Rebuilding the reef with frags

A man on the island of Pulau Weh off the coast of Sumatra is rebuilding the reef after the Tsunami of 2004 destroyed it.  It sounds like he’s fragging coral, but on a larger scale than you or I are used to.  I’m not sure that 1″ by 1″ frags would do all that well here.

I love stories like this.  He lives amongst the reefs and loves them enough to not take them for granted.

From the article:

The best system he has found is to make concrete moulds using a bucket and then embed a plastic bottle or tube so that it sticks out of the top of the concrete.

When these are set he drops them by boat onto the shallow sandy sea bed and leaves them there for a month before starting to transplant coral to them.

“This allows time for any chemicals present in the concrete to dissipate so that they don’t affect the new coral growth,” he said.

“It is just like gardening; I cut a little bit of coral from the healthy reef on the far side of the island and bring it to my new reef. I am careful to only take a little from here and there so that I don’t affect the healthy eco system.”

He then uses cable ties to attach the transplants to the plastic tubes so they are not dislodged by tides or currents.

We swam out to inspect his new reef and the results were quite stunning.

The areas that are now over 3 three years old are completely covered with coral and fishes with virtually no remaining sign of the concrete bases. He has already replanted in excess of 200 square meters of coral with over 26 different species.

Link.

I wish I had 200 square meters of coral.  I’ll keep dreaming.