{"id":2190117,"date":"2026-03-03T06:00:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T05:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2190117"},"modified":"2026-02-20T14:39:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T13:39:45","slug":"the-fish-life-has-exploded-400000-corals-planted-on-dying-reef-in-bali-what-happened-next-was-remarkable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/the-fish-life-has-exploded-400000-corals-planted-on-dying-reef-in-bali-what-happened-next-was-remarkable\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe fish life has exploded”: 400,000 corals planted on dying reef in Bali. What happened next was remarkable"},"content":{"rendered":"

A diver in Indonesia was distraught at seeing coral reefs destroyed. So, he decided to do something about it.<\/p>\n

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Many scuba divers will know the devastation of seeing coral reefs becoming bleached and dying. That was the case for Leon Boey, founder of Livingseas Asia, so he decided to do something about it. He\u2019s now celebrating 400,000 corals planted.<\/p>\n

The replanting started as a side project for his dive centre in 2015. \u201cThat all changed in 2020 with the pandemic and with the loss of tourism,\u201d he says. \u201cI decided that we would go full tilt into restoration and see if we could build\u00a0and scale that into a business.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the years that followed, the restoration work has brought life back to the\u00a0reef. “We’re only really focusing on planting the corals, but the fish life has exploded on the site on its own, with clouds of\u00a0damselfish, butterflyfish, and other reef fish bringing in the larger predators such as jacks,\u00a0barracuda\u00a0and\u00a0sharks,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

“Even\u00a0dolphins\u00a0have started to make an appearance, chasing schools of\u00a0sardines that have spawned on our site.”<\/p>\n

Scuba divers installing artificial structures on the seafloor, which the corals are then attached to. Credit: Livingseas Asia<\/p>\n

Sometimes, while working on the restoration site, the team see tiny reef fish coming to check out their efforts \u2013 Boey loves these adorable moments. \u201cIt’s like they are little dogs, wagging their tails, showing appreciation to us for creating homes and food for them,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

For Boey, seeing this ecosystem thriving is much more important than the exact numbers of corals they\u2019ve planted. That said, he isn\u2019t going to stop at 400,000. \u201cCurrently, we are at 410,000 [corals planted] and we might even hit 500,000 this year,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"Coral
410,000 corals have been planted on the reef so far. Credit: Zoe Lower<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Planting
Boey hopes to have planted a total of 500,000 corals by the end of the year. Credit: Zoe Lower<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite this huge success, the problem facing reefs around the world can feel overwhelming. \u201cWe are honestly running out of time to save them,\u201d says Boey.<\/p>\n

He hopes that other people around the world will start similar projects. For this to work, companies need to make sure they think about sustainable ways to fund restoration on a large scale. For example,\u00a0Livingseas\u00a0plants a new structure for each tourist who visits them.<\/p>\n

Corals grow very slowly so it\u2019s important for people to have patience and be prepared for the journey. \u201cConservation is a very long game, so you have to know that you are going to be committed to it,\u201d Boey says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmall actions compound over time, and eventually you’ll get to a stage where you look back, and suddenly you’re at 400,000 corals planted!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

This article<\/a> by Melissa Hobson was first published by Discover Wildlife on 19 February 2026. Lead Image: Coral planting in Bali. Credit: Zoe Lower.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A diver in Indonesia was distraught at seeing coral reefs destroyed. So, he decided to do something about it. Many scuba divers will know the devastation of seeing coral reefs becoming bleached and dying. That was the case for Leon Boey, founder of Livingseas Asia, so he decided to do something about it. He\u2019s now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1178,"featured_media":2205722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/Planting-coral-in-Bali-1-scaled.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6985,5],"tags":[4010,3797,6801,4341],"class_list":["post-2190117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-wildlife","tag-coral-reefs","tag-dolphins","tag-sardines","tag-sharks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2190117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2190117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2190117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2205722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2190117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2190117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2190117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}