In the marine conservation world there are discussions going on about what the best ways are to regrow coral reefs. There are different methods and different conservation projects use them with various results. We aim to use the methods that have best long-term and sustainable results.

Coral reproduces itself in two ways:

• Sexual reproduction
• A-sexual reproduction

Both ways occur in nature or can be manipulated by humans.

Sexual reproduction is the natural process of spawning and coral larval settlement on (newly created) substrate. We humans can intervene with this and can collect during spawning the sperm and eggs and bring them to a laboratory. There coral larval can settle on an artificial substrate. After reaching a certain size the coral is transplanted (with the artificial substrate) to a nursery or straight on the reef in the ocean. Every sexual reproduced coral has new DNA.

If a larvae is settled to a substrate (in nature or in laboratory) it starts growing its first coral polyp. This polyp reproduces itself a-sexual, it clones itself and thus the polyp grows into a colony. One colony consists of many polyps which have the exact same DNA. It typically takes corals 25 to 75 years to reach sexual maturity. When it is sexual mature it releases gametes with sperm and eggs during spawning. The sperm and eggs from the same colony can’t fertilize to form a larvae, because they are from the same mother colony. They need to find egg or sperm from a different coral species.

There are two methods to use a-sexual reproduction as a method to regrow coral reefs.

1) The first method is fragmenting a mother coral colony. This involves breaking a healthy coral colony in many small fragments and connect these fragments on an (artificial) substrate. The fragments will grow on this substrate and start to reproduce themselves a-sexually, With this method you can convert one coral colony into hundreds or even more new colonies. This method generates new colonies in a quick way, because the colonies don’t start from one single polyp, but from a small colony. Most of the time branching coral types, which are fast growing, are clipped to smaller pieces. The downside from this method is, that the growth spurt declines after some time and returns to normal growth rates. More importantly this method creates mono culture. Every new colony has the same DNA as the mother colony, so they can’t reproduce themselves with these new colonies. Also they are vulnerable to the same diseases. This method is mainly used for growing corals for aquariums.

2) The second method is to go around a natural coral reef and look for broken-off pieces of coral. These pieces of corals are broken off by storms, marine life or human disturbance. The pieces (of a certain size) are collected only if they appear alive and healthy, without signs of disease, and if they are not yet overgrown by algal turf or sponges. These corals of hope are connected to the artificial reef and start reproducing themselves asexually. The result is only a few corals from the same colony are attached to form a new reef, one creates more biodiversity by collecting different species. Different growth forms of corals, like plate, foliose, encrusting or even brain coral, if you find one that is broken, can be placed on different locations on the artificial reef. The downside of this method is that it is more time consuming to find the coral pieces, instead of breaking one coral colony into many pieces. Also it takes more time for the slow growing species to form an abundant reef.

CoralGardening only uses the method of collecting broken-off pieces and connect them to artificial reef structures. When we find natural recruits on our structure we are extremely happy. If you want to now more in depth about these methods, just download this document.

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Visitors were asked to come up with a name for the red breasted wrasse that lives in the CoralGardening. With a large majority, they have chosen: Suppy.

Fully cared for, hydrated and motivated, we return to our every day activities at CoralGardening, we carry on, aided by this donation.

LUSH, thank you for your cooperation! Do you want to be inspired by coral and CoralGardening at work or at school? Please contact us to explore the possibilities, we will be
happy to provide you with much more information than was included in this newsletter!

Greetings from the Netherlands,
Esmee

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In order to increase our knowledge, we have invited Nicole Helglason of ReefDivers.io to give a presentation to us and also to the Volunteers of Suara Pulau (the NGO that placed the Pyramids here on Bangka Island). Nicole is a specialist in the field of coral identification, she assists various coral rehabilitation projects around the world, and she has developed a teaching method to impart this knowledge gracefully unto others.

In the morning Nicole starts with her presentation “See The Reef with New Eyes” which is about how one can recognize the different species of coral. Coral is divided into different classes, called genus, and each genus can contain dozens or even a hundred different species. Each individual coral can have different forms and colors, which can make identification especially difficult. For example: one coral species can grow in a branching form (such as the branches of a tree), a tabular form (as a table), or encrusting (over an object), depending on conditions such as depth, temperature, and sunlight exposure. The presentation is a brief summary covering the basics of recognizing and identifying coral, the official course takes a number of days to complete. After the presentation we went diving on the pyramids and the surrounding area. Nicole is pleasantly surprised by the amount of healthy coral around the reef damaged by dynamite fishing.

In the afternoon we dive at the rehabilitation and education project of Murex, another resort on the island. They specifically seek out coral species that are threatened, and when they find one they will split fragments off of the mother coral and place them onto a table in their nursery, once the corals are large enough they are placed back on the natural reef.

Today I learned something new: mimic anemones are not coral, they are an anemone that can appear to be coral, in fact they are nearly indistinguishable from coral. During the night, however, it becomes apparent that the anemone is not coral, it looks rather different. Now here is a question: are you going for a night dive, or are you going to look at the stars instead?

