Kenyan Divers Are Restoring Indian Ocean Coral Reefs

Divers in Kenya are helping to restore coral reefs by planting special structures that encourage displaced corals to re-grow.

Minutes away from the Kenyan mainland, the densely forested island of Wasini is one of several starting lines for coral reef restoration efforts in the western Indian Ocean.

The foundation`s activity today is to clean up the coral nurseries, transplanted them and nurtured them back to life. The structures are made of plastic pipes and pyramid-structured steel nets.

The foundation and the nearby community of Mkwiro village have established a locally managed marine area to restore degraded corals and enhance coastal resilience.

The marine area, jointly managed by the foundation and the island’s community, has been planting over 8,000 corals a year since 2012 and placed about 800 artificial reef structures in the channel in a bid to restore Wasini’s coral gardens. But the project is threatened by growing costs and a planned fishing port in Shimoni, a mere 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) away on Kenya’s coast.

The threat of waning fish populations due to dying corals adds to the woes of east African communities, millions of whom are already facing a worsening food crisis because of a prolonged drought in the East and Horn of Africa, as well as ripple effects from the war in Ukraine.

In early March, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a dire warning on the threats faced by African coastal and island nations and a complete collapse of corals in the western Indian Ocean.

After a particularly devastating year in 1998, due in large part to the natural weather phenomenon El Nino, huge stretches of the Indian Ocean’s corals — from Somalia to the South Africa — were badly affected.

Coral bleaching occurs when extreme temperatures and sun glare simultaneously trigger corals to flush out algae, causing them to turn white. Corals can survive bleaching events, but are under greater stress and can’t effectively support marine life, threatening the populations that depend on them.