Coral Restoration

In 2019 a team of marine biologists from MARS sustanable solutions and a small underwater film crew from Flare Productions at AMV BBDO set off to the southwestern part of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Near a tiny island called Palau Bontosua the team embarked on a project to build 46-foot-high, 30-foot wide letters creating a new coral reef almost 150 feet wide, spelling the word “HOPE”. The letters, made from innovative reef stars and rapidly growing coral, signal the next phase of the world’s largest coral restoration program.

The SHEBA "Hope" Reef is made of 840 reef stars and about 13,000 fragments of 42 different types of coral.
 

In less than three years, the replanted corals have grown to make the word “HOPE” visible on google earth. Already, new types of corals not seeded on the reef stars are growing there too and the reef is attracting a variety of fish, even sharks, rays, and turtles. Since the reef was planted, coral cover has grown from five percent to 55 percent. Before long, the coral will have grown so much that the word “HOPE” will no longer be visible.

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More coral today means more fish tomorrow and a healthier planet in the future. 

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Nick Godden was the Executive Producer and Line Producer across all content streams.

shebahopegrows.com