CORAL TRANSPLANTATION
MONITORING AT DUGONG BEACH
BINTAN ISLAND
As a follow-up to the Bintan Marine Protected Area Campaign which was held last April, we carried out monitoring and evaluating the viability of transplanted coral seedlings after three months of planting, located at Dugong Beach, Malang Rapat Village, Bintan Regency. In this monitoring activity, we invite several divers to be involved in this activity.
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The weather conditions at that time were quite sunny, the visibility of the waters was around 3 meters. Based on our observations, we found some dead corals. Survival of coral seedlings was 25% of the 100 coral seedlings that had been transplanted. Due to the low percentage of live coral, we decided to replace the dead coral with live corals taken from the surrounding waters. In addition, we also found algae on the corals so we cleaned them, we also cleaned the transplant media so that their growth could be optimal.
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Apart from monitoring corals, we also observed seahorses that were restocked during the Bintan Marine Protected Area Campaign a few months ago. But unfortunately, we didn't find any seahorses in the restocking area. There are many possibilities, such as the team's ability to observe, its habitat which is a fairly large seagrass meadow, and many other causes.
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Monitoring is needed to obtain information and evaluate the results of activities as well as to find out the most appropriate coral transplantation method to be implemented in Bintan. We hope that we will continue to monitor to help restore coral reef ecosystems.
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