Maharashtra Mangrove Cell appoints CSIR-NIO to identify sites for restoration of corals

According to the UN environment programme, corals provide at least half a billion people with food security and livelihood. Coral reefs also act as ‘wave breaks’ between the sea and the coastline and minimise impact of coastal erosion. In India, they garner the same protection as a tiger or elephant under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972.

Climate change is one of the biggest threats to corals. Bleaching is a process in which corals, under stress from warm weather, expel algae that give corals their colours, live in their tissues and produce their food. Experts have documented bleaching of the corals along Mumbai’s coastline.

Under the India–United Nations Development Programme-Green Climate Fund (GOI-UNDP-GCF) project titled ‘Enhancing Climate Resilience of India’s Coastal Communities’, the Mangrove Cell signed an agreement with NIO.

The goal of the one-year project is to identify and record stressed coral zones, to highlight the causes that are stressing the ecosystem and strive to reduce stressors. It will also look for suitable particular recipient sites for coral restoration in sub-tidal regions along the Maharashtra coast, as well as prospective donor sites for restoration along the state coast and on other Indian reefs.

“The overarching purpose of this research is to understand the key biological characteristics of the reef habitat throughout the Maharashtra coast,” said Virendra Tiwari, additional principal chief conservator of forest, Maharashtra Mangrove Cell, adding that the study is a major step towards climate resilience with the ocean and corals being some of the largest carbon sinks.

GPS coordinates of the sites with reef formations will be identified using remote sensing tools, and these sites will be further evaluated for the presence of corals and other flora and fauna, as well as their current status and extent of degradation, using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and scuba divers. The same process will be used to choose places for restoration and continuous monitoring.

Pilot projects at Lakshadweep, Kutch and Tamil Nadu have been undertaken to study the survival rate of corals, method and site of translocation and creation of high heat-resistant coral colonies, among others.

In the state’s three-year-long Sindhudurg project, corals were cultivated — fragments of corals were taken and attached to concrete frames with the help of nylon threads — and then left on ocean beds at a depth suitable for their growth. In a project in the Andaman islands since 2017, ReefWatch Marine Conservation has transplanted coral fragments on to nine artificial structures totalling a 20 square metre area.

In the colonies at Haji Ali in Mumbai, where coastal road construction is underway, corals were translocated to Navi Nagar in Colaba in November 2020.