What We Do
Coral Restoration
We have trained coral gardeners in our community to help plant ‘supercorals’ (heat-resistant corals) using various methods such as mesh frames, rope nurseries and disc nurseries. We follow a ‘Reefs of Hope‘ Ocean Decade Action as endorsed by UNESCO, alongside our partner NGO, Corals for Conservation (C4C).
Youth Work
We continuously carry out activities and presentations with the local youth in schools and community centres. We want to get the youth involved to learn about the importance of the marine environment and inspire them to respect and protect their second home.
Giant Clam Nursery
We have 3 species of giant clams (locally known as Vasua) in our MPA: Tridacna gigas, Tridacna squamosa and Tridacna maxima. The presence of these gentle giants are indicators of reef health, they are ecosystem engineers! They have many ecological roles such as improving water quality by filter feeding and thereby supplying nutrients to the reef and providing substrate for colonisation of epibionts. Giant clams have roughly 75 different predator species, preying on adults and juveniles. We monitor our current clam population closely and hope to acquire the funding to protect juveniles in the future.
Reef Checks
We carry out weekly reef surveys to monitor the health of the corals and fish, as well as checking the status and progress of our coral nurseries. We hope to gain some funding for training to secure official reef check qualifications for our youth members.
Crown-of-Thorns Removal
Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (COTS) cause significant, rapid damage to reefs as they prey on coral polyps. One COTS can go through as much as 10 square meters of coral a year, with an outbreak in population size leading to the complete destruction of a reef in a matter of months. Although COTS are a native species where a couple of individuals on the reef is normal, their population levels need to be closely and constantly monitored for outbreaks. This is especially important in the face of climate change as COTS are even more successful when the corals are stressed.
Workshops
We carry out workshops which engage the community (adults and children) and other villages to learn more about taking care of the marine environment. These include teaching others how to carry out successful coral planting and how to build coral nurseries. We also participate in workshops run by other organisations, such as NGOs, which provide training for indigenous people and communities.