UTS scientists take part in world-first day of global action for coral reefs.
Coralpalooza will take place around World Oceans Day in 12 countries globally. Photo supplied by Dr Emma Camp.
The Coral Nurture Program (CNP) and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation are joining forces with reefs around the world in the biggest international day of collaborative action to help restore key reef sites.
Coralpalooza™, created by Florida-based Coral Restoration Foundation™, will take place around World Oceans Day in 12 countries globally. For the first time, Australia is joining this global effort and will plant corals at sites in Port Douglas, Cairns and the Whitsundays.
Great Barrier Reef Foundation Managing Director Anna Marsden said, “Reefs are suffering from the impacts of climate change like coral bleaching and severe cyclones. Hand-in-hand with reducing emissions, we need a range of efforts to give them the best chance of recovery.
“We’re proud to work with our partner, the Coral Nurture Program, on assisting recovery and research at high-value reef locations and will have over 45 divers out on the Reef to plant 4,000 coral fragments on the day.
“Long-term monitoring is critical to the success of this project and researchers will continue to monitor these sites to better understand the impact coral planting has on reefs and their marine life. This will help determine where and how to target our efforts to assist recovery at high-value reef locations in the future.”
The Coral Nurture Program is a collaboration between marine scientists at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the tourism industry to research and deliver local reef restoration on key reef sites on the Great Barrier Reef.
Local tourism operators and CNP researchers will be out in force at Coralpalooza™ planting coral fragments using the innovative CoralClip® – a Queensland invention that allows corals to be planted quickly and with good survival rates.
Dr Emma Camp, the project lead and co-founder of Coral Nurture Program, said, “This work is part of CNP’s aim to plant more than 100,000 corals by 2024 and work with local Reef communities to develop the tools they’ll need to help key coral reef sites adapt to climate change.”
Wavelength Reef Cruises owner and CNP co-founder John Edmondson said, “We’ve had great natural recovery of many reef areas in the last couple of years but we know it is patchy.
“Coralpalooza™ is an opportunity to establish large research plots of planted corals to help learn what helps on areas where recovery is really slow. It’s also great to join with the wider reef restoration community to help highlight the importance of international cooperation and collaboration.”
Coralpalooza™ activities on the Reef were funded by thousands of dedicated school children around Australia who raised money in Run 4 Fun programs through Australian School and Club Fundraising (ASCF).