One of the biggest hurdles for coral larvae worldwide is the lack of natural substrate to settle on. On degraded coral reefs, most of the hard substrate is overgrown by algae, a result of declining fish populations that usually help control algal growth. But there’s new hope! The Dutch company BESE has developed a reef paste, which has been proven successful for oyster larvae settlement on artificial structures. This reef paste could be a solution for corals too. By replacing the oyster powder component with beach sand and crustose coralline algae (CCA), they expect the CCA will quickly colonize the material, making it more appealing for coral larvae to settle on. In December and January we will conduct an experiment in collaboration with BESE to test the reef paste on different types of artificial reef structures. Our local Reef Rangers will be involved in both the construction and deployment of the structures at our coral reef restoration site.
This innovative project is made possible by BESE and the WWF Inno-fund.
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