Mithapur (Gujarat): Local fishermen, Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL) volunteers and the Gujarat Forest Department staff joined the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) in a day-long operation to restore overturned corals in Mithapur reef on Friday, as part of their coral conservation efforts in Gujarat.
“While assessing threats to corals, we found that a number of these had been flipped over due to use of poles to propel boats into the sea. Corals are also over-turned by fishermen looking for catch underneath them. Dependent for survival on photosynthetic algae called the zooxanthellae, these over-turned corals were dying due to stress,” said S Subburaman, Marine Biologist, WTI.
“Most of the damage is unintentional, and these practices exist due to lack of awareness among the fishing community. So we took this simple initiative to not only save these corals but also to spread awareness among the fishing community.”
The drive to upturn the corals was held during low tide, when it was most suitable to view and undo the damage. Orientation of more than 40 corals was corrected by an eight-member team.
The Mithapur coast has a healthy coral ecosystem, but like reefs world over, it is under stress due to environmental as well as man-made factors.
The environmental factors including climate change, rise in water temperature, El Nino, etc have long-term effects on corals, resulting in coral bleaching, leading possibly to eventual death. Although efforts are on to study and mitigate these damages, experts believe that beyond a certain point they may be out of human control. While some human-induced factors such as pollution are as difficult to evaluate, others which may be as harmful to corals are much easier to manage.
“Apart from overturning, the use of heavy rocks as boat anchors also damage the corals. We identified the area with maximum damage in the reef and carried out the operation there,” added Subburaman, who implements WTI’s Gujarat Coast Coral Securement Project in Mithapur, run with the support of TCL.
Beginning with this operation, for the first time in India, a ‘rescue team’ has been formed for coral restoration of this kind. The team will be instrumental in carrying out similar operations in the future; they will be trained in swimming and snorkeling to extend these resource non-intensive initiatives to deeper regions of the shore.
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