Shark Bite #11

Welcome to Shark Bite #11.

Spiderwebs to the rescue? 

Look – we hate spiders as much as the next person, but these aren’t real spiderwebs. 

A small-scale coral conservation project in Indonesia is using lightweight cast-iron rods to connect damaged coral reefs like a spiderweb. New corals are grafted onto the rods to help them grow and restore the reef. 

Why is this necessary? Well, because corals are being destroyed by blast fishing. And before you ask, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Fishermen use explosives to kill fish species for easy collection. 

Reminds us of Homer using the fish zapper in The Simpson’s Movie. And Bart, we share your pain. 

It’s still a small-scale operation, but the team has seen solid results. But to scale the project and restore the reefs, the destructive fishing has to stop. 

Indonesia is expanding ocean protections

We’re sticking with stories about Indonesia today, there’s a lot going on in the archipelago. 

Pop Quiz: How many Indonesian islands are there? Hint: It’s A LOT. Scroll to the bottom to find out. 

Anyways… more good news! Indonesia is expanding its marine protected area. They announced plans to protect 10% of their territorial waters by 2030 and 30% by 2045.

This may not seem like much, but their exclusive economic zone spans over 2.4 million square miles. That’s a little over half the size of the United States. 

This is all great in theory, but protecting an area of that size is easier said than done. We’ll see how this goes, fingers crossed. 

Answer: Indonesia is made up of 17,508 islands, 6000 of which are inhabited. 

See you next week.

Kai

Co-Founder

P.S. If you’ve got any thoughts, questions, or feedback, feel free to respond directly to this email. I’ll get back to you soon :)