Underwater gardeners...this is how they grow coral reefs to confront El Niño

- With scientists anticipating that this year will witness a potentially historic El Niño phenomenon, Ofoq News' Bijan Hosseini travels to the island of Moorea in French Polynesia to highlight the Coral Reef Gardeners organization dedicated to restoring coral reefs, and is part of Rolex's Perpetual Planet initiative. From July to October annually, before the heat and humidity of summer get too hot, the organization's team spends their days collecting coral that has been nurtured for up to two years in their nursery, then installing it back on nearby reefs.

But this season brings additional pressures, with a potentially record-setting El Nino phenomenon expected to arrive in just a few months, so they hope to give the reefs a boost by planting more heat-tolerant corals than ever before. Taianu Tiyehu of the Coral Gardeners team says coral coverage was 20% when they started at Taiaa, the largest of the seven nursery sites they manage across French Polynesia, while it is currently at nearly 55%.

The organization has been working to restore the site since 2020, taking nearly seven years to get to this point, including surviving a global mass coral bleaching event in 2024. Coral nurseries work by collecting parts of healthy coral, tying those parts with rope, and then attaching the ropes to underwater tables.

When the corals become mature enough, they are transplanted to nearby reefs using marine cement and coral clips specially designed for this purpose.