Up to 90 percent of the coral surrounding Okinawa’s islands has died off in the last decade, so scientists are initiating one of the largest coral restoration projects in the world. Why the need for rescue? Overfishing, disease, pollution, acidification, global warming, and more have decimated reefs (and biodiversity) worldwide. They need rehab in the worst way–we’re talking more than Amy Winehouse. Hence, the Sekisei Lagoon Reef is now being used to test new techniques for transplanting coral.
Sure it sounds promising, but will it work? Critics say the project is wasted effort given coastal redevelopment, agricultural runoff, and other activities that destroyed coral in the first place are still going strong… not to mention oceans continue getting warmer as the result of our pesky carbon problem. Still, let’s not throw in the towel on this possibility yet. It’s already been in progress for four years and although survival is low, investigators remind naysayers that reef recovery happens slowly over decades. Furthermore, transplantation techniques are improving with some success.