Beginnings

Following the 1997-1998 economical crisis, and the considerable loss of income of most peoples in Indonesia and their costal communities. Coming with a marine aquaculture background, Vincent Chalias saw in the wild live coral collection for aquarium an opportunity to transform this industry into a farm based and give coastal community another form of income. He came up with the idea to mariculture these corals, so they didn’t need to be taken from the reef anymore. And we could also use these produced corals to replant and restore the damaged reefs.

He found in Mr Manumudhita a great partner and inspiration. Mr Manumudhita, after working many years as the director of fisheries department, he retired and became the head of the Bali Fishermen associations, defending the livelihood of fishermen all over the country. The first trial was made in Nusa Dua in 2000 as the licensing and legal aspect was overcome, we quickly installed new farms in North-west Bali, and moved away from resort rich area to less developed place such as Serangan.

Serangan was not developed, close to the international airport, and offered great protected location with very good ocean water quality. A lot of fishermen were looking for new prospect after their livelihood got destroyed by the Turtle island development project.

As the list of species farmed kept on growing, we needed more diversity in the farm environment and used more and more location to the point of having 7 farms around Bali, 1 in Banyuwangi (Java), 1 in Sepeken (Madura), and 1 in Alas (Sumbawa)

Ocean Gardener is the non-profit division of Bali Aquarium, which was the first commercial coral mariculture registered company in Indonesia (2002). They both have over 20 years experience into farming coral in Indonesia. The idea is to opened this tremendous experience to the whole world and educate as many peoples as possible to protect as many reefs as possible. Since 2017, we joined with Nicole Helgason from reefdivers.io, she developed a comprehensive divers training material to teach divers about coral and reef restoration.

RipCurl School of Surf: At the Rip Curl School of Surf, the ocean is our classroom and you choose how you want to ride it. Whether it’s surfing, wakeboarding, freediving, bodyboarding, kitesurfing, stand up paddleboarding, scuba diving or windsurfing, you have it all in Bali. 

Blue Oasis Dive Sanur: Blue Oasis Dive is a PADI dive centre located right on the beautiful beaches of Sanur, Bali. Operating out of the Rip Curl School of Surf, we are the ultimate boutique dive experience. With the best location, the highest standards for customer service, equipment, safety and environmental awareness, plus with all our other awesome activities, we can offer you an experience like no other.

Murex resort Manado and Bangka: the first diving resort in North Sulawesi, they dedicated their philosophy into protecting environment in their area. They’ve been a great supporter of Ocean Gardener and the first place to hold certified instructors.

Calypso Dive Amed: Aware community of fishermen, divers, freedivers, Balinese people. In common the love for the sea and the desire to keep it alive and prospering. Through fun diving and educational programs we want to spread awareness and knowledge to change our future. Team work is essential and that is why our work is based on cooperation and support with and to local community of Amed, Karangasem, Bali.

SeaTrek Sailing Adventures: At SeaTrek Sailing Adventures we have made it our trademark to offer unique and authentic, small-ship cruising experiences that embrace the traditional wooden pinisi boat culture of Indonesia. We are especially proud of our Expert Led cruise programme, which offers guests a more immersive opportunity to delve deeper in a range of disciplines that includes culture, history, literature, cuisine, natural history, botany and zoology whilst in the company of expert tour leaders, who are masters in their chosen fields.  

Ultra Coral Australia research, is our Australian Partner. This company specialised in Reef science, Crown of Thorn Starfish programs, coral reproduction, coral translocation and soon to be the first Australian Mariculture facility.

CoralMorphologic is our US partner, that is specialised in the study of Urban corals, reef restoration, reef translocation and any scientific work in Miami, Florida.

TritonLab is a chemical German company specialised in Seawater analysis using ICP Known as Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) is a sophisticated analytical technique for measuring a broad spectrum of macro and trace elements. It does this by splitting your water sample into component atoms suspended in a fiery 10 000°C plasma. ICP-OES delivers a detailed snapshot of macro and trace elements from a single sample preparation* with each element measured thousands of times in a pass. They will provide free water analysis of our water testing.

Bali Autrement: French Tour agency providing high quality responsible, respectable tourism vacations in Indonesia. 

Depuis près de 20 ans, Bali Autrement, agence de voyage locale et responsable, propose des circuits privés et sur-mesure sur l’ile de Bali et dans toute l’Indonésie. Notre but ultime est de vous offrir des prestations de haute qualité tout en garantissant un tourisme responsable, respectueux de l’Indonésie et de ses habitants. Réactifs, nos conseillers voyage sauront répondre au plus vite à toutes vos interrogations et vous enverront par e-mail un devis gratuit et personnalisé.