Conserving marine biodiversity with Goa's coral adoption scheme
A Goa-based NGO is helping to protect the marine environment with its adopt-a-coral scheme. Climate change, overfishing and pollution are destroying the area's reefs. The NGO Coastal Impact hopes to stop the decline with coral adoption.
Transcript
00:00 Coral reefs are a stunning natural spectacle and a habitat for countless species.
00:07 Around a billion people worldwide benefit from the fish that live in them or the business they provide, like tourism.
00:14 The coastal region of Goa is a popular holiday destination and a hotspot for divers.
00:19 But climate change, pollution and overfishing are taking a toll on this unique biotope.
00:27 It is estimated that almost 50% or 60% depending on who you speak to,
00:32 will say that 50 or 60% of the corals worldwide have gone and they're not coming back.
00:39 And this has happened in the last decade, which is not very long ago when you think about it, even in our lifetimes.
00:46 Former banker and passionate diver Venkatesh Charlu could no longer stand by and watch.
00:53 He and his fellow campaigners founded the organisation Coastal Impact.
00:57 Their plan is to carefully remove fragments of Goa's intact coral reefs and replant them in the sea elsewhere along the coast.
01:05 A team of marine biologists and numerous volunteers first descend into the sea to prepare a kind of nursery for the new arrivals.
01:20 So the transplantation process basically involves making, fabricating beds like this, tables like this, which are empty.
01:29 It's just a frame of the table with two rows, where two rows of tiles, which are one foot by one foot.
01:36 So you have six tiles on the top row, six tiles on the bottom row.
01:39 And they sit in there and we cable tie them to keep them secure.
01:46 Once everything is in place, the future residents can be taken from their original home.
01:51 We get it to the site of the transplantation and we lower it into the water, take out the pieces and cut them.
02:01 So we need to cut corals which could be as thick as this.
02:05 So we need these kind of shears. These are bone cutters, which are used by doctors, etc.
02:11 So these are very sharp. So you trim those pieces into like two to three centimetres each.
02:18 Just four small pieces of coral are attached to each tile using a special adhesive, a laborious and costly job.
02:27 To finance this, Venkatesh decided to get the tourists and locals on board.
02:35 Venkatesh said, let's start the Adopt a Coral Programme. And it's a one year adoption period,
02:42 where we give them a certificate of adoption, we give them the photograph of the coral fragment,
02:48 we give them the sizes with a promise that we will give them a fresh photograph at the end of one year with the increased sizes.
02:56 The adoption programme is aimed at people like Avantika Mishra.
03:01 As a passionate surfer, she often spends her days off here.
03:05 She also loves going for long dives in the sea, so she's witnessed the changes first hand.
03:10 In five, six years of diving myself, I've seen the decline of the colour of the coral, for example.
03:20 And that hurts. And someone who's close to the water sports personally, that's my community.
03:25 That's the people you be with. It's nice to be able to do something, even if it's just a little bit.
03:31 The coral rescuers need every rupee. And money isn't the only issue.
03:36 Their work is a constant battle. Because just like the mother reef,
03:40 the small coral fragments are also exposed to the harsh environment,
03:44 which causes many problems, according to marine biologist Arun Savio Lobo.
03:52 You have one which is overarching climate change,
03:55 wherein ocean temperatures are sort of heating up, temperatures are rising.
04:01 It's also the stressors that happen at a local level.
04:04 Pollution from effluents that run off.
04:08 If you think of Grand Island, there are all kinds of pollution.
04:11 There is sediment that comes in, there's a port very nearby, there's sediment from the rivers.
04:17 But then there is also other forms of pollution that are increasing over time.
04:21 Plastic pollution.
04:22 Even apparently the sunscreen that you wear on your body can negatively impact the reef.
04:27 There are also fewer fish in the reefs to keep the corals free of weeds,
04:32 because the fish are likewise affected by the environmental conditions.
04:36 And the fishers take much of what remains, like here on Banya beach.
04:44 Now the coral farming is causing additional problems for the fishing community.
04:48 Then people tell us not to put our nets around the island.
04:55 But it's the only fish we can catch.
05:00 It's how we get by.
05:02 This is the situation we find ourselves in.
05:06 The problem is that fishers further damage the reefs with their anchors.
05:14 We are trying to develop a lot of initiatives with them,
05:16 in the sense that because they are one of the primary stakeholders,
05:19 we want to get more involved with them.
05:21 And they need to understand and realize that what we are doing is for their benefit.
05:25 So we will need definitely all their support.
05:28 The government is planning a marine reserve here,
05:31 but it's faced opposition from the fishing community.
05:34 Now Venkatesh is running educational programs to teach fishers about the importance of a balanced marine ecosystem.
05:41 Instead of anchors, they now use bores for mooring at sea.
05:45 We understand that a coral will attract a small fish, which will attract the big fish, which we can catch.
05:54 If you ask us to keep our distance, we are okay with that.
05:57 Venkatesh will next use the coral tiles to build artificial reefs that provide a refuge for fish.
06:06 So it's an octagon, and we have a rain for a five by nine.
06:12 We have made it like a wave shape, so that there is enough layer on all sides.
06:19 It is an empty, open space where fish can go in and literally make a home.
06:24 And if they are in danger, for example, they will go inside that structure.
06:28 To date, Venkatesh and his team have replanted more than 500 pieces of coral.
06:34 The first five artificial reefs were placed in the sea a few days ago, with more to come.
06:39 It's a painstaking task, considering how large the ocean is and how much of the world's corals are destroyed.
06:45 Avantika is realistic about the challenge.
06:48 But she believes the adoption project will do more than just raise money.
06:53 I think it's really cool. It's a really cool way to create impact.
06:59 Because when you make people feel like they own something and when they lose it, it hurts that much more.
07:05 A hurt being felt solely today across the world.
07:09 Over the past three decades, the earth has already lost about half of its shallow-water corals.
07:15 core rules.