Hilton Northolme’s artificial reefs bloom |02 August 2021

A diver monitoring the health of the coral reefs

The artificial reefs which have bloomed from infant corals in the Hilton Northolme’s in-water nursery have now become a major attraction for hotel snorkelling activities for guests at the resort.

The project is an initiative of Hilton Northolme in collaboration with the Marine Conservation Societyof Seychelles (MCSS)and was launched on World Ocean Day in 2018 under a very fitting theme which was encouraging solutions for a healthy ocean.

To undertake this project, Hilton Northolme received financial support from Hilton Enterprise. They received US $3,000 which they have fully invested and undertook the coral restoration project and together with their engineering team, built additional reefs.

Seychelles NATION met with the general manager of Hilton Northolme, Daniel Fabbri as well as with the hotel’s operational manager Duncan Bond who is overseeing the project.

The coral restoration and reef project aims to improve food security, livelihood and mitigate the effects of coastal erosion as well as help the fragile coral species to adapt to the rising water temperatures and climate change.

Other than marine habitat conservation, the nursery and artificial reefs will also be used for marine surveys and education.

It started off with a field-based or in-situ nursery and following its successful implementation, the resort furthered its efforts and moved the growing corals to make artificial reefs a few metres away.

MrFabbri explained thathe is very fond of the environment and that one should do everything in his/her power to protect, develop and find ways to make the world a better place.

“I am really proud of the development of this project. Despite the pandemic, which has put a lot of constraints on its progress, we strive to keep the project ongoing as a major part of our sustainability activities,” stated MrFabbri.

The project slowed down last year due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Hilton team could not achieve as much compared to the work accomplished in 2019.The experts from the Marine Conservation Society were unable to undertake on-site project monitoring also which included diving to check on the coral growth and cleaning of the coralsandstaff of Hilton Northolme took up these tasks on their own.

Mr Fabbri noted that the corals were healthy which made them resilient and grow stronger, even without constant care from the experts.

Separated into three different areas, the field-based or in-situ nursery is located in the small bay in front of the hotel, some 150km from land and is around 800 metres long.

To date, the project restoration efforts have resulted in the nursery having four rope nurseries with 100 coral fragments on each which measures about eight metres down; one artificial metal frame containing 40 coral fragments; four artificial concrete dome structures each with 20 coral fragments and three coral transplantation sites with 60 fragments per site.Thecoral fragments used are namely the Acaproa and Pocilloporacorals.

The second project that the resort undertook alongside the coral restoration was to usethe growing coral fragments to make an artificial reef whereby the corals can grow properly and develop into a natural habitat to enhance the reefs that are missing in so many areas due to coral bleaching and other disasters that have affected the coral population.

Guests have been encouraged to participate and support the projects initiatives byadopting the coral fragments or give them away as a gift to others. Up to now, around 300 fragments have already been adopted. Thisis helping with the continuity of the project and to expend on the hotel and marine society’s efforts in educating guests on the importance of protecting the corals.

To support the MCSS activities, the resort has constructed a small kiosk from where the MCSS is able to provide information to visitors about the project.

From this kiosk, which serves as a base for the project staff, MCSS members are able to loan snorkelling equipment and interact with guests who are interested in their guided snorkelling tours, which enablethem to enhance guest experience while giving them advice on safe practices and update them on the coral restoration efforts at Hilton Northolme.

This helps raise awareness of the importance of coral reefs, theneed for them to be preserved and rehabilitated, the severely impacted reefs and present biodiversity in Seychelles, while giving guidelines for marine-life safe and conscious snorkelling.

In line with Hilton’s corporate responsibility programme ‘Travel with Purpose’ which was launched in May 2018, Hilton aims to send zero soap to the landfill, double its social investment and cut its environmental footprint in half by the year 2030. On the property level, Hilton Northolme aims to ensure the up-keeping of coral reefs, build the reefs’ resilience and promote reef health while combating climate change issues, rise of sea temperatures and coral bleaching.

Lynn Betsy