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solonavi 14 December 2007 Coral Reefs, Technology 285 views No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

AP

Just a few years ago, the lush coral reefs off Bali island were dying out, bleached by rising temperatures, blasted by dynamite fishing and poisoned by cyanide. Now they are coming back, thanks to an unlikely remedy: electricity.

The coral is thriving on dozens of metal structures submerged in the bay and fed by cables that send low-voltage electricity, which conservationists say is reviving it and spurring greater growth.

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The project – dubbed Bio-Rock – is the brainchild of scientist Thomas Goreau and the late architect Wolf Hilbertz. The two have set up similar structures in some 20 countries, but the Bali experiment is the most extensive.

Goreau said the Pemuteran reefs off Bali’s northwestern shore were under serious assault by 1998, victims of rising temperatures and aggressive fishing methods by impoverished islanders, such as stunning fish with cyanide poison and scooping them up with nets.

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Some say the effort is severely limited.

Rod Salm, coral reef specialist with the Nature Conservancy, said while the method may be useful in bringing small areas of damaged coral back to life, it has very limited application in vast areas that need protection.

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Others note the Bali project is mostly dependent on traditionally generated electricity, a method that itself contributes to global warming. Goreau himself concedes it has yet to attract significant financial backing.

Nonetheless, scientists agree that coral reefs are an especially valuable – and sensitive – global environmental asset. They provide shorelines with protection from tides and waves, and host a stunning diversity of plant and sea life..

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Goreau and his supporters say the electricity spurs the weakened coral to revival and greater growth.

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And indeed, the coral on the structures appear vibrant, and supporters say they have rebounded with impressive vigor. The coral in Pemuteran teems with clownfish, damselfish and other colorful tropical animals.

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Funding, however, is a major problem. There are some 40 metal structures growing coral in Pemuteran Bay and about 100 cables laid to feed them with electricity, but only about a third of the wires are working because of maintenance problems and the cost of running them, said Morrow-Wuigk.

Fish swim around corals growing on a metal structures submerged by conservationists and fed by electrical cables linked to the shoreline in Pemuteran bay, Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007. As thousands of delegates, experts, and activists debate climate at a massive conference that opened Monday in southern Bali, the coral restoration project across the island illustrates the creative ways scientists are attacking the ill-effects of global warming. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)