Maidenhead Aquatics Revisit LINI Marine Conservation Work In Indonesia

All images courtesy of LINI - The Indonesian Nature Foundation

Back in November 2014 six members of the Maidenhead Aquatics Team visited a community-based marine conservation project at Les Village in Northern Bali run by the wonderful people at LINI (The Indonesian Nature Foundation).

One year on, another six Maidenhead Aquatics team members re-visited the village to see what has been happening over the past year at Les – and they were totally blown away with what they saw.

It seems that 2015 has been an exciting time for LINI’s work towards their goal of sustainable aquaculture in Indonesia!

A new training and aquaculture centre has been constructed on land kindly loaned to the project by a local aquatic livestock exporter and with financial support from the Australian Government’s Direct Aid Programme.

The Centre is helping to educate people of the local coastal communities, as well as university students, in basic aquaculture and marine conservation projects with lots hands-on training on reef restoration aspects such as the construction and siting of artificial coral settlement substrates and fish domes. These domes and substrates are being constructed at Les Village by the LINI team and the marine ornamental fisherfolks from the area.

The centre was a hive of excitement during our visit as the LINI team have recently raised their first clutch of the beautiful Banggai Cardinal fish (Pterapogon kauderni).

These fascinating fish are paternal mouthbrooders which means a clutch of eggs is incubated in the mouth of the male fish before being released as juvenile fish.  Throughout the incubation period, which is approximately 28 days, the male fish does not eat! Hopefully within the next few months LINI’s captive bred Banggai fish will be available in our stores. 

After visiting the new training centre our team snorkelled over the blossoming artificial reef at Les and, compared to last year, observed a noticeable difference in the volume of marine animals calling the new reef structure home. The reef is obviously going to take many years to mature but the building blocks are in place and the great work of LINI is already beginning to make a difference to the underwater landscape. 

We at Maidenhead Aquatics are proud to be a sponsor and supporter of LINI and the great work they are doing in helping the reefs and coastal communities of Indonesia.

On Monday 16th November LINI’s first crowdfunding campaign was launched!  You can visit their campaign page at: http://www.globalgiving.co.uk/projects/marine-conservation-and-aquaculture-training-centre/ detailing some of the fantastic work being done by LINI and gives you the opportunity to donate to their great cause if you wish.  

We will keep you updated with the work of our friends at LINI and how our contributions are helping to make a difference to the lives of the coastal communities and reefs of Indonesia.