The team planting nubbins, which are broken corals that are still alive and can usually be found on the sea bed.
REEF Check Malaysia (RCM) is working with the local community in Pulau Redang, Terengganu to rehabilitate coral reefs.
The programme, implemented by its Cintai Redang team, is supported by the Fisheries Department, Laguna Dive Centre, Tioman Marine Conservation Group (TMCG) and Coralku Conservation.
It is funded by the National Conservation Trust Fund for Natural Resources (NCTF).
“The objective of the coral rehabilitation project is to conserve marine biodiversity through sustainable, community-based coral reef rehabilitation,” said Cintai Redang programme manager Putri Asma.
TMCG, a local community marine conservation group from Pulau Tioman, was also invited to share their experience.
The knowledge-sharing session is particularly beneficial as RCM has established a similar group with locals in Pulau Redang called the Redang Marine Conservation Group (RMCG).
RMCG is a group of Redang youth passionate about marine conservation and trained to conduct marine conservation work alongside RCM.
“Learning from TMCG members’ experience and success was really interesting, and inspired us to continue growing RMCG,” said Abdul Muhaimin Hou.
Abdul Muhaimin, 23, started off as a member of RMCG and is now assistant programme manager at Cintai Redang.
During the programme, different methods of coral rehabilitation were tested to evaluate the survival rates of rescued corals.
Different structure designs are used to plant the coral fragments.
This included evaluating various structure designs, different coated metal frames as well as cement blocks and coral clips.
The information gathered will be published in a national toolkit and released to the public by the end of 2024.
The team is also developing a coral rehabilitation toolkit as a guideline for the most effective coral rehabilitation method suitable for a community-based restoration programme.
The coral replanting involved nubbins, which are broken corals that are still alive and can be found lying on the sea bottom.
Approximately 300 coral fragments were planted and saved during the programme.
Scheduled monitoring will then be conducted with the local community and marine biologists on site to ensure the best survival rate.
The teams also removed ghost nets weighing around 50kg, which had been reported by snorkellers at Ekor Tebu.
Ghost nets harm marine life, especially when entangled in the reef, suffocating corals and trapping animals in the coral reef.
