Corals in Hainan's Yangpu port relocated to "new home"

A large number of corals have been carefully relocated from waters around Yangpu port in the Yangpu Economic Development Zone, south China's Hainan Province, to the coral reef nature reserve in Linqiangshi island in Danzhou city, Hainan Province.

A photo of coral taken underwater. (File photo)

These corals have been relocated because of an expansion project for the Yangpu port, which kicked off in January this year. Located in the central area of China's Beibu Gulf and the middle of major international shipping routes connecting Singapore, south China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, east China's Shanghai, and Osaka, Japan, Yangpu port is a stop of strategic importance to the Maritime Silk Road.

The beautiful corals may seem sturdy, but are actually very fragile and extremely sensitive to the environment. Natural restoration of coral reefs sometimes requires hundreds of years. The combination of natural and artificial methods is currently a common practice for the restoration of coral reefs.

In an effort to boost economic development while promoting ecological protection, the local government carried out coral reef ecosystem restoration activities with the help of the Shenzhen Institute of Guangdong Ocean University. These include artificial coral reef and nursery production and deployment, coral transplanting, and installation of devices underwater for the real-time monitoring of coral reefs.

So far, the institute has relocated more than 70,000 corals, replanted over 21,000 stony corals, which are the most important reef builders. It has also produced and deployed 902 artificial coral reefs and 10 temporary coral nursery grounds.

The institute has produced improved artificial coral reefs based on the original saucer-shaped artificial coral reefs, and deployed them in a targeted manner in natural waters, according to a credible source.