Saving Spain's coral - 'in the end we are all in the same boat'

Arguably the most beautiful and biologically diverse places on our planet, anyone who has swam, snorkeled, or dived in these magical places knows.‌ But coral reefs are in grave danger of disappearing forever due to fishing, human emissions-caused extreme heating, and pollution.

Experts say we could see unprecedented coral bleaching events in 2024, that's when coral turns white and others warn that 99 percent of coral reefs could disappear if we don't slash emissions this decade, according to the journal PLOS Climate.

Coral Soul

‌With the Oceans Decade Conference in Barcelona in April 2024 calling for a new chapter in global action, CGTN correspondent Ken Browne visited one project in the south of Spain that's bringing some hope.

‌'Coral Soul' is part of a movement to save coral worldwide, explains Marina Palacios, a marine biologist and co-founder.

‌"Coral Soul is an NGO on a mission to rescue and help endangered reefs recover, particularly in the Mediterranean and Atlantic oceans," she tells CGTN. "Sadly, these are some of the most endangered reefs on the planet - the biggest threats are pollution and climate change."

The CGTN team were invited onboard to see Coral Soul's work in action. Close to the shore about 30-50 meters down, a once-thriving coral reef is in recovery, Coral Soul has removed over two tonnes of rubbish and discarded fishing nets and created three new coral nurseries.

READ MORE

Botswana offers to send Germany 20,000 elephants

Genetic clues to left-handedness revealed

European pasta market beats to Turkish durum

On the Punta de Mona reef wall, Marina points out recovered orange cup corals, and deeper down, bright white and orange candelabra corals flourish once more.

Some of these species grow only a centimeter a year, and decades of life can be destroyed in seconds by bottom trawl fishing or an anchor.

Heading in further below the waves the team reach the nurseries go to work at what they have nicknamed the 'coral hospital.'

Coral broken off from the reef is replanted here and new coral is also planted, this pioneering project, developed in conjunction with French NGO Coral Guardian, has a 91 percent survival rate for coral, and the fish population has tripled.

What exactly is coral?

‌Coral is a marine animal that slowly builds huge complex and fragile ecosystems that provide a home for countless ocean species. Coral reefs only cover one percent of the Earth's surface, but are home to 25 percent of marine life - a billion people depend on them day-to-day.

‌To find out how they are doing, CGTN spoke to Deborah Brosnan, a prominent ocean and climate scientist.

"The global picture for coral reefs is unfortunately not good at the moment," she begins. "Particularly in the last year we had unprecedented heat in the ocean and we saw huge coral bleaching and major mortality."

‌"We've lost on average about a third of all coral reefs that existed since about the 1950s," continues Brosnan, "so the state of corals is pretty bad, the patient is not doing well, the good news is that we can do something to make it better."

‌So why are coral reefs dying? The answer is rising sea temperatures according to Brosnan.

‌"Worst case scenario is that the corals that were bleaching and struggling, die.  And that corals that are now healthy start to succumb and die, so that we see a huge mortality," he tells CGTN.‌ "My greatest fear is that not only that will happen but that we're not taking the action to reduce emissions."

‌So how do we save the coral?

‌"We need to sustain corals and to create protected areas, not just protect the areas but literally get in the water to make sure the corals are safe, create repositories for corals, like captive breeding, so we have a population we've safeguarded that we can return to the ocean.

‌"And we need to do this today, we need to start right now."

"We can't lose hope"

‌It's a positive story in a sea of great concern, but both Marina Palacios and Deborah Brosnan agree that giving up is not an option.

‌"We can't lose hope," says Marina. "There are great scientists and so many people working in marine recovery and conservation, we have to hold on to hope because it's what gives us the strength to go on dedicating our lives to saving the coral.

‌"It's really important to keep in mind that we can all add our grain of sand," she insists. "We can all be part of this movement that protects and defends the oceans, I want to encourage everyone to get involved in whatever way they can, no gesture is too small, in the end we're all in the same boat."

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday