14th March - Jake

 The day was mostly taken up by working on the coral stars restoration project. This involved sip-tying coral fragments on to metal frames (as it turns out some people can’t use zip-ties - probably James!). The process was enjoyable and involved resting the stars on floating tables and windsurfers while we attached the coral. The process has to be done quickly because the coral cannot survive out of the water for long (it’s alive!).

Note from Tilda:

The Kuruwitu Oceans Alive coral stars restoration project is sponsored by The Ocean Trust and the Mars Group. 

The idea is that coral restoration can be done at scale with this technique as shown at the Hope Reef in Indonesia which can be seen from space!

The specially made steel coral stars are coated with a special substance before the fragments are attached. They are then placed in an interlocking formation underwater. At Kuruwitu, we have two sites, one inshore and one just over the reef at 11 metres. Both sites are being visited regularly for cleaning and monitoring. So far so good and we have not seen any coral mortality so far. Very good news.