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ReefWatch Marine Conservation is a non-profit Organization established in 1993, as a Public Charitable Trust under the Societies Registration Act. ReefWatch is involved in research, education and outreach activities. These have included coral reef monitoring in the Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, documentary films, beach clean ups in Mumbai, SCUBA training for scientists and education programs in schools across the country.
ReefWatch has served as a Member of the National Board for Wildlife (Government of India) since May 2007. The organization has had the privilege of working with many dedicated and inspiring individuals in the fields of science, government, filmmaking, photography and the media. Its efforts are targeted towards protecting and nurturing the diversity of life in India’s coastal and marine environments.
A first of its kind project in India, ReefWatch seeks to launch a conservation program restoring and rehabilitating coral reefs in the Andamans. This program involves rescuing naturally broken coral fragments – that would otherwise soon become smothered in sand and die – and re-attaching them to a robust substratum, such as a metal structure. By collecting these broken fragments and securing them to an unmoving frame, their survival rate would increase. This in time will grow into an artificial coral reef.
The next step will be to add mineral accretion technology to the artificial structures. Based on the principle of electrolysis, a mild electric current generated through a solar source will be passed through the iron frameworks. This will ensure quicker accretion of calcium carbonate, which helps the reef grow 7 – 12 times faster than normal and leaves the coral with more of an energy budget that it can use to survive warmer temperature spells and coral disease.
As a tangent of the main restoration and rehabilitation of coral reefs, ReefWatch intends to identify the timing and intensity of natural coral spawning in the Andaman Islands. Spawning is a natural process of sexual reproduction in corals and often mass spawning events occur where multiple colonies of multiple species all spawn on the same night. Mass spawning events occur about once or twice a year on a specific night around the time of a full moon. A number of intricate and delicate processes affects the occurrence of these events, where various factors such as temperature, day length, tide height and salinity play a major role in acting as cues for coral to mature and spawn.
Understanding the timing and intensity of coral spawning in an area provides us with important indicators of reef health and resilience.
The state of Karnataka has a coastline of about 320 kilometres that includes 22 urban agglomerations and over 1000 villages. The high density of population has resulted in several negative impacts on the coast including improper land use, overexploitation of natural resources and pollution.What we are seeing today is an emptier ocean, a dirtier coast line and a community highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to increased coastal erosion.
Reefwatch is teaming up with local organizations, the Forest Department and communities based on the coast to help restore the coast of Karnataka with several intitiatives. These include
A first of its kind project in India, ReefWatch seeks to launch a conservation program restoring and rehabilitating coral reefs in the Andamans. This program involves rescuing naturally broken coral fragments – that would otherwise soon become smothered in sand and die – and re-attaching them to a robust substratum, such as a metal structure. By collecting these broken fragments and securing them to an unmoving frame, their survival rate would increase. This in time will grow into an artificial coral reef.
The next step will be to add mineral accretion technology to the artificial structures. Based on the principle of electrolysis, a mild electric current generated through a solar source will be passed through the iron frameworks. This will ensure quicker accretion of calcium carbonate, which helps the reef grow 7 – 12 times faster than normal and leaves the coral with more of an energy budget that it can use to survive warmer temperature spells and coral disease.
As a tangent of the main restoration and rehabilitation of coral reefs, ReefWatch intends to identify the timing and intensity of natural coral spawning in the Andaman Islands. Spawning is a natural process of sexual reproduction in corals and often mass spawning events occur where multiple colonies of multiple species all spawn on the same night. Mass spawning events occur about once or twice a year on a specific night around the time of a full moon. A number of intricate and delicate processes affects the occurrence of these events, where various factors such as temperature, day length, tide height and salinity play a major role in acting as cues for coral to mature and spawn.
Understanding the timing and intensity of coral spawning in an area provides us with important indicators of reef health and resilience.
The state of Karnataka has a coastline of about 320 kilometres that includes 22 urban agglomerations and over 1000 villages. The high density of population has resulted in several negative impacts on the coast including improper land use, overexploitation of natural resources and pollution.What we are seeing today is an emptier ocean, a dirtier coast line and a community highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to increased coastal erosion.
Reefwatch is teaming up with local organizations, the Forest Department and communities based on the coast to help restore the coast of Karnataka with several intitiatives. These include
