North Bali Reef Conservation is a Non-Governmental Organisation and coral reef restoration program based in the fishing village of Tianyar on the North East coast of Bali. Until the 1950s the Tianyar beach was a trading port where ships would anchor on the reef to trade basic goods for fresh food and water. Before, it was also fashionable to harvest coral for it to be crushed into a fine white powder and used in the construction of local homes and infrastructure. More recently, the marine ecosystem is under pressure from plastic pollution choking marine life as well as pressure from few individuals using unsustainable fishing practices. An urgent need to revive the reef was identified and in 2017 North Bali Reef Conservation was founded by I Ketut De Sujana Mahartana and Dr Zach Boakes, who, alongside the local community, started building artificial reefs to restore the degraded coastline. Now, North Bali Reef Conservation has now built one of Indonesia’s largest reef restoration sites, with approximately 55,000 structures deployed (at the start of 2026). Our peer reviewed research has highlighted that over 5 years, this restoration work has increased fish species 10× compared to nearby degraded habitats. We’ve recorded over 200 fish species on artificial reefs, and observed significant increases in coral cover and benthic richness.
Alongside our aim to restore and conserve Tianyar’s coral reef through constructing and deploying artificial reef structures, we also aim to provide an alternative, sustainable livelihood to the local people, North Bali Reef Conservation has since started several sustainability projects. These include:
- Establishing a turtle hatchling conservation programme
- Cleaning the beach from plastic waste
- Working alongside a local fisherman group to maintain and manage a no-take marine protected area
- Reef restoration research, contributing to over five peer reviewed publications in Q1 journals