REHABILITATION OF CORAL REEFS

Staff writer

May 11, 20221 min read

In celebration of Earth Day which took place on 22 April, local manufacturer Pratley showed that its product is assisting Oceans Without Borders to preserve coral reefs around Mnemba island near Zanzibar. Its putty is being used to secure and restructure endangered coral reefs off the coast of Zanzibar.

Coral reefs are home to 25% of marine life and play a critical role in preventing marine ecosystems from disappearing. The Coral Nursery Project was established in mid-2021 and is spearheaded by Oceans Without Borders, which uses marine rangers to maintain and nuture the coral gardens. The local reef is a is a living laboratory for reef restoration, and broken pieces of parent coral are collected from all over the reef. The fragments are transformed into new coral pieces and each fragment is secured to a special disc with Pratley Putty, then added to the underwater coral nursery table.

Algae is scrubbed off every disc, along with its coral fragment, to ensure healthy growth. It takes about three months for these coral fragments to grow into new colonies, at which point they are ready to be transplanted back into the reef.

With fragile oceans under increasing pressure from various threats, and the livelihoods of millions at stake, the Africa Foundation embarked on the Oceans Without Borders initiative to preserve some of the continent’s most important and threatened marine ecosystems.