Our oceans are under siege. Destructive industrial-scale fishing is causing widespread species decline. Ocean warming due to human-induced climate change is triggering episodes of mass coral bleaching with increased vigor and frequency.
Alongside this unfolding global tragedy, however, a tiny area of the Indonesian province of Southeast Sulawesi is thriving: Wakatobi, which is a combination of the names of the four largest islands of the Tukang Besi Archipelago (Wangi-wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia, and Binongko).
As I hover above the coral gardens in the Wakatobi National Park, I slip off my dive hood, something I often do to listen to life on the reef. Wakatobi Resort’s resident marine biologist, Julia Mellers, retrieves a hydrophone that she had placed days earlier. We inspect the data together after the dive.
“There are lots of snapping shrimp making cavitation bubbles, but we’re mostly interested in fish talking to each other,” Mellers proclaimed. “A chatty reef where fish communicate across a range of frequencies and vocal species chorus together signals a healthy, biodiverse ecosystem.”
Prophets with Purpose
To understand how the reefs here became so chatty, we must explore their history. When Wakatobi Resort founder Lorenz Mäder dreamed of building a dive resort in the 1990s, his criteria were far from simple. Its location had to be remote and biologically rich, with deep channels that supported water exchange, cooler currents, and thriving marine life.
Clear waters were also crucial — not only for visibility but also to have enough light for deep coral growth. The area also needed to be free from competing tourism, spacious enough for the resort to progressively grow and offer jobs to the local community, and, most important, be able to develop and grow an actively protected reef sanctuary.
While remoteness and current movement were important and necessary factors in choosing a location for his operations, a simple yet powerful idea was at the heart of the project: If people can benefit financially from the health of their natural resources, then they will protect them.
“We wanted to introduce a new type of tourism,” Mäder explained. “When we told the local people that visitors would travel here just to look at the fish on their reefs, they could hardly believe us.”
One thing he knew for sure was that if he could give local fishers an alternative to fishing and increase the value they could get from their traditional fishing grounds, then he could stop the destruction of the reef while offering them different opportunities.
While many tourism operations put in place meaningful and sustainable practices only after they have turned a profit, Mäder realized from the outset the need to protect the reefs and provide opportunities for local people. He was working toward this goal long before it became a global imperative to do so.
It has taken him and his brother, Valentin, more than 30 years to build up Wakatobi Resort. That included supporting and funding a collaborative, privately managed marine sanctuary, which this year under new agreements with local villages has tripled the area to protect 37 miles (60 kilometers) of flourishing reefs and now employs 450 local people. Almost everyone at the island’s Lamanggau village has a connection to the resort.
“It has been a business arrangement with the local people from day one, and because the money flows from the resort directly to the local community, the destruction of the reefs has stopped,” Mäder explained. “The fact that visitors come from all over the world to dive here has proved to the local people that they have something really special. They now have a deeper understanding of what we are trying to achieve.”
We can see the proof in the reefs. They are a brilliant wonderland full of life and a far cry from how they looked under the destructive fishing practices from years ago.
Through the Wakatobi Collaborative Reef Conservation Program, established in 1997, the resort works with 17 villages under reef lease agreements. Each village receives a payment from the resort based on the size and ecological value of its reefs and traditional fishing grounds. In return, the villages agree to ban all fishing, including destructive practices such as blast and cyanide fishing, and they work with the resort to monitor fishing activity in their waters.
“We now finance more than 120 local fishers who no longer fish their traditional grounds but instead patrol them and prevent fishing,” Mäder proudly explained. These agreements also extend to the Bajau, a community that traditionally depended almost entirely on the ocean for its existence. The project may have been doomed to fail without their agreement and ongoing involvement.
Although fishing is still allowed outside of protected zones, fish populations have rebounded within the protected areas, meaning the remaining fishers can still maintain their subsistence lifestyle by benefiting from the spillover effect as species migrate beyond boundaries.
The result of this partnership is a win-win: Fish biomass recovers, coral reefs are healthier and more biodiverse, tourism thrives, and local people earn a reliable and fair income. The resort also invests in local infrastructure, education, and training, further embedding conservation into the fabric of daily village life. Mäder admits that the long, ongoing journey requires a sustained effort, but he recognizes that the success is rooted in “being courageous and being kind.”
