What did you do on June 8th? Did you read anything in the newspapers about World Ocean Day? Maybe a little. On Koh Tao this is a very important day on which we pay a lot of attention to the importance of our ocean. Almost everyone on the island is depending on a healthy coral reef with a lot of fish. Different diving schools organize activities like beach and reef clean-ups, lectures, pub quizzes and even Finlympics (exercising with fins on).
We signed up for the activities of the New Heaven Reef Conservation Program (NHRCP). In the morning we attended a lecture from Pau about mineral accretion devices. These are systems that place a very weak current on a metal structure that is placed under water. This current accelerates the natural process of calcium carbonate depositing on the iron structure. The coral grows faster and is better resistant to diseases. And it also prevents the iron from rusting. CoralGardening is looking forward to connecting the Coral-Aid system to the CoralGarden.
After the lecture we dive to pick up broken pieces of coral and attach these on the metal constructions. Fun work! To get a little impression of how this works look at our video at the bottom of this page.
