From larvae to livelihoods: restoration of coral reefs in the Maldives

In response to major declines in coral reef health, the Maldives Marine Research Institute (MMRI) initiated a 5-year Coral Reef Restoration and Rehabilitation program, aiming to develop a nationwide plan to safeguard, restore and rehabilitate the country’s reefs. As part of the program, MMRI identified restoration of coral reefs using coral larvae as a low impact and scalable approach to reef restoration. While this method has been practiced in other parts of the world, larval restoration has never been attempted on Maldivian reefs until recently. To help with this program, MMRI sought advice from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), which has extensive experience in developing the use of coral larvae for restoration and rehabilitation on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

To apply coral larvae restoration methods to the Maldives, MMRI and CSIRO have taken a staged approach. The primary aims have been to:

• Compile information on the timings and spatial variability of coral spawning among atolls in the Maldives from published, social media, and citizen science inputs

• Conduct small-scale trials of collection, cultivation, and release of coral larvae onto reefs, followed by short-term monitoring techniques of larval settlement and juvenile coral assessment, to determine the best approach to be used for larval-based reef restoration and how to increase the spatial scales at which it is applied; conducted through a series of online and hands-on workshops to train interested parties in the process of coral larvae restoration

• Permanently transfer knowledge to participants and the broader coral restoration community through the development and publication of a “Standard Operating Procedures for coral larval restoration of Maldives coral reefs” – a practical guide in the use of coral larvae for reef restoration in the Maldives and other Indo-Pacific coral reef nations

• Increase knowledge on the spatial and temporal patterns of coral reproduction, larval connectivity patterns, and reef health across the Maldives

Video: Coral Larvae Workshop

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