Restoration experts are helping damaged coral reefs in Indonesia rapidly recover and thrive thanks to a six-legged contraption known as a "reef star."
As detailed by Grist, the nonprofit Mars Coral Reef Restoration Program — backed by none other than the maker of iconic treats such as Snickers and M&M's — is working with local organizations and communities to promote the growth of reefs devastated by blast fishing, a practice that is just as explosive as it sounds.
According to the Coral Reef Alliance, blast fishing — which is now illegal in many parts of the world, including Indonesia — uses dynamite or homemade bombs to kill fish in bulk so they can be collected in large numbers. This and other destructive fishing practices have threatened nearly 60% of reefs in Southeast Asia, endangering the food supply chain and long-term economic gains for people who depend on fish for their livelihoods.
Coral reefs also help protect against storm surges, which island nations have become more vulnerable to as sea levels rise and extreme weather events have increased in frequency and severity because of a warming planet.
In the past, Mars Corporation has come under scrutiny for allegedly misleading consumers about the impact its practices actually have on the environment — a practice known as greenwashing. Notably, in October 2020, the Rainforest Action Network called into question whether the candymaker was living up to its claims of using deforestation-free palm oil.
However, the corporation's program in South Sulawesi, part of the biodiverse Coral Triangle, appears to be making a meaningful impact. A study published in the journal Current Biology discovered that the reef stars could help reefs regain full health in as little as four years.
According to the nonprofit, the stars provide a strong base for transplanted coral to grow on, allowing the organisms to eventually overgrow them and integrate into the reef structure.
"The Mars project has set the bar really high for how you can do evidence-based reef restoration," University of Exeter coral reef ecologist Lisa Boström-Einarsson told Grist.
Perhaps most importantly, as Boström-Einarsson pointed out, local involvement in the initiative trumps the practice of well-funded researchers dipping in to collect data before leaving to formulate an action plan from afar. Instead, local residents and universities are involved every step of the way, from building the reef stars to installing them and maintaining restoration areas.
The nonprofit notes that Bontosua Island off the coast of Sulawesi has 100 community members working at a restoration site, and hundreds of thousands of corals have been reintroduced to once lifeless areas destroyed by blast fishing.
Coral reef ecologist Ines Lange, the study's lead author, highlighted how the restoration project does have limitations. Pollution and rising ocean temperatures are among the other threats to coral reefs, for example. Yet she still spoke to the promising developments.
"We're not saying we can repair all the coral reefs in the world with this method," Lange told Grist. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't do something on the scale that we can to change something for a local community, because it makes a huge difference for them."
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