Nature Seychelles and WWF Madagascar train marine biologists in coral reef restoration
Nature Seychelles, a not-for-profit organisation, teamed up with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Madagascar to provide a 15-day science-based coral reef restoration training in the last months of the year for four practitioners from the southwestern Indian Ocean islands.
Nature Seychelles said in a recent press release that the training began in October with three days of online theoretical instruction covering essential principles of restoration ecology and best practices, appropriate design, logistics, and planning.
Since November 5, the training shifted to Nature Seychelles' Centre for Ocean Restoration and Learning (CORAL) complex on Praslin Island, with practical in-water activities at Cousin Island Special Reserve, where actual restoration efforts are taking place.
This segment comprises a mix of classroom lessons and field activities coordinated by the Nature Seychelles Reef Rescuers, led by Dr. Luca Saponari. The participants are learning all aspects of coral reef restoration from the Reef Rescuers programme, which has been running for 14 years. They expect to gain skills in collecting healthy corals for restoration, building underwater nurseries, growing corals underwater, planting them in degraded areas, and monitoring and evaluating success.
The training draws on Nature Seychelles' Coral Reef Restoration Toolkit, created in Seychelles and published in 2018. It will be done alongside new and improved practices from the third phase of the programme, which is financed by the Adaptation Fund through the United Nations Development Progamme (UNDP) and the government of Seychelles.
The training comprises a mix of on-land lessons and in-water activities coordinated by Nature Seychelles' Reef Rescuers. (Nature Seychelles) Photo License: All Rights Reserved
The chief executive of Nature Seychelles, Dr. Nirmal Jivan Shah said, «We aim to cascade our world-class experience in coral reef restoration to as many practitioners as possible to foster a community of practitioners across borders to improve the outlook for corals.»
He said, «This latest training reflects our commitment to sharing successes, lessons learned, and challenges faced from an established programme. It is the third international training in coral restoration we have conducted since launching the project in 2010, and over 90 individuals have been skilled up through these and other hands-on activities open to marine biologists.»
The CEO added that the training is payable to help establish a sustainable funding mechanism for coral restoration required by the current project financed by the Adaptation Fund. It will also establish Seychelles' reputation as a world leader in coral restoration.
Dr. Mahery Randrianarivo from WWF highlighted the urgent need for active restoration in response to severe declines in Madagascar's coral reefs over the past five decades driven by a combination of natural, climatic, and human-induced pressures.
«While passive restoration efforts have been made through the establishment of marine protected areas and locally managed marine areas, the increase in frequency and intensity of these disturbances now require active restoration to better support and enhance reefs' resilience. Based on data collected over the past 10 years, WWF Madagascar has identified reef sites that are struggling to recover,» he said.
Randrianarivo added that Madagascar is now planning to test various coral nursery techniques at a pilot site in the southwest seascape.
«The most effective methods will then be scaled up across the region, with further application in other seascapes. Thanks to Nature Seychelles' experience sharing, we now have a clearer understanding of the challenges we must overcome to achieve our goals,» he said.
Funding for Madagascar's project and training has been provided by the Blue Action Fund.
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