Coming up, the Bird family volunteers to work on a farm—an underwater farm!!
Welcome to Jonathan Bird’s Blue World!
A few years ago, we visited Ken Nedimyer and the Coral restoration Foundation in the Florida
Keys, where they’re farming coral to replenish damaged reefs.
It turns out, the operation is so successful, that they decided to open another one here
in Bonaire.
Bonaire is a territory of the Netherlands located in the southern Caribbean sea, just
off the coast of Venezuela.
It’s a warm tropical place surrounded by beautiful blue water--known as one of the
best scuba diving destinations in the Caribbean.
But like much of the Caribbean, the population of some species of shallow water corals here
on Bonaire has been damaged in the past.
The Coral Restoration Foundation established an operation here on Bonaire, headquartered
at Buddy Dive Resort, with a coral farm, just offshore.
I drop in to meet the director, Francesca Virdis who explains why they built a coral
farm here on Bonaire.
…Even if Bonaire is famous to have probably one of the best and most pristine reefs in
the Caribbean, our corals are suffering as well—in particular two species of coral.
They are endangered, so they are protected at the international level.
They are staghorn and elkhorn coral.
That’s why we farm them because we need to restore their population.
Since the operation always needs volunteers to help out, my family and I are volunteering
our day to do some work on the underwater farm!
First we get some instructions on what we will be doing.
So we clean from the algaes, top, bottom, front and back.
And then we have the trunk.
And you might have some tags and labels.
It is good to clean them as well, so we are always able to read it.
Christine heads to the dive shop for some tanks, because today’s work will be underwater!
Next we load our gear on the boat and meet Captain Augusto.
Fortunately, Elise remembers the camera!
We get some last minute instructions and then we’re off.
Along the way we assemble our gear.
Elise, Liam, Christine and I hit the water and we are ready to be a professional underwater
farmhand team.
Francesca takes us down to the far end of the farm, which consists of plastic trees
holding small, living pieces of coral.
The trees are anchored into the sea floor and held up by floats.
The coral is just tied with fishing line.
Eventually the coral grows over the knot.
Each tree is labeled and recorded so the exact age and growth rates can be tracked.
But it’s a constant battle with algae, which grows readily on the plastic trees, and then
works its way down the fishing line, trying to smother the coral.
Soon the kids are scrubbing the coral trees clean of algae.
If you have to work on a farm, doing it underwater certainly adds some fun!
Christine is trying to keep up with the kids, and even the fish join in.
Tangs are a kind of fish that survive by foraging for algae.
They are critical to protecting the reef from algae on the coral, and so here on the farm
they’re a welcome guest.
If only the kids would put this much effort into their chores!
Liam is exhibiting perfect buoyancy control as he focuses on the job.
And after an hour of solid work, we finish when our scuba tanks are getting low, and
head back to the boat.
With a fresh set of scuba tanks, Francesca takes us over to see a section of reef that
has been replanted.
All of this healthy Staghorn coral, was planted only three years ago.
Already it has grown a meter tall!
Individual stands of coral are tracked with little tags so this coral can be traced all
the way back to the individual tree on which it was grown.
After our tour, it’s time to head back to the boat.
That coral just looks incredibly happy.
It’s taking over down there!
Back at the classroom, a local school group is visiting on a field trip to learn about
coral reefs and how the coral farm works.
Then they grab some snorkel gear to get a tour of one of the close transplant sites.
It’s shallow enough that they can see it from the surface.
And they also get to see some of the local marine life.
Coral reefs are an essential part of the tropical ocean ecosystem.
Coral farming provides a new way to help repair reefs that have been damaged by storms or
human impact.
As the technology develops, perhaps other kinds of coral could be farmed as well.
And these developments are made possible by people who study the life in the ocean and
seek to protect it.
It’s a great story of success in
the Blue World.