Wakatobi’s new era of coral reef protection

Wakatobi was founded on a commitment to coral reef restoration, a commitment recently enhanced by the resort’s new in-house marine biologist, Julia Mellers

Since joining the Wakatobi team in early 2024, marine biologist Julia Mellers, a graduate of the UK’s Oxford University, has overseen the launch of the resort’s new Reef Health Assessment programme, an ongoing project to monitor the health of the coral reefs within the resort’s private marine preserve. Data from the new programme will be used to further Wakatobi’s coral reef conservation efforts.

‘My main project for the first year is to establish a way of monitoring the health of Wakatobi’s reef ecosystem,’ says Julia. ‘This will allow us to provide hard scientific proof that Wakatobi’s conservation model measurably benefits reef health. Holding a finger to the pulse of the reef will also assist management decisions such as identifying priority areas for increased protection.’

Part of the new initiative involves incorporating more science into Wakatobi’s diving experience for customers. Julia has already presented a programme on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in marine monitoring, and a variety of additional courses are in development which will be offered to guests in the coming months.

‘The more you know, the more you notice,’ she says, ‘and what better place to learn about reef biodiversity and custodianship than in Wakatobi?’

Modern methods for reef management

The Reef Health Assessment programme Julia has implemented uses modern imaging and data analysis techniques to provide a comprehensive overview of reef ecosystem health, which will enable monitoring of the reefs without significantly diverting resources from their protection.

The programme focuses on capturing three indicators of reef health: the variety and abundance of its biodiversity; its structural complexity; and its soundscape – noises such as the snapping of shrimp and feeding sounds made by fish, an often overlooked measure of reef health.

By measuring these elements, it is possible to estimate how much life the habitat supports, a process which would ordinarily be complex and time-consuming, but which is greatly assisted by the machine learning models Julia is implementing.

‘Luckily, we don’t have to work all of that out manually,’ Julia says, ‘Artificial intelligence lends a hand. I train machine learning models to identify signals of reef functioning that would be otherwise undetectable.

‘For example, a model can be trained to recognize the sounds that characterize a healthy reef. This allows us to monitor the reefs at a scale, and with a thoroughness that would otherwise be inconceivable.’

In addition to the AI-assisted monitoring, Julia and the dive team at Wakatobi have begun an environmental DNA (eDNA) survey of the reefs. ’This involves taking seawater samples near the reef at different depths and filtering them to trap the organic matter that organisms shed into the water,’ Julia explains.

‘The samples are sent to a lab, where the DNA is labelled using probes and sequenced to identify which species are around. Using this technique, we should be able to detect hundreds of species from just a single litre of seawater. It’s a very cool process!’

From frogs to frogfish

Julia acquired her love of nature and biology from her parents, whom she describes as being eco-friendly before the concept became trendy, and a career in marine biology was inevitable, in part due to a love of the sea she discovered at an early age.

‘Camping, compost heaps and Attenborough documentaries were features of a nature-centric English childhood,’ she says. ‘I raised pond-dwelling critters, peered down microscopes, and became transfixed by cephalopods.

‘Having long been a sailor, with a family of sailors, I am at home at sea,’ she says. ‘I took my first sip of compressed air at the bottom of a swimming pool in London and have spent as much time as possible eye-to-eye with octopuses since.’

After completing an undergraduate degree in biology at Oxford University, Julia shifted her Master’s degree to focus to marine biology, a move she describes as ‘swapping frogs for frogfish.’

‘I went into marine biology because I see marine biological research as a powerful tool to connect people with the planet,’ she says. ‘Of course, nature should be worth more to us preserved than destroyed – but if you can’t put a price on it, no one pays.

‘Wakatobi has created an economic engine that financially incentivises reef custodianship. This leads to an ideal scientific setting – demonstrably vibrant reefs linked to genuine socio-economic fairness.‘

Julia’s Master’s project, completed in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), investigated a curious ecological phenomenon known as ‘reef halos’, mysterious rings of bare sand that surround reef patches within algal meadows.

‘We think these halos form because foraging fish will only venture a short way from the shelter of a coral patch if they are under threat from patrolling sharks,’ she says. ‘Since you can spot these halos from satellite images, they could be a neat way of keeping an eye on shark populations from space… and a possible addition to Wakatobi’s monitoring program’!

A Wakatobi welcome

‘The Wakatobi team has been exceptionally supportive and welcoming,’ Julia says as she talks about her introduction to the island. ‘They are able to maintain a totally laid-back atmosphere while coordinating an exceptionally professional operation. Wakatobi feels remote in the best ways, with pristine reefs and peace and quiet, while also being an extremely comfortable and well-connected place to work.’

The Wakatobi team has also proven to be an invaluable source of knowledge about the local ecosystem,’ she adds. ‘Wakatobi makes the perfect scientific laboratory. Being able to go from library to laptop to reef, all in the space of a hundred meters is the perfect recipe for generating new ideas and trying them out. It is so exciting to work with open-minded innovators keen to try novel approaches and look at things from different angles.’

‘Working within a system that works for the reefs because it works for the people is an absolute privilege,’ she says. ‘It also gives us a unique opportunity to unpick reef health and dynamics within an ecosystem that is actually getting healthier. In stark contrast to declines recorded elsewhere, our scientific data is already beginning to demonstrate the astonishing biodiversity evident to anyone who ventures underwater at Wakatobi.’

‘Having such a dynamic team has meant that we’ve made progress quickly,’ Julia says. ‘So far, we have a highly accurate machine learning model that classifies the reef community, a method to analyze the sounds that reef critters make, and a fully automatic way of measuring fish abundance. We are also in a position to add to this repertoire, trialling different techniques to quantify the complex 3D structure that corals make. We are even adding DNA analysis to the arsenal, which will enable us to detect biodiversity invisible to the naked eye.’

As her work progresses, Julia will continue to provide updates and insights on the important work she and the rest of the Wakatobi team are doing to understand and protect some of the world’s most pristine and spectacular coral reefs.

Learn more by visiting! Contact the Wakatobi team at office@wakatobi.com or enquire at www.wakatobi.com/prices-booking/booking-trip-enquiry

More from Wakatobi

• Wakatobi – the business of conservation through sustainable tourism
• Insiders’ insights into Wakatobi’s Pelagian liveaboard
• Wakatobi: at the forefront of Ocean stewardship
• Capturing the scope of Wakatobi’s reefs through wide-angle imagery
• Video: Maximising dive time on Wakatobi’s pristine reefs

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