For about two years, marine ecologists from SWIMS have been using this nursery as part of a government-sponsored project to help restore coral colonies that fell victim to an ecological catastrophe over the winter months of 2015 and 2016. Nobody is quite sure what caused this “mortality event”, when about 30 per cent of one of the park’s dominant coral species, Platygyra (a form of brain coral common in Hong Kong waters), was killed off or suffered living tissue damage. It could have been a red tide toxic algae bloom, a sudden increase in pollution levels or an extreme temperature change.
For details, please read AFCD’s publication about hard coral restoration on project in Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park.
Coral Restoration Workshop
On 22 August 2018, Dr. David Baker and Ms. Vriko Yu served as technical advisers for the Coral Restoration Workshop at The University of Hong Kong. The workshop was the first citizen science based restoration workshop in Hong Kong, initiated by Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) and Reef Check Hong Kong. The objective of workshop was to train the reef checker to rescue the coral of opportunity, which are coral fragments that are dislodged or detached from substrates, mainly due to human activities.
Marine Parks Public Lecture Series
Ms. Vriko Yu was invited as a guest speaker to give a talk about coral restoration for the Marine Parks Public Lecture Series, organised by Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD). Over 100 attendees participated to learn more about the restoration potential in Hong Kong and the on-going coral restoration project in Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park.