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17/01/2016 18:37A move towards sustainable tourism: Four Seasons Resort Seyche…wnership of reef restoration project - Seychelles News Agency
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A move towards sustainable tourism: Four SeasonsResort Seychelles takes ownership of reef restorationproject
To increase the rate of coral growth at the Petite Anse 'horseshoe' bay, a reef restoration project has started aiming to transplant16,000 coral fragments in the next two years. (Four Seasons Resort Seychelles)Photo license Purchase photo
(Seychelles News Agency) - Almost seventeen years after the El Niñophenomenon caused massive coral bleaching across the globe, corals inSeychelles are said to be “healthy and recovering.”
After a Seychelles-based study published in January this year indicated more than90 percent of coral reefs in the Seychelles are slowly but surelyrecuperating, National Geographic expedition leader recently rated the IndianOcean island nation’s coral health among best in the world.
While corals have recuperated naturally across the Indian Ocean archipelago,several sites are yet to fully recover from the damaging effects of the naturalphenomenon which caused the sea temperature to rise, causing corals to turn white and subsequently die.
The Petite Anse bay in the southern district of Baie Lazare on the main island of Mahe is one example wherethe marine ecosystem is striving to achieve a full recovery.
“It is difficult to know the effect of coral bleaching at Petite Anse, as there was no monitoring here before theEl Nino in 1997 to 1998. We do know that the coral is in recovery, but it could be doing better,” CarolineO’Grady, the Public Relations Manager of the Four Seasons Resort Seychelles, told SNA in an email.
O’Grady’s comment followed the launching of the ‘Petite Anse Reef Restoration Project’ by the luxury hotel
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17/01/2016 18:37A move towards sustainable tourism: Four Seasons Resort Seyche…wnership of reef restoration project - Seychelles News Agency
Page 2 of 5http://www.seychellesnewsagency.com/articles/2639
which is located adjacent to the small ‘horseshoe’ bay.
While the corals at Petite Anse is said to be in recovery Four Seasons Resort has teamed up withWiseOceans to increase the rate of coral growth in the area which covers over 10,000 square meters. (FourSeasons Resort Seychelles) Photo License: All Rights Reserved
To increase the rate of coral growth in the area which covers over 10,000 square meters, the project is aimingto transplant an ambitious number of 16,000 coral fragments in the next two years.
“Small pieces of broken coral, often damaged by natural events like waves, will be collected from the oceanbed and bought on-land to the Coral Cabana [a specially designed building where the corals will be cleaned,doctored and assembled on the metal strips, ready to be taken to the underwater nursery],” explained the teamworking on the project.
“Following this, they will be returned to the sea, to the coral nursery, which comprised of coated iron frames thathave been established in the bay to allow the corals to grow safely to a more robust size over 9 to 12 months.”
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17/01/2016 18:37A move towards sustainable tourism: Four Seasons Resort Seyche…wnership of reef restoration project - Seychelles News Agency
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Examples of how pieces of broken coral have been cleaned, doctored and assembled on metal stripsonland have been transferred back to the underwater nursery. (Four Seasons Resort Seychelles) PhotoLicense: All Rights Reserved
The reef restoration project is a collaboration effort between the Four Season’s Resort Seychelles andWiseOceans an organisation specialising in Marine Education and Conservation.
O’Grady told SNA that the resort’s staff and guests will also be invited to help transplant the grown corals backto the bay.
“All our guests will be invited to take part in coral propagation activities, and we hope that as many as possiblewill join in. We will have workshops twice a week, where they can get involved in preparing coral for the nurseryand learning about the process,” she added.
The project in its entirety is said to be costing some 50,000 euro (almost US $55,000)
Coral-growing or coral-nursery projects are not new to the 115 islands archipelago. Through variouspartnership and funding, several non-governmental and private companies have pitched in to help coralgrowth.
One notable example is a coral replanting exercise at Amitie on the Seychelles second most populated island
17/01/2016 18:37A move towards sustainable tourism: Four Seasons Resort Seyche…wnership of reef restoration project - Seychelles News Agency
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of Praslin, spearheaded by a local non-governmental organisation, Nature Seychelles, which is said to beyielding encouraging results
Tania Militello a reef restoration project officer working with WiseOceans on the latest project says thetechnique has been ‘designed specifically’ for the reef of Petite Anse.
“…This area is not protected by an outer reef barrier and the resulting wave action means that all componentsof a coral-growing project here must be secured down. Coral fragments grow successfully when they are keptvery still, so being extremely secure was a key aspiration when developing this methodology. The transplantedcoral fragments will enhance the natural reef, increase the existing coral cover, and continue to thrive withoutintervention in the coming years,” explained Militello.
Tania Militello a reef restoration project officer working with WiseOceans a work monitoring the coral transplantat Petite Anse. (Four Seasons Resort Seychelles) Photo License: All Rights Reserved
According to a press statement from the Four Seasons Resort, this is not the first conservation projectundertaken in collaboration with WiseOceans which also partners with other locally-based non-governmentalorganisations working towards marine education and conservation.
The hotel has over the last three years introduced a programme for rescuing the critically endangered hawksbillturtles, as well as a monitoring programme for coastal erosion.
“It is vital for the future of Seychelles' environment and economy that we respect the beautiful environment,both on land and in the ocean. These resources are the primary reason that tourism exists in Seychelles, andprovides so much joy for us and our visitors, and supports the community through trade and investment,” saidthe Resort Manager Nihat Yucel in the statement.
With properties in some 40 countries worldwide, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts inaugurated its luxury hotelin Seychelles in 2009 and since then it has attracted on average around 11,000 guests per year, whichaccording to O’Grady, hails mainly from the Middle East and Europe including Russia and the United Kingdom.
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Tags: El Niño, coral bleaching, coral reefs, Four Seasons Resort Seychelles, WiseOceans, Nature Seychelles
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