Nicole, thanks for the instructive day!

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This year in July I went back to finish the project.
Constructing the giant steel hands wasn’t always easy. Working with very limited resources, in temperatures well above 30 degrees and mother nature who made welding impossible with heavy rain.

Photo’s Carla August

But when we, with the help of many people, finally had the hands in place on the bottom and during my safety stop with Frank back to the surface, I looking down to see those giant hands standing in the CoralGarden, the reward couldn’t be any greater!

Photo Lee Jellyman

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Veran and Frank are engaged in gardening with coral under water.
Thanks to their efforts, a new piece of artificial coral reef is being constructed. On World Ocean Day there was information at their booth about the work they do in Thailand. Since the youth has the future, there were clay workshops. The children were invited to think about (practical) solutions, so that the coral can continue to exist. The children could make an underwater house for the fish and other animals. There were beautiful creation. A real ceramicist bakes everything in a huge oven and the artworks end up at the home of the young makers.

The sports hall was full of stalls, including vegan food and I finally bought a toothbrush made of bamboo (sustainable).
It was a lot of fun outside of the sports hall. There were a number of food trucks and stalls with delicious vegan food and there were friendly ladies with delicious fresh smoothies (drinking cups and straws made of corn). And not to be overlooked at all, there was a tank where you could dive in.

In the hall of the sports complex were mermaids with which you could take a picture of. Various lectures were given in different rooms, raising awareness about the importance of the sea and especially the underwater life for us, as humanity. In a separate section you could experience what impact pollution, especially plastic, has on marine life. There was also a space focused on coral, with an aquarium with live corals. It was a visual experiance.

A visual impression:

It was a beautiful day; with friendly encounters, lots of information and interaction.

Marieke

A visual impression:

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Unlike the actual gesture you make with your hands to greet or thank someone, these hands are a bit open so divers can practise their bouyancy skills by swimming through. This weekend the Hands are going down in the water!

Over the last 1,5 year, during the periods we were on Koh Tao, we have created an artificial reef called the CoralGarden. The reef was made during workshops together with many volunteers, from DMT’s from various dive schools, tourists to school kids and local / long staying people on Koh Tao. Also we gave presentations at EcoDay’s, for diveschools, tourists, kids etc. about coral reefs, the ocean and possible solutions to make less negative, or even a positive impact on them.

We have opened the hearts of different people and hope to have inspired many to care more about the world in which we live. Our work doesn’t stop here, but with finishing the Thai Wai Hands we would like to thank all who contributed to realising the CoralGarden.

Photos made by Carla August Photography
Carla thank you very much for the beautiful pictures.

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CoralGardening has been asked to come up with challenges for the Ocean Floor Engineering Lab on June 15 th. You can say, right up our alley. During a meeting we did some preliminary efforts and Border Sessions started working on this. An important element of the labs is that there is a variation of specialists who actually come up with practical and realistic solutions. In addition, there are also several specialists per lab who give a small presentation as a starting point for the lab. These people must of course be found and invited.

Ultimately, three subjects were included in our lab. Introduced by WWF-NL the question of how they can construct economically justified oyster beds in the North Sea. These oyster beds have been greatly reduced by fishing and other causes. However, they have an important role in the ecosystem of the North Sea. With all the new wind farms, the WWF-NL sees a great opportunity to build new oyster beds between the windmills, protected from fishing. The question here is how to do that without huge amounts in subsidies.

CoralGardening has submitted two questions. First, how can 3D-printing be used when making artificial reefs. Secondly, the question of whether a portable lab, think of one suitcase, can be developed with which coral can be cultivated on the basis of sexual reproduction.

The lab started with three presentations, one of our own chairman, Frank van Klaveren, about CoralGardening, corals in general and what the problems are and what solutions are needed. Next came Enrico Dini, an Italian who developed a 3D-printer that can be used to print complete houses with simple materials such as sand and clay. Finally, Michaël Laterveer, a Dutchman who has developed a professional coral breeding lab for dredging company Van Oort, presented.

Everyone listens eagerly to Michaël’s lecture on coral breeding.

Enrico tells his special story about his 3D-printer

3D-printing and artificial reefs, how to combine that? The group that was working on this soon came to the conclusion that actually printing components would be too slow, cumbersome and above all expensive. But the advantage of a bunch of expert creatives together is that alternatives soon come. In the end it was decided to make molds for concrete elements. The added value of 3D-printing here is that you can create a large variety of complex templates. This allows you to guarantee that there are sufficient holes and angles in which coral and the associated fish can shelter well. An ingenious building process has also been devised with which various elements can be transformed into a complete reef. By not making these elements too big they can be placed by a single diver. This makes it very easy to let visitors help build a reef. After all, many hands make light work.