Proof of Life
The condition of the reefs here isn’t luck, and you only have to dip beneath the surface to witness the success. An enchanting submarine landscape welcomes us as we descend. Abundant tropical coral reefs adorn the dramatic drop-offs, exuberant pinnacles, and magical coral gardens that provide the perfect habitat for marine life to flourish.
While Wakatobi’s accomplishments are deeply rooted in its local community partnerships, the resort is now also using innovative science to scale up its efforts to understand and ensure the long-term health of its reefs.
That is where Mellers comes in. She has a master’s degree in marine biology from Oxford University and a passion for coral ecology. As leader of Wakatobi’s Reef Health Assessment Program, she and the team monitor reefs inside and outside of the resort’s privately managed marine protected areas (MPAs).
“We are tracking reef biodiversity across the tree of life to build a complete picture of ecosystem health inside and outside the protected area,” Mellers explained.
The program — which uses AI-assisted image analysis, environmental DNA (eDNA) technology, and machine learning — is helping to analyze large amounts of data collected by the Wakatobi team to reveal patterns and provide insights not previously attainable. “We’re not just measuring the ongoing reef health,” Mellers said, “we are also working hard to understand why it’s healthy and how we can keep it that way.”
While prohibiting fishing within their MPAs has clearly been a huge contributor to the improved health and biodiversity of Wakatobi’s reefs, their location is also a significant factor.
“We are located where the Banda and Flores Seas meet — a powerful confluence that drives upwelling, circulates nutrient-rich waters, and sweeps larvae across the reefs,” Mellers explained. “This influx introduces new species, replenishes populations, and fuels productivity. We also have a huge barrier reef 10 miles (16 km) west of us that helps protect the area from big swells.”
In the quest to understand and protect the future of coral reefs here, Mellers and the team are attempting to crack the reef’s genetic code using the innovative eDNA method. They collect and filter reef water to capture traces of genetic material in the form of cells, skin, waste, and mucus. They trap the reef DNA on a filter and send it to a laboratory to begin the complex process of identifying which organisms are present.
The eDNA analysis confirmed the presence of 11 vulnerable coral species and other rare reef dwellers on Wakatobi’s reefs. “Interestingly, the rarest corals we found were almost exclusively at the most biodiverse sites within the protected area,” Mellers explained, “reinforcing the link between conservation efforts and reef resilience.”
What the team has uncovered is deeply encouraging: high coral diversity supporting numerous rare coral species, robust fish biomass, and little sign of reef degradation — especially compared with reefs outside the resort’s marine protected zone.
The findings indicate that reefs within the Wakatobi protected area are significantly healthier than those in neighboring unprotected areas. Unlike many regions affected by recent widespread bleaching events, Wakatobi experienced no significant bleaching.
“We know that our reefs are resilient to the effects of climate change,” Mellers said. “Although we can’t predict the pace of change, our data suggest that conservation efforts help sustain reef resilience even in a warming ocean. We are taking the reef’s pulse in real time, helping identify changes or stress signals before they become a problem.”
The data collected provide real-time evidence that the resort’s collaborative, community-based approach to conservation is working.
Lessons for the Future
It would be easy to view Wakatobi as an anomaly. After all, it is an isolated, high-end tourism model with low visitor numbers, and Mäder had the capital and vision to invest deeply in conservation from the beginning. But the ethos of community empowerment, long-term planning, and scientific rigor is universally powerful and scalable.
Only 8% of the world’s oceans are protected, with less than 3% considered fully or highly protected. Wakatobi is relatively small-scale but demonstrates that well-managed MPAs can lead to increased biodiversity, improvement in fish populations, greater resilience to environmental pressures, and better outcomes for local communities.
As ocean temperatures continue to rise, coral bleaching events intensify, and industrial-scale overfishing decimates our oceans, protected zones offer refuge for marine life to recover, adapt, and spill over into surrounding areas. Fully protected areas not only help save species and coral reefs but also improve food security and livelihoods.
At a time when despair continues to dominate news headlines, Wakatobi exemplifies what works and what needs to happen on a global scale. As ocean citizens, we should support destinations that invest in initiatives such as these. It is not only good practice but also part of the solution.
© Alert Diver – Q4 2025