Coral planting to save reefs in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU - A resort operator in Sabah has launched an 'adopt-a-coral' programme to save damaged reefs, with volunteers planting coral on the seabed to boost reef growth.

In a bid to bring life back to the seabed, diver Jaqclynn Limm takes a coral fragment to be cemented onto rock on the sea bottom. The method is said to boost reef growth by 300 per cent. -- NEW STRAITS TIMES

The initiative by the Gayana Island EcoResort is in conjunction with its inaugural Earth Day 2001 celebration at Pulau Gaya, off Kota Kinabalu.

Seventy volunteers, all of them certified divers, have signed up for the programme to adopt and plant coral on the seabed near the resort.

During a planting session on Sunday, the resort's marine ecology research centre manager Wilson Alex handed out coral pieces to volunteers who dived down to secure them on the seabed.

The corals are cemented onto hard rock, a method said to have boosted the growth of coral reefs by 300 per cent.

The resort believes its method of planting could help bring life back to reefs damaged by fishermen using explosives to catch fish.--New Straits Times