Teaming Up for Coral Restoration Success
In 2018, Fregate Island, Blancpain and Coralive joined forces to study, restore and preserve the marine environment around the island. The initiative started with a three-year experimental coral restoration project using MAT technology and a biodiversity baseline assessment.
From 2021 to 2022, phase two of the initiative took place. This research phase was a master’s thesis aimed at studying the efficient use of MAT technology and finding the most efficient solutions for reef restoration. The motivation was to understand scalability, which will be the key factor in future coral restoration efforts.
After 6 years, the initial phases of the project have come to an end. In the coral nursery, the coral fragments of opportunity that were part of the MAT research have grown successfully.
The monitoring and maintenance of the nursery have been in the capable hands of the Fregate Island conservation team. They do more than just preserve the reefs. The island is their home, and they look after everything on it. Fregate is a sanctuary for countless animals; tortoises, two endemic fruit bat species, migratory seabirds, invertebrates, snakes, and many more. The conservation team monitors and researches the animals in a variety of ways – with a focus on conserving and protecting them. In addition, they promote the socio-cultural heritage of the Seychelles and its people.
Matthew Walker
Senior Project Manager and Marine Biologist at Coralive
Fregate Island has a rich history that has not been free of challenges. After a long period of intensive agricultural practices, the island’s indigenous flora and fauna had all but disappeared. An extensive habitat restoration program was initiated to restore the island back to its former state. Thanks to painstaking conservation efforts, the island is once again a place where many species thrive.
Since 1998, the island has been home to a luxury eco-retreat, yet it remains almost untouched by tourism. In fact, Fregate Island leads in sustainability and self-sufficiency, ensuring ecological balance and proving that luxury and environmental responsibility can live together in harmony.
Scaling the Nursery for Reef Resilience
In May this year, the Coralive team returned to the island to expand the coral nursery used in previous years’ research. The existing nursery consisted of 40 tables with fully grown corals that were moved to nearby areas of degraded reef. Here, the corals will gradually spread and fall off the tables, naturally propagating and recolonizing the degraded area.
Subsequently, the nursery was expanded to 120 MAT-powered tables, with two rings of 40 tables on the outside, and two rings of 20 tables on the inside. In a joint effort by Coralive and the local conservation team, new coral fragments were planted on half of the tables, and this laborious task is continued by the local team to the present day, with all the tables hoping to be populated by the end of August.
The strategy to plant coral fragments of the same species on a single table was followed. While different species will compete over sunlight and nutrients, corals from the same species will work together. Corals from the same adult colony can fuse and create a new colony much quicker. The coral fragments will grow in the nursery for a year, after which the tables will be moved to degraded areas. New coral fragments will then take their place in the nursery, and the process is repeated.
During their return to the island in May, the team experienced first-hand the effects of coral bleaching.
We were there in the middle of the largest bleaching event on record. We saw around 60% of the reef bleach before our eyes. Worldwide, the damage is even bigger; it’s estimated that 72% of reefs have already been affected. Yet, such an event can have a silver lining. Thanks to diligent coral tagging efforts by the local conservation team on Fregate, we were able to identify the corals that showed the most resilience. By focusing on the strongest gene pools in our coral nursery, we aim to increase the resilience of the entire reef.
Zoe Tapps
Senior Project Manager and Marine Biologist at Coralive
Adapting to Nature’s Challenges
Meanwhile, there are other forces of nature to contend with as well. The cables that supply the electricity for the MAT technology repeatedly suffer significant damage due to the storms and cyclones that batter the coastline, causing large amounts of sand to disappear and reappear in cycles. When the cables are not buried under sand, they lie exposed on sharp rocks, causing them to twist and break.
The team has become used to improvising and adapting to the situation. Towards the end of their stay in May this year, the damage to the cables was severe and, despite repair efforts, the electricity supply to the tables was lost. In these situations, without MAT technology, attaching coral fragments to the tables with wire is not likely to succeed, as the wire will rust away, so the team decided to use cable ties instead. While coral attachment is more successful with MAT-powered wire than cable ties, the coral fragments are currently growing well.
Right now, the focus lies on tailoring the MAT approach to withstand the natural forces around the island, emphasizing the importance of research into finding efficient solutions for reef restoration. Joint efforts to restore and preserve the marine environment around the island will continue, allowing Fregate to remain a world-class example of the power of conservation.
