If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it

It is essential to protect the existing reef. That way we don’t have to restore them anyway. Despite all the fun we get out of building artificial reefs, an existing and living reef is much more valuable to us all. That is one of the main reasons we organize meetings and give presentation: making other people aware of the importance and beauty of already living and growing reefs! We had the opportunity to present our Het is essentieel om bestaande riffen te beschermen zodat die niet hersteld hoeven te worden. Hoe leuk het ook is een een kunstmatig rif te bouwen, een al bestaand rif is veel waardevoller. Dat is de reden waarom we veel lezingen geven, om mensen bewust te maken van de schoonheid en het belang van koraalriffen. We have had the opportunity to give a presentation at Eco Day. Forty Dive Masters and Instructors eagerly listened to our side of the story. When they are more aware of what happens on a coral reef, they can share that knowledge with their clients. After our story was told, Chad Scott gave a more detailed description of the state of coral reefs around Koh Tao.

Chad Scott gives a presentation on Eco Day.
Chad Scott gives a presentation on Eco Day.

There are organized several activities in the afternoon, such as under and above water clean-ups and research into the condition of the mooring buoys around Koh Tao. The mooring buoys used to anchor ships are one of the most important protective measures that can be taken for coral reefs. Boats can attach themselves to a fixed anchor line (mooring line), so they do not have to throw an anchor out which can damage corals on the sea floor.

Vera legt uit hoe een bloem gebouwd wordt.
Vera explains the process of building CoralGarden statues.

About 14 man and woman arrive to make a new flower. They are following the lecture about what we do enthusiastically and all make a nice contribution. It’s a challenge to put all of them to work as quick as possible. Vera gives a brief explanation on how a leaf is made and after that the tasks are distributed freely. What is striking, is that the stereotypical roles do not really seem to apply here on Koh Tao. For example, one of the smaller ladies takes the heavy task clipping of reinforcing bars on her shoulders. Two women and a man are eager to learn how to weld as instructed by Vera.

Aan rollenpatronen wordt hier niet gedaan.
Stereotypical roles have no place on Koh Tao.

The different teams get to work: two teams are full of excitement when they bending a few sheets, despite this being physically demanding work. Others attach chicken wire on just curved blades. Yet other teams cover a leaf with cement and cotton cloths. The result is better than they expected.

Het buigen is zwaar werk en vereis zowel techniek als spierkracht.
Bending bars is hard work, but it also requires some technical insight

It is a true pleasure seeing that many people cooperate to make a CoralGarden flower! This way we might be done building our CoralGarden in no time at all! Thanks a lot everybody!!!

Nieuwe vaardigheden leren is altijd leuk. Leslie krijgt les van Vera.
Learning new skills is alway a joy. Leslie gets instructions from Vera.

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