The Westin Maldives Miriandhoo Resort has finished the first phase of Coral RISE, a reef restoration project built with marine specialists MARS Sustainable Solutions. Between 18 and 20 September 2026, the team fixed 100 Reef Stars into the resort's house reef, each carrying coral fragments — 1,500 pieces of coral in total.
Reef Stars are hexagonal steel frames coated in sand, lowered onto damaged patches of reef and linked together to form a stable scaffold. Fragments of locally sourced coral are attached to them, and the idea is that the corals grow, knit together and gradually become a living reef again, drawing in fish and other marine life. The method follows MARS's Assisted Reef Restoration System, a science-backed approach that pairs the structures with trained teams and long-term monitoring rather than a one-off planting.
What makes this one worth watching is the location. The restoration site sits inside the resort's snorkelling area, so guests can swim over the frames, watch the corals develop across seasons and see conservation up close rather than reading about it on a wall plaque. When the project launched during World Wellness Weekend, guests even helped build and prepare the Reef Stars before they went into the water. The resort's general manager, Harish Gopalakrishnan, framed it as a way of making the reef — the core of any Maldives trip — something guests actively care about.
It also fits a wider pattern across the country. The resort is in Baa Atoll, one of the Maldives' richest marine regions and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and holds Green Globe certification. Elsewhere in the same week, Ellaidhoo Maldives by Cinnamon marked World Manta Day with boat trips into North Ari Atoll where snorkellers recently swam with anywhere from five to 30 manta rays on a good day (USD 130 per person including lunch, returning around 2.30pm). Ocean Group Maldives, meanwhile, ran PADI AWARE Week across nine resorts — from the Waldorf Astoria Ithaafushi to Conrad Rangali — where booking two fun dives earned a free third dive spent collecting marine debris.
For travellers, the takeaway is that marine conservation in the Maldives has moved from marketing brochure to something you can genuinely take part in. If you're choosing between resorts, a visible, science-based restoration project like Coral RISE means your snorkelling sessions have a story attached — and in a country where the reef is essentially the entire attraction, that matters more than an extra pool. Families with older kids, snorkellers and dive enthusiasts get the most out of these programmes; expect the coral to need years before the frames disappear into a mature reef, which is a good reason to come back and check on its progress.
