Velaas Coral Restoration Project Geared at Restoring the Island Reefs Coral Diversity


Maldives
PUBLISHED February 25, 2019

February 2019 roughly marks two-and-a-half years for Velaa Private Islands Coral Restoration Project. In 2016, a global bleaching event affected almost 60% of the Maldivian reefs. The resort hopes to help speed up the recovery of the house reef by restoring the ecological integrity, conducting scientific research on nursery and transplant progress and testing the concept of midwater floating nurseries, which can hold over 10,000 coral fragments at full capacity. By increasing the amount of coral on the islands house reef, the project team intends to attract new recruits, and increase the abundance of fish and apex predators and help stabilize the reef.

The project has trialed both net and rope nurseries utilizing two different hanging methods, and are yet to identify the most effective method to eradicate fouling organisms in their nurseries to fulfill the aim of a 100 % survival rate.

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