2 years of feat to restore Con Dao coral reef

After 2 years of implementing the project ‘Selecting an application model of hard corals restoration in the ramsar area of ​​Con Dao National Park’, the coral coverage in this sea area has been significantly improved, the survival rate of grafted corals. reach 60-80% …

The coral reefs in Con Dao waters have been recovered after the “catastrophe”. RECOVERY 7 TYPES OF MARRIES Con Dao sea area is considered to be the place with the highest marine biodiversity in Vietnam with coral reefs playing an important role. However, since 1997, the coral in Con Dao sea has developed slowly, in many places, the coral has died and bleached. Therefore, the Provincial People’s Committee “ordered” Con Dao National Park and Institute of Oceanography project “Selection of applied models of hard coral restoration in ramsar area of ​​Con Dao National Park”. Associate Professor – Dr. Vo Si Tuan, Former Director of Institute of Oceanography (Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province) – project manager, said that the coral reef restoration was done in 3 areas: Dat Doc, Southwest of Hon Tai (recovered on natural bottoms) and Bai Cat (restored on artificial bottoms). Rehabilitation activities include: assessment of current conditions, removal and fixation of corals, and monitoring of survival and growth (conducted 5 turns over a 2 year period). Accordingly, there are 7 types of corals belonging to 3 varieties: Acopora, Montipora and Pocillopora selected to be restored in the waters of Con Dao. In addition, some types with beautiful shapes and colors such as Echinophyllia echinoporoides, Oxypora glabra, Echinophyllia cehinoporoides were also tested to create diverse habitats for ecotourism. In the coral restoration area on the artificial bottom, the scientists split the pieces and then fixed the corals to 150 dome-shaped concrete tanks. In areas with natural bottoms to ensure good coral growth, scientists make direct fixings on dead corals by wire or drawstring. To make sure, the group used a 35cm iron pole or 10cm steel nail mounted on the dead coral foundation as a support. Talking about the project implementation process, Associate Professor, Dr. Vo Si Tuan said that the project team of up to 20 people (including scientists from Nha Trang, Con Dao National Park staff and fishermen) is not concerned. day and night, wind waves to work both on the sea and under the ocean. In particular, the hardest thing is to bring 150 dome-shaped concrete tanks of 100x60cm size to the sea. After being manufactured in Con Dao, these 150 tanks were implemented by the team implementing the project to rent a crane to Ben Dam port. From here, it takes 25 more boat trips to transport these concrete tanks to Hon Bay Canh. Dozens of healthy fishermen were mobilized to bring the concrete tub to Cat Lon beach (Hon Bay Canh) and put it in the right position (distance from 0.5-1m). According to Mr. Tran Dinh Hue, Deputy Director of Con Dao National Park, the agency in charge of the project, said that he has accompanied the scientists of the Institute of Oceanography during 2 years of implementing the project. The project is carried out entirely on the sea, under the ocean, so it is very difficult, depends a lot on weather factors. “Sometimes, when we are implementing the work, the weather is unfavorable, the waves are strong, the wind is strong, we have to stay 10 days before we can continue to deploy”, Mr. Hue said. SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT After 2 years (from October 2018 to September 2020), implementing an experimental coral restoration in Con Dao waters showed that corals have recovered well. Specifically, according to a detailed assessment of the current status of the bottom of the coral restoration area in September 2020, it shows that the amount of coral has been significantly improved through the coverage data of living corals. Accordingly, in Bai Cat Lon area, the coverage of hard corals varies from 0-13.1%. Hon Tai area The coverage of hard corals increased from 3.8% to 13.1%. Similarly for the Dat Doc area the coverage of hard corals increased from 0.6% to 10%. Thus, after 2 years of restoring corals, coverage of average hard corals at the three recovery points increased from 1.5 to 12% with the number of more than 4,400 coral groups restored on the natural bottom and 1,600 coral groups have been restored on the man-made reef. Mr. Nguyen Cong Danh, Director of the Department of Science and Technology, said the project “Selecting an application model for recovery of hard corals in the ramsar area of ​​Con Dao National Park” is an experimental project of great significance to the province and country. In particular, coral rehabilitation and development for the Con Dao ramsar area has achieved the main goal of improving coral reefs by increasing coral cover, increasing the cost of sustainable attachment for corals. restore and create a stable environment for the development of the coral reef biomes. From there, contributing to biodiversity conservation and restoration of natural resources, improving the quality of the ecosystem.