Reef Restoration Program

Trawangan Dive offers an innovative program aimed at restoring their reefs. The reef restoration program is designed for gap year students, students looking for thesis and dissertation topics, people on career breaks and anyone interested in more than your average vacation! The project welcomes students from around the world to join in!
Certain areas of shallow water corals around the Gili Islands have suffered damage by combinations of coral heatstroke, disease, land-based sewage, global sea level rising, over-fishing and direct physical damage. Restoration of degraded reefs and coastal habitats on a scale that makes a difference must be an active environmental priority and not an afterthought. A revolutionary new technology called Biorock® can make this possible. The Biorock® Process involves a submerged steel structure that applies a safe low-voltage electrical current. Small pieces of live broken coral are then strapped to the structure and have been shown to grow at 3-5 times the normal rate while coral survival under higher water temperatures and pollution increased by 16 to 50 times.

The Gili Islands are the second largest Biorock® site in the world, currently home to 63 Biorock® structures and have hosted International Reef Restoration Training Workshops. The reef restoration project is coordinated by the Gili Eco Trust which works closely with the DKP (Indonesian Marine Conservation and Fisheries). Head of the Gili Eco Trust is Delphine Robbe who oversees the Biorock project around the Gili Islands and here at Trawangan Dive for more information visit www.giliecotrust.com. Since 2004 when the first Biorock® reef was installed many development and research students from Indonesian and other Universities around the world have come to study the Biorock® reef restoration project as part of their Thesis or Masters Degree. Our hope is to continue these projects and make the Gili Islands a global centre for coral research and re-growth.

Trawangan Dive offers a variety of training programs wherein students and volunteers would receive diver training from Open Water to Divemaster and the Biorock Specialty course. During their training they would learn about coral biology and environmental threats, be trained how to coral garden, survey, conserve, maintain the exciting Biorock® and finally design, weld and submerge their own Biorock® structure.

For more information on Biorock® technology visit www.biorock.net


2 Week Biorock® Specialty Course Description:

Students must have a minimum certification of Advanced Open Water to enroll in the 2 week program, but it only takes five days to complete both the PADI Open Water and Advanced courses. During the 2 weeks students will complete the Biorock® Specialty course as well as gaining further knowledge and experience in reef survey techniques and coral gardening. At the end of this program students will work together to create their own Biorock®. This program is tailored to you allowing you, it allows you to chose the time frame and the PADI courses you want to do. This can be from the Open Water course through to the Instructor levels as well as a multitude of other specialities. Please feel free to email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your specific requirements so we can tailor a package for you.

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