The forecast for the coming decades is very somber. If we predict the future, based on current scientific data, more animal species will die. Not only animal species, but also entire habitats are threatened. One of the most endangered areas are coral reefs, with all the marine life that lives in it. Due to climate change, the temperature on earth rises, which will make the seawater warmer. Coral is sensitive to a few degrees rise.

An increase of 2 degrees Celsius can be deadly to coral. Compare this to a human, who has an average temperature of 37 degree Celsius. If your temperature rises to 39 degrees you are sick and have a fever. If this is temporary, you will survive, but if it takes a long time, you may die.
Due to warmer seawater temperatures, coral will bleach. You can compare this to fever in humans. If the situation does not take to long and the temperature drops, then the coral can survive and get its color back. If the temperature stays too high, the coral will die. The warmer seawater has already caused mortality. Over the last few decades, there have been more mass bleaching events than over centuries before. Over the last 30 years, about half of the corals worldwide have died.

When you know that only one quarter percent (0.25%) of the ocean floor is covered with coral, while a quarter (25%) of all marine life is directly dependent on the reefs, you realize that coral reefs have an essential function in keeping the ocean healthy.
If the current water temperature rising continues, the expectation is that more corals die, the entire Great Barrier Reef will disappear in the next two decades. Nobody knows what the effects of the collapse of such an important ecosystem are. The combination of temperature rise and the fact that we empty the ocean with overfishing, make some scientists predict that there will only be jellyfish in the ocean in 30 years. This has disastrous consequences for human beings, because one thing is certain: without a healthy ocean, no healthy life on earth!

Be the change you want to see and inspire others.

The first simple action you can take for a healthy ocean is to eat less fish. Nobody stops fishing until you stop eating fish. Every plate counts. Imagine we all stop eating fish in the same week, the ocean will be left in peace for one week.

The second action is to reduce your CO2 emissions. Take on the challenge to start with one thing and do the footprint challenge.

More info about corals and how a bleaching event was captured on camera, see the beautiful film Chasing Coral.

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On June 30, there was the monthly EcoDay on Koh Tao and CoralGardening took this opportunity to put two new statues down underwater, with the volunteers who made it. There were two groups for the two statues, one with scuba divers led by Charlotte and Emiel and one with freedivers led by Vera. Me myself had taken the job of supplying the materials from the boat to the divers. Fortunately, I could just take part in assembling under water, by filling the flower with the ballast and placing the top on one of the flowers. The assembling of a flower by the freedivers was a new experience for me and many of us. Also because it is the first time an artificial reef has been created, put down and assembled by freedivers.

During their presence on Koh Tao, Frank and Vera are experimenting with materials. In addition to the concrete mache developed by CoralGardening in 2015, we have also made flowers consisting of metal and sisal. In my opinion the concrete-mache flowers are more beautiful to see, but they are also harder to plant coral on, an important thing. With the ropes, it is easier to open the rope and place the coral between the fibers and then close the rope so that it holds the coral. They also experiment with a full metal flower. This new flower has the great advantage that these are much easier to connect to Bob’s Coral Aid.

After this successful placement, we organized a “CoralGardening only” construction morning. With the five of us (me, Frank, Vera, Emiel and Charlotte) we made various leafs, with Charlotte learning to weld. This was a very charming face. Later during my holiday we did this again, by that time Charlotte was already back in the Netherlands. I was able to discover my own welding qualities and was not dissatisfied with the result, and even the critical Vera could live with the final product.

Charlotte gets a lecture from Emiel.

I also learned to weld.

And yes, now you have flowers underwater so then you need some coral on it. One week after the placement we went to the CoralGarden by longtail, twice in one week with the CoralGardening crew. We collect broken pieces of coral from the sandy bottom, that are still alive and place it on the flowers. Half of the corals we put on the rope flower and the rest on the concrete flowers. It proved to be true that correct coral placement is a skill. It is important that the coral is firmly connected so that it can attach itself to the substrate, the flowers in this case.

Finally, the building of the flowers and planting coral on it, is great fun to do. But it must also be maintained and of course it has to be monitored if it is growing well. We returned with the longtail and we strengthened the foundations of one of the flowers and we cleaned the concrete mache leaf from the algae that growth on it. We also did a baseline measurement of the size of the coral and the degree of bleaching. Now I’m curious about the results in a half year. And oh yes, I have learned something new: diving slates FLOAT. When you are at eleven meters and you are focussed on measuring, and when you look up to see your notes floating to the surface. My reaction was not something recommended by dive instructors, but I could finish my notes at least.

Summarizing, it was a great and productive holiday and it gave me a good feeling about the project.

Arjan Blaauw

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