3D printing of a reef is still quite a challenge

A portable lab for growing coral for a low price. This was the subject that appealed to me the most. Although I had my doubts because the lab developed by Michaël consists of three sea containers and costs a million euros. Great was therefore my relief when I asked if our wishes were possible Michaël answered with a certain “Yes of course”. Ultimately, the question is how ambitious your objectives are. At Van Oort this was a very large scale and guaranteed success in one go since the time span of a project must be as short as possible. If you are satisfied with a smaller scale and a chance of failure, then the requirements are immediately made a lot easier. Eventually we divided it into a framework, or all things that can be put together with local materials and labor. Think of the breeding basins and a roof for sufficient shade and some of that kind of thing. And for the lab itself you need a water pump with water filter system, an air pump for oxygen supply and the necessary measuring equipment such as temperature, acidity meter, oxygen meter, etc. All in all, pretty easy to design. My goal now is to look for a university or college that wants to make a student project here and then actually have a suitcase ready for our project in Indonesia.

What should a mobile coral lab look like?

Summary of new ideas for oyster beds between windmills.

To be continued,

CoralGardening

Arjan Blaauw

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Diego of The Old Pirate, spoke with us at the exhibition Boot in Dusseldorf and at Duikvaker in Houten. He wanted to sponsor us with new diving equipment. For those who do not know The Old Pirate yet, it is the importer and wholesaler of all kinds of diving equipment. From the smallest parts to complete sets of diving equipment. Their newly opened store is very convenient; you can view and try everything and even test a lot of the equipment. Next to the store the diving school Li-Diving is located with their own dive pond. The dive pond is ideal to test whether you enjoy diving and practice your skills. There is also cool stuff to see under water.

After the Duikvaker exhibition we went to The Old Pirate. We walked through the shop and Diego asked what CoralGardening needs. We only mention the most necessary things. But Diego insists and gives more than we can wish for. The list continues to grow and is too long to mention, we end up with 2 Tigullio T52 BCD’s, a new manometer for Veran, two reals, mesh bags, a gorgeous OrcaTorch flashlight with wrist strap, two waterproof backpacks and a backpack to transport the diving equipment itself. Very useful if you are cycling around Koh Tao. And that is not all, soon there will be more ….

The Tigullio T52 trim jackets are ideal for our work under water. They are semi-wings and therefore easy to trim. This allows you to work nicely horizontally above the artificial reef, without having to be afraid of touching something. Hanging upside down is also a piece of cake. The large pockets and many D-rings make it possible to carry a lot of tools and equipment. The trim jackets also have a big bladder, so the extra weight that you take with you can easily be compensated.

The Old Pirate and Diego thanks for the donation, we use it with pleasure.

Build a healthy sea and donate to CoralGardening.

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The kids learned that coral reefs provide shelter and a food source for marine life, and then they played fishes who had to run away from a shark or quickly hide in the coral reef. They learned what a coral is and we all moved like the tentacles of the polyp to catch plankton.

Also they learned what an artificial reef needs. They worked together creating their own artificial reefs with home made play dough. They created the most beautiful shelters for fishes. They enjoyed the Eco Day very much. One of the kids even wanted the recipe of our home made play dough.

During the kids program the adults followed different presentations. Peter told the DMT’s (Dive Masters in Training) about pollution. What are the main sources of pollution, how does it end up in the ocean, what are the consequences and what can we do about it?

Leslie had an interesting presentation about turtles. Which different turtles are there, how to recognize them. At New Heaven they have a turtle head start program. They raise small turtles in a safe environment and after some time they release them into the ocean. By doing this, the turtle have a higher survival rate.

Did you know that you can recognize individual turtles by there lines on there face? Like you can distinguish individual whale sharks? There is a monitoring program for the turtles around Koh Tao. If you see a turtle, take a good picture of it, if possible from both sides. Check out Koh Tao Turtles for more lectures about turtles and submit your turtle pictures for ongoing monitoring.

Frank told a story about the importance of coral reefs, the necessity to take action and creating artificial reefs.

In the afternoon various teams went to clean the beaches, divers and snorkellers went out to clean the reefs and we took a team of divers to the CoralGarden to deploy an artificial reef statue under water. The deployment of the flower went smooth and enormously fast because of the great teamwork between the divers!

Thank you Get Involved Koh Tao and Roctopus Dive for organizing this EcoDay, Siam Scuba Dive Center for offering the boat to deploy the artificial reef. Thank you Tiago for the sophisticated recipe for play dough, and all the volunteers that helped this day.

Here is the video of the EcoDay made by Lee Jellyman. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to be the first to see our latest videos.

Pictures with logo are made by Michael S. South

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Opposite the main bar, there was a water station where you could get free water refill. The Get Involved booth was located next to the water station so you could buy a stainless steel Trash Hero bottle if you didn’t have a refillable bottle yet. All profits made from the sale of the bottles were donated to the local action group “Save Koh Tao” for future sustainable solutions on Koh Tao.

We organised two CoralGardening workshops. Create your own artificial reef with selfmade play dough and draw marine life on our wavy walls of sheets. Here is a short photo impression of the festival.

Thanks to everyone who helped to make the Save Koh Tao festival a success!

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