CB BureauThe Mithapur coastal region of Devbhoomi-Dwarka District in Gujarat will be home to the country’s first coral garden – combining conservation and tourism development in its blueprint. ‘Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL) have signed a memorandum of understanding to set up the first-of-its-kind coral garden,’ senior advisor to WTI BC Choudhury has informed.
‘The Mithapur Coral Garden will house nearly all coral species found in Gulf of Kutch. Just as in a terrestrial botanical park or garden, the reef will be separated into various sections based on accessibility,’ explains a report brought out by WTI and TCL which contains the proposed project plan.
The report also informs that the tidal pools are meant primarily for the coral garden. Each pool will contain a variety of corals and there will be special emphasis on the placement of different species. It is expected to be useful not only for education and tourism but also for restoration of the reef.
‘Controlled and regulated tourism and diving can be allowed near coral gardens, ultimately helping in conservation awareness of common people,’ the report reads. The plan includes areas for wading, snorkelling, diving, jetty and boat anchoring.
WTI field officer of the Coral Reef Recovery Project S Subburaman said, ‘This is an opportunity to create the first coral garden in the country, which will have a major role in overall conservation by serving as the mother reef for new sites.’
In addition to funding from Tata Chemicals Limited, the project will have financial assistance from the Gujarat forest department as WTI has signed a broader MoU with the state also.
What is coral gardening?
Coral gardening involves treating coral as if it were a plant. It involves the extracting of segments or larvae of live corals from a reef and growing them in a nursery until adulthood.
Coral gardening or farming is predominantly practised for one of three reasons: for conservation, to supply aquariums and zoos for public exhibits, or to supply the home aquarium hobby industry. Grown corals can be transplanted back into the reef, usually onto damaged areas, improving the recovery of coral reefs suffering from degradation.
Coral garden nurseries have been advocated as one of the ways to physically restore coral reef ecosystems. The success rate, though, of nursery rearing and transplantation of coral colonies can be highly variable. While there have been a number of recent advances in coral larvae rearing in nurseries, scientists are still uncertain of the long-term success of coral transplantation in terms of their ability to survive and reproduce. Like in naturally occurring coral reef frameworks, coral larvae gardens and transplanted nursery grown coral are vulnerable to natural and human disturbances.