Mass coral outplanting in Curieuse marine park |29 January 2024

The divers in a group photo: (Photo: Contributed)

Coral reefs are one of the most diverse and valuable ecosystems of our planet. Extending vastly along the seabed, reefs offer a significant number of benefits to the natural environment, as well as for human activities.

They provide protection for coastal communities by acting as barriers, they are formidable biodiversity hotspots, and on top of that, possess recreational and tourism values. However, corals are susceptible to and threatened by harsh environmental conditions and adverse human activities.

From January 18-19, the Seychelles Parks and Gardens Authority (SPGA) undertook a mass coral outplanting event in the Curieuse Marine National Park. This was executed with the help of ‘Octopus Dive Centre’ and ‘Whitetip Divers’, both based on Praslin.

Over the two-day period, approximately 600 corals were transferred from SPGA’s ocean nursery located at Baie Laraie, and outplanted to the Anse Papaie transplantation site.

For a safe process, the corals were placed inside a traditional fish trap, suspended mid-water and transported by boat. The 600 corals were secured to the seabed using metal rebars and cable ties and further spaced 1 metre apart, amounting to about 600 square metres of coral cover.

The enthusiasm and willingness of the two dive centres to partake in the event, emphasises and highlights the community's interest in contributing towards local conservation efforts. With the rise in sea temperatures in recent months due to the ongoing El Niño event, incidents pointing towards the onset of coral bleaching are becoming increasingly evident.

Through this large scale outplanting, the authority aimed to relocate as many corals as possible, prior to the El Niño’s expected peak, while the corals’ stress levels are still relatively low. This initiative forms part of a six-year Coral Reef Restoration Project in the Curieuse Marine Park, funded by the United Nations Development Programme and the Adaptation Fund.

Since 2021, SPGA has been collecting “corals of opportunity” – in other words fragments that have been broken off by wave action – within the marine park and placing them in ocean-based nurseries maintained and monitored by the divers of the authority’s coral restoration team. After several months of growth, the corals are outplanted to a nearby identified degraded reef site with the aim to facilitate the ecosystem’s recovery.