Due to ocean warming, acidification and pollution, the survival of coral reefs in more than 60 countries around the world is now threatened. In some places, the number of tourists has to be limited so that the little cnidarians can relax a bit. But now tourists can actively help save marine animals. In Vietnam, holidaymakers can ‘plant’ corals themselves.
Usually, it is visitors from all over the world who contribute to the destruction of the sensitive flower animals by kicking them with their diving fins or other careless touches. However, Hotel Villa Le Corail Gran Meliá in the popular holiday resort of Nha Trang in southern Vietnam has launched an initiative together with the expert company Avatar that tries to combine environmentally conscious tourism and constructive protection of the sea.
In Nha Trang, a 2017 typhoon, pollution, overfishing and the crown-of-thorns starfish, which feeds on hard corals, have taken their toll on the reefs. Avatar uses two methods to grow corals: racks that tourists can “plant” themselves and then place in the sea under the guidance of divers, or an underwater nursery with ropes on which fragments of particularly resilient and fast-growing coral species can flourish.
In addition to the resistant Acropora muricata, the company also works with hard coral species such as Porites rus with its many thin branches. When the fragments are strong enough, they are “transplanted” onto artificial concrete reefs. Snorkelers can see the fruits of their labor just one year after the start of the project.
Other revitalization projects
But revitalization projects are also taking place elsewhere, such as in Vietnam. Since 2006, Briton Jason deCaires Taylor has placed hundreds of sculptures made of environmentally friendly materials on the seabed in the Caribbean and the Pacific, which will develop over time into artificial coral reefs.
Crossroads at the California Museum
At the Natural History Museum in San Francisco, corals are brought into a tank at the same time to spawn. Workers then mix eggs and sperm from different colonies to crossbreed them. In the Bahamas, the Coral Vita coral nursery uses microfragmentation technology to grow corals at an astonishing rate — up to 50 times faster than in nature.
Source: Krone
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