I have done a lot of talking about the harm that we humans
are doing to our reefs. I paint a bleak
picture for our coral reefs, but humans aren’t all rape and pillage with regard
to the reefs. We actually are doing some
pretty amazing things to help our “under water jungles”. For
this blog I am going to discuss the things we are doing to save our reefs,
specifically reef restoration.
There are many different kinds of reef restoration depending
on the situation, the location and the type of coral. Many methods are still
being experimented with to find the most successful way to rehabilitate certain
corals. The easiest method is reef
repair. If a coral is damaged say by a
tanker that has ran into the reef (it happens way more than you would think)
sometimes only reef repair is needed.
This is where divers would come in, upright the broken coral and re-attach
it using non-toxic underwater epoxy. The
rest of the dead coral would then be cleaned up and the reefs would be
monitored. In many cases the reefs come
back to full health in little time.
The next method is much more difficult, costly and time
consuming. Coral transplantation can be
used in a variety of different situations to either move coral away from somewhere
or introduce it to an area. In some
situations where the seabed needs to be dredged to make way for ships, coral
can actually be broken off its foundation and transported a few hundred meters
away with little effect on the coral itself.
All the commotion obviously scares away the fish species but within a
matter of weeks the coral is swarming with happy fish in its new location. This process is obviously very meticulous,
time consuming and expensive and has only been done in developed nations due to
their environmental laws and regulations. Developing nations just smash through the
coral and leave it dead. Coral can also
be transplanted onto a reef that is dying or having trouble growing. Kind of like planting small plants from pots
into a garden, small corals can be grown in a controlled area then transplanted
onto struggling reefs. The new coral promotes
growth in the struggling coral by pollinating it and attracting fish.
The third major method of reef restoration is basically
starting a new reef from scratch. In
this situation man made structures are put on the ocean floor, usually made of
mesh or certain materials that promote coral growth. Spores of coral floating through the water
cling to the structure and within years the once lifeless mesh structure or
sunken ship is teaming with corals and all types of marine life! There has even been coral structures invented
that use the motion of the waves to spark electrical currents through calcium deposits
to promote coral growth on the structures.
These new reefs have been proven to grow coral 4 times faster and to be
more resistant to coral bleaching!
These are the main methods that we are helping out our reefs
that need our help so badly. It’s nice
to see that we are seeing the errors in our way and making progress to make
things right again!
Tune in next week for more coral talk!
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| A scuba diver attatching new coral using underwater epoxy. ://aquaviews.net/ocean-news/day-scuba/ |
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| A structure designed to promote coral development. In a few years it will be covered in coral! http://www.biorockusa.com/ |
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| Divers planting new corals that were grown in a controlled area. The new coral will promote coral growth and with luck bring a dying reef back to life! http://www.reef.org/enews/articles/believe-it-or-not-reef-volunteers-grow-coral-reef |
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| This is the new coral technology that uses electrical signals and calcium to promote coral growth. http://www.biorock.net/Technologies/ |
