Over the last week or so members of Eco Koh Tao have joined community efforts with the Save Koh Tao group in a new and exciting reef rehabilitation project.

Under the guidance of Dr James True, a marine scientist from Southern Thailand we were alerted to the proposed spawning dates of local coral species. Over the course of 2 nights a group of more than 12 of us rotated shifts underwater to see if we could see when the coral was to spawn. The aim of the project is to catch coral eggs as they are released and propagate them in an ex-situ environment.

On our first excursion it was a long night of sitting and waiting and when it finally looked like something was going to happen, it ended up being a false alarm as only a few eggs were released rather than the timed release of thousands of eggs as we were expecting.

On the second night, right on moon rise the corals in Chalok Baan Khao, and no doubt all around the island began to release eggs in their hundreds. Using modified nets we managed to catch many of these and transport them to the nearby holding tanks at New Heaven Dive School.

With the larvae developing in an artificial environment within a couple of days it was obvious that many had survived. Coral usually drifts for around 4 days before swimming down to find a suitable substrate (surface) to settle onto. In the buckets we placed these suitable surfaces, small concrete ‘mushrooms’ onto which many of the corals will settle before being transplanted back into the natural environment onto mid-water coral nurseries.

The true success of the project – capture, propagation, cultivation and release – will be able to be quantified in the coming weeks when the corals start to grow. Within 6 months to a year these corals will hopefully be further transplanted onto the surrounding natural reef ecosystems to enhance the biodiversity of Koh Tao’s reefs.

It is a new & ground breaking project anywhere in the world so for Koh Tao it is extremely exciting project to have on our tiny island.

In addition to purely scientific outcomes, the project will have created a knowledge pool within the community of Koh Tao that will allow us to increase the effectiveness of our community-level efforts to maintain and protect the coastal resources of Koh Tao.

The project becomes an educational tool and a means of awareness raising within the community.

The knowledge transfer can be used as a template to educate and empower other coastal communities to become more pro-active in the protection and restoration of coastal habitats in other areas of Thailand.