Marine Biologists Report Growing Coral Nursery Amidst Road to Reef Restoration

The Reef Restoration Foundation found that a coral nursery finally gave birth on Fitzroy Island after four years.

A coral nursery on Australia's Great Barrier Reef has reportedly given birth after biologists planted it four years ago, according to the Guardian.

Considering the rare environmental factors that coral nurseries require to give birth, 9News reports that the success may be attributed to a rare blood moon that occurred between Nov. 12 and 13. A full moon can trigger corals to release trillions of eggs and sperm into the water during a mass breeding phenomenon called an "underwater snowstorm."

How Do Coral Nurseries Give Birth?

The coral spawning event, which is marked by the eruption of thousands of small pink bundles of eggs and sperm from branching Acropora corals off the coast of Cairns, took place on Nov. 12.

According to Stuff, Coral spawning takes place once a year, requires the right water temperatures, and only happens on a full moon. This biological phenomenon marks one of the biggest reproduction events on the planet, as the circumstances are hard to predict by scientists due to its selective factors. The rest of the outer reef is expected to reproduce next month after a full moon.

The spawn bundles will stay in the nursery pools for a week while they become coral babies before being settled into targetted areas to bring bright and diverse life back to the Great Barrier Reef.

Reef Restoration Foundation on Coral Nursery Findings

The coral nurseries were planted by the Reef Restoration Foundation back at Welcome Bay back in 2017 as part of a pilot research program at Fitzroy Island, according to Australian Geographic. Fragments of the corals were attached to underwater frames, which will grow onto the reef after being replanted.

As of writing, the Reef Restoration Foundation has established 33 coral nurseries, each of about 100 corals, according to Marine Biologist and Master Reef Guide Azri Saparwan, a member of the group. Saparwan expressed that the event was a fulfilling experience to witness.

"Watching our coral babies reproduce for the first time to create the next generation of corals was a beautiful and humbling experience," said Saparwan.

The back-to-back bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 crashed the Great Barrier Reef's new coral recruitment. According to scientists, it would take 10 years for the world's largest coral reef system to recover.

However, despite the reported birth of the coral nursery, a marine scientist at Reef Ecologic, Nathan Cook, clarified that the recent findings are merely a small-scale success, considering the massive size of Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

"Even if you plant one or two million corals, that would not be as much as what the Great Barrier Reef can hold," Cook stated.

A major challenge to reef restoration is the small scales that marine scientists can work on. The Guardian reports that growing 250m large corals would only improve coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef by just 1%, as the reef is roughly the size of Italy.

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Written by: Andi C.