Transplanted coral showing its
attachment to the metal framework
of the Biorock structure

It has been sometime since we ventured out to Koh Tao’s newest dive site, Hin Fai, sporting its state of the art Biorock™ technology.

The site was constructed and deployed in September and since then members of Marine Conservation Koh Tao, along with the Save Koh Tao group have been busy collecting and transplanting corals onto the structure. The low voltage electrical current running through the structure assists in coral growth and formation and was designed as a reef restoration technique.

Divers comb the nearby sea floor collecting coral ‘fragments’ from the sand that would otherwise be killed off in ensuing poor weather. By lifting small live colonies of coral onto the steel framework they will grow and proliferate long beyond the annual monsoon season that would normally roll them around until there was no life left on their tiny structures.

Biorock is a relatively new technology but has proven to be a worthwhile exercise in the rehabilitation of damaged areas of reef, especially where poor water quality or warming temperatures have played a role in coral destruction.

During the dive some of our divers successfully added some new fragments to the site while some people collected valuable growth data about some specially numbered corals. For some it was their first dive on Hin Fai and most were impressed with its growth and development despite the poor visibility on the day.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the afternoon.

Instructor Debbie Gottdenker surveying
transplanted corals on Hin Fai