Who knew that coral could be grown in a nursery and then transplanted to a coral reef - just like plants? Well I have to confess that this was something new to me also. On the sheltered side of Koh Phi Phi Ley in the Phi Phi Islands National Marine Reserve in Thailand there is just such a project in place and it's here that I filmed the video below.
The coral nursery is made up of two specially built floating platforms that are attached to the sea bed and sit at a depth of approximately five meters. On top of these platforms are racks of coral fragments in various stages of growth. The project was started originally more than 15 years ago by university students from the USA.
The coral is planted from coral fragments that are collected from the reef and then planted in the nursery on a specially built underwater structure. The nursery provides an optimal environment for coral fragments to grow. Once the coral fragments grow to a sufficient size they are then transplanted back to any of the the reefs that could benefit from increased coral propagation.
The reason the coral is grown in midwater is stop the threat of grazing marine life that live at reef level (like Parrotfish in the photo below for example). Because of this though it means that algae grows quickly on the structures as there are no fishes grazing on the algae also. Care must be taken to clean the algae growth regularly so it doesn't smother the new corals. It was on one of these cleaning days that I was invited to film.
Volunteer divers are given wire brushes and tooth brushes to carefully clean around the corals, being careful not to damage the baby corals. Also they must count the corals to determine the survival rate compared to the amount that was initially planted.
I think that although this is a slow and time consuming process it is a very satisfying task and a great way of giving back to mother nature. I have dived around the reefs of Thailand for over 20 years and there has been a definite decline in coral growth and fish numbers. I dont know if this is from global warming or simply the pressure of over tourism in this part of the ocean, either way it's great to see people doing their best to help rectify the problems the best they can.
A note about the video source - Krabi Imaging is my company that I set up when living in Krabi, which is why you may see many of my videos posted under the Krabi Imaging Vimeo account.