Latest News - Blog

SUB AQUA DiveCenter on Angaga Island started a coral restoration project in October 2016. This was not the first of its kind in Maldives. Similar projects had shown success on Gili Lankanfushi Island for example. We were interested to see if a coral nursery close to Angaga's existing house reef could make a difference. Is it possible to grow coral?

Full story: coral restoration project on Angaga Island Maldives - where it all started

Previous update: Coral restoration project update January 2017

Almost 9 months has passed since the original coral restoration project started. Is it working?
Yes it is. The image shown contains photos of some of the original coral pieces attached to the coral lines back in October 2016. Since then our dive team on Angaga has regularly cleaned and monitored the coral nursery. Their findings show that SUB AQUA DiveCenter are successfully growing coral.

Progress is slow but as the saying goes, Rome was not built in a day. Coral growth is typically a slow process and we did not expect immediate results. However we are so happy that the project seems to be a success so far! We look forward to further nurturing the coral growth as a means of protecting the existing reef from current threats (see Why restore the corals in Maldives?). Threats include the recent global rise in temperatures, as well as the wider effects caused by the rapid rise of development and tourism in the Maldives. If the threats cannot be prevented completely then the coral restoration project on Angaga may at least provide some damage control!

It is really exciting to see the coral growing bit by bit. It extends around the lines and in some coral pieces there are more signs of life. For example we see small crabs in the corals on the lines. We also see banner fish and parrot fish nibbling at the algae on the lines to help us clean the reef. This will encourage more growth and also shows us the corals are living. More signs of success of the Angaga coral restoration project.

Agnes Csomos, current Manager of SUB AQUA DiveCenter Angaga (together with Daniel Alonso), had this to say about the project:

"Some species seem to be doing very well, while others seem to not survive more than a few months. I am in touch with the marine biologists that ran the original coral line project to see if our results match theirs, and why it might be that some species do not seem to survive the lines. For this I am pending feedback so hopefully I can update you next time.
Overall I would say our monitoring shows 80% of the pieces from the original October 'plantation' are still alive today. The growth is not very visible to the naked eye but some have grown from, for example, 48mm to 73mm long. This is more than a 50% increase in length!"

Download full report of coral growth so far (including images)

We look forward to update you again soon on the Angaga coral restoration project in Maldives.