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Electricity Sparks New Life Into Indonesia’s Coral Reefs
"Corals grow 2-6 times faster. We are able to grow back reefs in a few years,"
- Thomas J. Goreau, a Jamaican marine biologist and biogeochemist
A weak, harmless voltage run through metallic structures underwater is reviving near-dead reefs.
Cyanide fishing and rising water temperatures had decimated corals off Bali until a diver inspired by a German scientist's pioneering work on organic architecture helped develop a project now replicated worldwide.
Based on ""Biorock" technology, it is implemented in 20 countries, mainly in Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific.
Biorock not only revives the corals but it makes them more resistant, in particular against bleaching and global warming.
"Biorock is the only method known that protects corals from dying from high temperatures. We get from 16 to 50 times higher survival of corals from severe bleaching," Goreau said.
The evidence of this has been on show in Pemuteran, said Rani.
"We had coral bleaching happening in the last two years. The water temperature was 34 degrees (93 Fahrenheit), instead of 30. Only 10 percent of the corals were affected and two percent died. Whereas, in 1998, they basically all died".
