia through skill sharing or sponsorship. To encourage more people to participate, the event offers 10 percent off any dive trip or course to guests who sign up on the spot during the event.