Successfully restored coral reefs in Con Dao

On April 22, in Ba Ria city, the Department of Science and Technology of Ba Ria – Vung Tau province, the Advisory Council evaluated and accepted the results of the project implementation ‘Selecting an application model of coral restoration In the Ramsar area of ​​Con Dao National Park ‘evaluation and acceptance of the project implementation results.

Volunteers in Con Dao and scientists transplant coral corals on the natural bottom. Photo: VNA broadcast Master Nguyen Cong Danh, Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Ba Ria – Vung Tau province, Chairman of the Advisory Council evaluating and accepting the project implementation results, chaired the meeting. The waters of Con Dao have marine biodiversity among the first in Vietnam with coral reefs playing an important role. Recent research shows that many Con Dao coral reefs have recovered quite well after being degraded. However, some reefs cannot recover from degradation or have narrow areas due to the lack of hard bottoms for coral growth. Therefore, the issue of restoring hard corals was proposed by Con Dao National Park and approved by the People’s Committee of Ba Ria – Vung Tau province. The Management Board of Con Dao National Park has cooperated with Nha Trang Institute of Oceanography to implement the project “Selection of applied models of hard coral recovery in ramsar area of ​​Con Dao National Park”. The project is implemented from May 2018 to April 2021 to restore and regenerate coral reefs affected by natural disasters but cannot restore naturally. The project has a common goal of restoring and managing a number of coral reefs in the ramsar area of ​​Con Dao National Park with community participation with 2 specific objectives: assessment of resilience and management of the reef. Ramsar Coral Park Con Dao National Park on the basis of coral reef status analysis and application of restoration techniques; building models of planting and restoring coral reefs in ramsar area of ​​Con Dao National Park (scale of 3 ha) and managing coral reef ecosystems to regenerate aquatic resources, protect the environment, and serve tourism. marine ecology. The project has 6 identified contents, including site selection survey, determining the scale of hard corals restoration in the ramsar area of ​​Con Dao National Park; assess the current status of coral reefs in the selected area before and after the rehabilitation, building a set of criteria for evaluating the restoration results; train community awareness on conservation and training skills in coral reef restoration for local officials and communities. The project also restored reefs on natural bottoms and artificial victim modeling; monitor and supervise the trend of change, the development ability of the recovered corals, the biological resources at the recovery location; building procedures for restoration, scale for the care and protection of hard corals. The members participating in the project to install iron piles as a permanent support for corals on the natural bottom. Photo: VNA broadcast Deputy Director of Con Dao National Park Tran Dinh Hue said, based on the survey results, the implementation team has chosen the method of restoring corals on the natural bottom (which used to be coral but degraded) and artificial bottom (previously no corals). On an artificial bottom, corals were recovered by group fragmentation according to Heeger & Sotto and Edwards’ recovery instructions. For an artificial substrate, the coral groups are fixed on an arched concrete platform with a diameter of 100x60cm (2 bottoms), 80cm high, 5cm thick, with 8-10 holes (10 – 15 cm) to increase coral immobilization and facilitate habitat entry. The total number of concrete tanks as artificial substrates in this project is 150 tanks. For natural substrates, coral conglomerate fragments are fixed directly on dead corals by wire or drawstring. To create strength, use iron stakes or steel nails mounted on the dead coral foundation as a permanent support for the coral. The average distance between colonies is about 0.50 – 1 meter with the way that the corals are vertically oriented and the most contact with the substrate is dead coral or iron piles. In addition, the “transplanted” coral branches are tagged to facilitate periodic inspection. Seven corals of three genera Acropora, Montipora, Pocillopora and two families Acroporidae and Pocilloporidae were selected for restoration. A detailed assessment of the current bottom status of the coral restoration area after restoration in September 2020 shows that the average coverage of hard corals at 3 points of Bai Cat Lon, Hon Tai, Dat Doc increased from 1. , 5 to 12%. This proves that restoring hard corals in degraded reef areas or creating coral recovery media on the bottom both creates conditions for the growth of corals and landscaping for living creatures. According to the assessment, in September 2020, the average density of coral reefs in the coral rehabilitation areas in Con Dao ranged from 175 to 752 individuals / 100 m2. The project has achieved its overall goal of restoring and managing a number of hard coral reefs in Con Dao National Park ramsar with community participation. During the period from October 2018 to September 2020, the project organized 5 rounds of hard coral assessment and restoration in 3 areas, including Dat Doc, Southwest Hon Tai and Bai Cat Lon. A total of over 6,000 pieces of the coral group were relocated and fixed on an area of ​​3 hectares, 1 hectare each. For corals recovered on natural bottoms in Dat Doc and southwest of Hon Tai (over 4,400 groups), the average survival rate of 5 recovered corals including Acropora grandis, Acropora hyacinthus, Acropora robusta, Acropora millepora and Acropora formosa are 82.1% and 82.9%, respectively. Meanwhile, the artificial bottom restoration of concrete tanks (over 1,600 groups) had a higher survival rate (85.6% for the 3 species of Acropora grandis, Acropora robusta and Acropora formosa). Some hard corals of beautiful shapes and colors also provide 100% survival. The average monthly growth rates of the three species of Acropora formosa, Acropora robusta and Acropora grandis in Dat Doc were 0.82cm, 0.89cm and 0.5cm, respectively. For the Hon Tai area, the average monthly growth rates of these three species are 0.81cm, 0.62cm and 0.47cm, respectively. On the artificial substrate, the average growth rate of Acropora formosa was higher than that of Acropora grandis with 0.88 cm / month and 0.74 cm / month, respectively. These values ​​indicate that the recovered branch corals in Con Dao were well developed. Volunteers in Con Dao and scientists transplant coral corals on the natural bottom. Photo: VNA broadcast According to Associate Professor, Dr. Vo Si Tuan, Director of Nha Trang Institute of Oceanography, Con Dao coral suffers many disasters, but fortunately, the natural regeneration of the coral reefs is very good, the coral cover is high. . In the near future, Con Dao National Park needs to strengthen the management of coral reefs, establish coral conservation zones to create conditions for marine life to live, develop and spread to the natural environment; mobilize by means of socialization of tourism businesses for the community to join hands in both exploiting aquatic resources and protecting, cultivating and exploiting aquatic products in a sustainable manner. The project has contributed to improving 3 reef areas, increasing coral coverage, increasing sustainable attachment prices for regenerating corals and creating a stable environment for development of the reef biome. The project has met the most basic criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of restorative corals including: survival rate, growth rate of coral colonies and habitat characteristics of the rehabilitation zone such as change. changes in the coverage of the benthic components, the emergence of species of economic and ecological value, an increase in density as well as the size of the reef biome. Through training and hands-on training, the project has supported Con Dao National Park to improve capacity and from now on Con Dao National Park Management Board can organize hard coral restoration with on-site human resources. employees and partners from the local community. After the meeting, the Advisory Council assessed, accepted and accepted the satisfactory evaluation of the project “Selecting the application model of hard corals recovery at ramsar, Con Dao National Park” with the consensus of all all 9 out of 9 scientific members join the Council. After transferring the project to the beneficiary of Con Dao National Park, the authorities encourage businesses to join the management of coral reef restoration for tourism, creating Artificial reefs in deep sea areas to develop adventure tourism.