7th Gili annual Biorock workshop 2010

This year’s Biorock Workshop was a great success for Gili Trawangan, thanks to the generous support of the Gili Eco Trust and the entire Gili Trawangan community.

The 7th Indonesian Biorock Coral Reef Restoration, Fisheries Habitat Restoration and Shore Protection Training Workshop was held on Gili Trawangan, Lombok, from 15-21 November 2010.

The Vice Governor of Lombok opened the workshop, along with Pak Agung Prana, Balinese ecotourism pioneer. The Governor sent the head of the Regional Planning Agency, (BAPEDA), to discuss future developments as well as the Bupati (Regent) from North Lombok.

More than 80 people participated in the Workshop, including a wide range of divers, students, conservationists, scientists, engineers, artists, doctors, and lawyers.

The majority of participants were from Indonesia and included more than 20 students in Marine Science, Biology, and Forestry from Mataram University in Lombok, all of whom were trained as divers for the workshop and are planning Biorock related research projects.

Indonesian people from Gili Trawangan came along to learn about the technology they have seen being installed around their island for the past 5 years: people from the Youth Association “Remaja Karang Taruna”, teachers from the local primary school, SATGAS (ocean security), students and teachers from the Gili Trawangan high school of tourism and the Kadus and Kades (Heads of the village and of the three Gili islands).

Besides Indonesia, participants came from many parts of Asia, including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Kuwait, State of Qatar, China, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.

Students learned all aspects of Biorock Technology theory and practice, including the fundamental physics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, chemistry, and biology; along with hands-on training in design, construction, installation, monitoring, maintenance, and repair. They saw documentary films and heard lectures on the latest developments in marine ecosystem restoration.

More than 16 new Biorock reefs were designed, built, installed, and planted with corals by the students, bringing the total of Biorock reefs at Gili Trawangan up to nearly 60. These are located in front of every dive shop and many of the restaurants and hotels in Indonesia’s major dive attraction. The projects at Gili Trawangan now rival the Karang Lestari Biorock project in Pemuteran, Bali as the world’s largest and most spectacularly successful coral reef restoration project.

The Biorock method was invented, developed and patented by the late Proffessor Wolf Hilbertz and Dr Thomas Goreau and uses low voltage electrical currents to grow solid limestone minerals on conductive surfaces.

The method being used in the Gilis involves welded steel frames submerged at varying depths in the ocean, through which a small electrical charge is run, generating mineral growth on the frames. These solid surfaces then become the framework, or artificial reefs, on which corals can anchor and grow into proper reefs.

Biorock is the only method that increases coral growth rate and resistance to environmental stress, so Biorock reef corals bleach less, recover faster, and have higher survival rates from global warming-caused by rising water temperatures. This course came at a very critical juncture, because 2010 has been the hottest year in history, and severe coral bleaching took place across the Indian Ocean, South East Asia, the West Pacific, the Persian Gulf, and the Caribbean this year, and including Lombok.

Water temperatures throughout Indonesia, and many of the most important coral reefs in the world now remain several degrees warmer than average, and will start to bleach in the next few months if this weather pattern continues. If it is as severe as is expected, only places with Biorock Coral Arks will have much coral, fish, and beaches left, afterwards.

Biorock graduates are now trained to restore coral reefs and fisheries, and reclaim severely eroding beaches. They can apply these skills as soon as local communities, government policy makers, and international funding agencies recognize the critically urgent need to restore rapidly vanishing coral reefs and the fisheries, create shore protection, and protect tourism, and the biodiversity services they provide to over 100 countries, before they vanish.

Only those with proper Biorock training have the knowledge and skills to implement new projects, and will receive full support with advice, advanced training, and the materials needed to start new projects designed to save marine ecosystems from the runaway effects of global warming, global rising sea levels, and unsustainable over-exploitation of the world’s coral reefs.

The Gili Eco Trust, with the support of the business community on Gili Trawangan and local government agencies, shows how westerners and local communities can work together to preserve and rehabilitate the coral reefs around the Gili islands; leading to a sustainable future for everyone.

For more information on other Gili Eco Trust projects, or to make a donation, visit - www.giliecotrust.com.